Attractions of Donetsk region

The National Natural Park "Meotida" is located in the south of the Donetsk region, covering a two-kilometer coastal zone of the Sea of Azov for 150 kilometers.

The reserve was created in 2000. It received the name of the ancient country of the Meotids, a tribe of Meots who lived in the 1st millennium BC in the Azov region. The area of the park is 13 thousand hectares of territory and the same amount of water area.

The park "Meotida" includes the nature reserves of national importance "Bilosarayska Kosa" and "Pryazovsky Chapelnyk", the ornithological reserve of local importance "Kryvokosky estuary", natural monuments of local importance "Kryva Kosa" and "Pine crops", as well as the regional landscape park "Polovtsian Steppe".

More than 250 species of birds (including curly pelicans) and 47 species of mammals have been registered on the territory of the reserve, some of them are listed in the Red Book. The flora of the park has preserved the aboriginal features of the steppe vegetation, which includes 640 species, including more than 40 endemic ones.

In 2001, Meotida Park was accepted into the international organization "Federation of Europarks".

Excursions for children and adults, boat trips, bird watching and horseback riding are available. In particular, tourists can observe the life of unique birds in their natural environment from the 26-meter tower.

Russian armed aggression in the east of Ukraine led to serious environmental consequences, including in the territory of the Meotida National Nature Park, which was damaged during the hostilities. Some objects of the nature reserve fund of the reserve were damaged or destroyed by shelling.

A monument to the KSP-32 tunneling combine was installed next to the Technical University of Donetsk.

Tunneling combines are complex mining machines designed for underground work in mining operations: rock destruction, loading on conveyors or trolleys, etc.

KSP-32 combines are manufactured at the Yasynuvata Machine-Building Plant. The inscription on the monument reads: "To the residents of the city of Donetsk from Yasynuvata machine builders."

A 22-meter statue of the famous revolutionary Artem (alias Fedir Serhyeyev) rises above the domes of the Holy Assumption Sviatohirsk Lavra on top of one of the chalk mountains above Siverskyi Donets.

The cubist monument was created in 1927 by the sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze. Most of the work on the construction of the 1,000-ton monument was carried out by hand: on the terrace of the monastery, parts were cast from reinforced concrete, which were lifted up the mountain by truck and installed in place with the help of an ordinary truck crane.

A new monumental complex to the heroes of the Second World War was built nearby.

Mount Karachun is a natural landmark of local importance. Translated from Turkic, "karachun" means "black death". There are many legends about the mountain.

Today, there is a large chalk quarry on Mount Karachun, and chalk tericones are produced nearby. From the mountain and the nearby chalk tericones, a wonderful view of Slovyansk and its surroundings opens up.

Until recently, on the feast of Ivan Kupala, fire dances were held on the mountain and flaming wheels were lowered from it.

Due to the strategic importance of Mount Karachun, its commanding height above the city of Slovyansk, and the location of the TV and radio transmission center on it, during the Russian-Ukrainian war, it became the object of a protracted military confrontation in April-July 2014. On the night of July 1, 2014, as a result of pro-Russian armed formations shelling Ukrainian positions on Mount Karachun, the TV tower was destroyed.

On December 5, 2016, a new TV tower was inaugurated on Mount Karachun.

The "Environment" museum of the history of Oleksandro-Kalynove village was created by local enthusiasts in 2011.

The museum complex is a miniature open-air museum consisting of an ethno-house, an exhibition hall and a courtyard. The ethno-house reproduces the interiors of a rural residence of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century.

The exhibition hall occupies the premises of the old school. There is an ethnographic collection (towels, embroidery, household items, tools), artifacts of the Soviet past, as well as an exhibition of items related to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

An open-air exposition has been opened in the yard, the central element of which is the ancient UD-2 tractor, which started the creation of the museum. Also in the yard you can see other old agricultural machines, stone millstones, crane well, etc.

The Museum of Folk Architecture, Life and Children's Creativity in the village of Prelesne is the only skansen (open-air museum) in Donetsk region. It was founded in 1983 on the initiative of a local teacher, local historian, and artist Oleksandr Shevchenko.

The complex of wooden buildings reproduces a peasant yard of the 19th century in the Slobozhanschyna region: a typical residential house under a reed roof, a windmill with wooden mechanisms, a storeroom and a forge with tools, a well, beehives.

All these exhibits are authentic, collected in the villages of Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. In the whitewashed wooden house, you can see a stove, furniture, ceramic dishes, icons, towels, and embroidery.

The most interesting is the windmill, in which the working mechanism, millstone and various utensils have been preserved. The exhibition hall presents samples of folk art of Slobozhanshchyna and children's art.

There is a restaurant on the territory that offers visitors traditional Ukrainian cuisine.

The Museum of Folk Architecture in Prelesne is a department of the Donetsk Regional Art Museum.

The Museum of Folk Life in Mariupol has been operating as a branch of the Mariupol Museum of Local Lore since 1989.

The exposition tells about the ethnic culture and traditional life of the inhabitants of the Azov region.

The Museum of Folk Life in Mariupol was destroyed by Russian occupiers during a large-scale Russian invasion in 2022.

The People`s Museum of the History of the village of Nekremenne was founded in 1982.

Today the museum has nine exhibition halls and an agricultural exhibition.

Ancient weapons, tools, household items are presented.

Nikolske Museum of Local Lore occupies a separate one-story building in the center of Nikolske village.

It has a large exposition about the history of the resettlement of Greeks in these regions, and about what happened during the entire 180-year history of this settlement.

The collection includes more than 8,000 items. The decoration of the nature hall is a diorama of the "Stone Graves" reserve.

On the territory of the museum, open-air expositions have been arranged for the demonstration of large-sized stone tools of agricultural work and monuments of the Polovtsian tribes - the so-called "Polovtsian women".

The People's Museum of History of PRJSC "Novokramatorsk Machine-Building Plant" (NKMZ) is located on the third floor of the left wing of the Palace of Culture and Technology of NKMZ on the central square of Kramatorsk.

The majestic five-story building of the Palace of Culture, erected in 1956-1965 in the style of Soviet classicism, is the only architectural monument in the city.

The exposition of the museum in eight halls tells the history of the development of the largest enterprise in Europe for the production of equipment for the mining and metallurgical industry, which has been operating since 1934.

The central exhibit of the first hall is a diorama of the construction of the giant plant. Working tools and contemporary office equipment, models of Donbas mines with NKMZ equipment, samples of metal structures manufactured at the factory for the construction of famous objects are presented. The models of rotary excavators, the "Sterkh" gantry crane, the line for the production of large-diameter pipes and other large-sized equipment manufactured by NKMZ are most impressive.

A separate exhibition tells about the creation of special equipment for space and combat missile systems, anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense systems, engineering troops.

In the hall of the museum, there are models of early factory equipment, including walking dragline excavators.

The communal cultural and educational institution "People's Museum of the Novomykhailivka Village History" is located in the former premises of the Zemstvo school.

The museum funds include more than 3,000 exhibits. The exposition presents ancient tools, household items, money of different times. The most notable exhibits are an old carriage and a retro car "Moskvich-401".

During the large-scale Russian aggression in 2022, the museum was destroyed, a large part of the exposition was destroyed.

Novotroitske Village History Museum of the Olhynska Village Territorial Community in the Donetsk Region is located in the premises of the House of Culture named after Lesya Ukrayinka in the center of the village.

It is named after the public figure Paraska Sylka, through whose efforts the museum was organized in 1971.

The museum has about 3,500 items. The exposition in three halls tells about the ancient past of the region, as well as about the main events of the XX century.

The exposition "Ukrainian Room" recreates the interior of a traditional Slobozhanska house.

The observation deck with a view of the Sea of Azov is located in the Primorsky Park near the Square of the Liberation Warriors.

The site offers a classic industrial panorama of Mariupol. At the same time, one of the largest enterprises of the city of Azovstal and the Mariupol Sea Trade Port are visible.

The ornithological reserve of local importance "Kryvokosky estuary" is located near the village of Sedove.

The status of the reserve was granted by the decision of the regional executive committee in 1988. The area is 468.7 hectares. It is a shallow estuary, which is a nesting place for wetland birds, including rare waders and others.

Interesting Kryvokosky estuary with extremely healing mud.

In 2010, the ornithological reserve "Kryvokosky estuary" became part of the "Meotida" National Nature Park.

The Pokrovsk Historical Museum, founded in 1967, is located on the ground floor of a high-rise building in the center of Pokrovsk.

The museum has 14,000 museum items. Among the archeological monuments there is a ritual vessel found at the excavations of the Novovasylivsky mound with an ornament-icon of a map of the starry sky with a weekly schedule of the summer sun in the middle of winter, as well as a stone depicting the starry sky from an ancient altar.

In the ethnographic exposition you can see collections of irons, samovars, Easter eggs, towels, postcards.

A separate exhibition tells about the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych, who at the beginning of the XX century worked for 4 years as a singing teacher at the railway school in Pokrovsk.

Polovtsian stone babas are installed in front of the entrance.