Attractions of Chernihiv region

Mezyn National Nature Park, also known as "Mezyn Switzerland", was created in 2006 on the basis of several landscape reserves along the right bank of the Desna River.

The area of the park is 31 thousand hectares. It stretches from Mezyn in the north to Horodyshche in the south and from Ponornytsia in the west to Rozlyoti in the east. In the floodplain of the Desna, many old houses and lakes have been preserved, the largest of which is Lake Khatyn (50 hectares). The park is home to 149 species of vertebrates: 25 species of fish, 9 species of amphibians, 3 species of reptiles, 93 species of birds and 19 species of mammals. Of these, 24 species are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. Among the monuments of archeology is the Mezyn Paleolithic site, the age of which is estimated at 20 thousand years.

The Mezyn National Nature Park Visitor Center is located in Desnyansk. A nature museum has been created here, where collections of insects, mosses and geological materials are exhibited. Also presented is a panorama of the Mezyn parking lot, a small ethnographic exposition, the museum room of Vasyl Kurylenko, the founder and permanent director of the Mezyn Archaeological Research Museum.

The Military History Museum in Chernihiv is a department of the Chernihiv Historical Museum.

His expositions are dedicated to the participation of Chernihiv residents in the Second World War, in partisan detachments, tell about the fate of camp prisoners, the defense of Chernihiv region in 1941 and its liberation in the fall of 1943.

The exposition also reveals the contribution of Chernihiv residents to the liquidation of the Chornobyl accident and its consequences. In the courtyard of the museum there is a small exhibition of military equipment.

During the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022, the Military History Museum in Chernihiv was heavily damaged by shelling.

The monument to the fighters for the freedom and independence of Ukraine near the Catherine's Church in Chernihiv was erected in 2009 for the 13th anniversary of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Back in the early 1990s, activists of national-democratic organizations installed a memorial stone here, near which various actions were held.

The author of the monument is Vinnytsia sculptor Volodymyr Smarovoz. The figure of a Cossack with a child in his arms represents young Ukraine.

Nizhyn cucumbers, which made the city of Nizhyn famous, became popular during the reign of Empress Catherine II, who ordered to supply them to the imperial court, which was carried out until 1917.

In Soviet times, the products of the Nizhyn cannery also enjoyed constant popularity due to the special crunch and characteristic taste of local cucumbers, which is explained by the properties of the local soil and a special pickle, the recipe of which, according to legend, was brought to Nizhyn by the Greeks. Currently, Nizhyn pickles are exported to 70 countries around the world. 2

In 2005, a monument to the Nizhyn cucumber was erected in front of the central entrance to the Nizhyn Cannery. The vegetable sculpture is made of green Italian granite. He is depicted lying on a salting barrel standing in a cellar for preserving.

The museum "Chernihiv region - a journey through the ages" was opened in the village of Kalitianske in 2018 on the site of the previously established museum of the famous scientist and traveler Mykola Mykluho-Maklay.

The museum exposition highlights the history of Chernihiv Region from the pre-Christian period, Kyivan Rus, the Hetmanshchyna to the imperial and Soviet times, as well as to the present day.

Models of the most famous historical buildings of the region are presented, in particular, the palace and park complex in Kachanivka, the Transfiguration Cathedral, Yeletsky Holy Dormition Monastery, etc.

The museum complex of Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Hohol is located in the main university building, built in 1820 for the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences.

This university-type higher education institution was opened in Nizhyn on the initiative of Counts Oleksandr and Illia Bezborodko. Oleksandr Kushelev-Bezborodko, grandson of Illia Bezborodko, became the trustee. In 1821-1828 the writer Mykola Hohol studied here. Graduates of the gymnasium were also a writer-biker Yevhen Hrebinka, artist Andriy Horonovych, patron Vasyl Tarnovsky and others.

In 1909, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Hohol's birth, the Mykola Hohol Museum was founded at the then Nizhyn Historical and Philological Institute.

In addition, the museum complex of Nizhyn University includes the Museum of the History of Nizhyn University, the Museum of Soviet Life "Homo sovieticus", as well as a unique art gallery, in three halls of which are paintings of different eras.

The basis of the art exhibition is paintings of the Renaissance and classical European schools, which were donated to the school by its trustee Oleksandr Kushelev-Bezborodko in 1845 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary. Of particular value is one of the largest in the country collections of paintings by Ukrainian artist Serhiy Shyshko, which he personally donated to the school. 36 paintings represent different stages of creative growth and development of the artist.

The possibility of visiting the museum on weekends must be coordinated with the university administration in advance.

The Museum of Local Lore of the Novhorod-Siverskyi historical and cultural reserve introduces the history of the city, archeology and nature of the Siverskyi region.

The history department presents a diorama of the late Paleolithic Pushkarivska site, as well as a diorama of the liberation of the city from the German-fascist invaders.

The exposition of the nature department with the diorama "Polissya" introduces the flora and fauna of the region.

The exhibition "Ukrainian life, clothing and embroidery" has been opened in the ethnology department.

Museum employees conduct tours of the city.

Museum of Local Lore "Ukrainian Svitlytsya" opened in the village of Kamka in 2021 at the initiative of a local historian.

The exposition in the form of a village room, arranged in the premises of the former mayor, introduces visitors to the ancient life of locals.

Presented antique tables, benches, towels, embroidered shirts, pottery, household items, paintings, antique clothing.

The Sosnytsia Museum of Local Lore is located in the house of doctor Shcherbakov (1869-1870), which later belonged to Prince Volkonsky, then to doctor Petro Oldenborher.

The museum in it was founded in 1920 by lawyer and historian Yuriy Vynohradsky. He discovered 50 Neolithic sites and 9 hillforts in Chernihiv Region. The archaeological collection of Vynohradsky became the basis of the exposition.

Currently, the museum's funds include 10,000 exhibits. Among the unique exhibits are neck hryvnias, a mammoth tusk with notches, several ancient documents.

Some things of the former owners of the Sosnytsia manor, the Poltoratsky nobles, who owned Sosnytsia in the 18th and 19th centuries, are also presented.

The museum is named after Yuriy Vynohradsky.

The museum complex "Lisohrad" in the forests in the north of Chernihiv region is dedicated to the local partisan movement during the Second World War.

In 1942-1943, the Chernihiv partisan units of Mykola Popudrenko and Oleksiy Fedorov operated in the Yelino forests. Near the village of Yelino, there was a whole partisan town made of dugouts, which was called "Lisohrad". From here, the partisans went on combat operations to destroy enemy garrisons and carry out sabotage on railways.

In 2010, enthusiasts recreated the partisan camp, restoring 3 dugouts and building 2 more. The partisan oven was also recreated, and the partisan well and trenches were cleared.

The exhibits in the dugouts allow you to feel the spirit of partisanship, to see in what difficult living conditions people had to live and defend their land.

The world's first monument to the outstanding writer Mykola Hohol was erected in Nizhyn in 1881.

It was here that the future writer received his education, graduating in 1828 from Prince Bezborodko's Gymnasium of Higher Sciences.

The author of the monument was the famous sculptor Parmen Zabila, who himself was from Nizhyn. It is believed that the sculptor immortalized his profile in the folds of Hohol's cloak on the section of the bust, leaving his autograph in this unusual way.

The museum of the historian Mykola Kostomarov was created in the former manor of the landowner Mark Kysil in Didivtsi near Pryluky, where Kostomarov vacationed every summer from 1874 to 1884.

The outstanding historian, writer, ethnographer, folklorist and publicist Mykola Kostomarov came to Didivtsi for the first time at the invitation of his future wife Alina Krahelska, who at that time was already the widow of Mark Kysil, and the following year they got married here.

Here Kostomarov worked on the works "Autobiography", "Ruin", "Ellina Tavrida", "Mazepa" and others. In Didivtsi estate, Kostomarov hosted writers Vasyl Horlenko, Danylo Mordovets, artist Kateryna Junge, and kobzar Ostap Veresay.

In 2016, the Mykola Kostomarov Museum was opened in Didivtsi. The exposition was designed by the Chernihiv monumentalist artist Borys Dedov. The five rooms present the history of Didivtsi village, stories about Kostomarov's life and activities, his feelings for Alina Krahelska, the social and political situation at that time, and the Kyrylo-Mefodiyivske Society.

The memorial museum of the revolutionary-populist and inventor Mykola Kybalchych was opened in Korop in the house of the priest in which he was born in 1853.

Even in his youth, Kybalchych, who was fond of chemistry, became an underground revolutionary, working in the so-called "hell laboratories" where explosives were made. At the same time, he developed a diagram of the world's first jet aircraft, the drawing of which was scratched on the wall of a prison cell. In 1881, he was executed for an attempt to assassinate the Russian Tsar Oleksandr II.

A family of local artists - Olena Lukash and Mykola Hara-Zhuk - stood near the sources of the creation of the Kybalchych Museum in Korop. In particular, the museum exposition presents a model of the Kybalchych rocket.

The Nativity of Holy Virgin Cathedral was built in Pryluky on the site of two ancient Pryluky churches that burned down during a fire in 1781.

Fundraising for the stone temple was announced immediately after the fire, but the construction was completed only after the city received funding from the royal treasury in 1802, as evidenced by a copper plaque with a commemorative inscription.

A new church with three thrones in honor of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God, Varvara the Great Martyr and Saint Oleksandr Nevsky was consecrated in 1817. It was built by a craftsman from Chernihiv region Fedir Zabolotskyi. Remains of oil painting from the beginning of the 19th century have been preserved inside.

Near the central portal stood a stone two-story bell tower, built in the best forms of late classicism (not preserved). Until recently, the building housed the department of the Chernihiv Regional State Archives.

In 2005, the Nativity of Holy Virgin Cathedral was returned to the parishioners of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in Kozelets is considered one of the most beautiful Ukrainian Baroque monuments in the country.

This magnificent temple with a magnificent decoration and a beautiful iconostasis was built in 1752-1763 by the order of Nataliya Rozumovska (Rozumikha) to thank God for the happy fate of her sons Oleksiy and Kyrylo, who occupied a high position at the court of Empress Elizaveta.

The authors of the project are considered to be the students of the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli - Ivan Hryhorovych-Barskyi and Andriy Kvasov, but it is possible that Rastrelli himself had something to do with the project. It is possible that the grandiose seven-tiered carved iconostasis 27 meters high was created with his participation.

In the lower part of the temple is the warm church of Adrian and Nataliya - the tomb of the Rozumovskys, where its founder is buried.

The five-domed church impresses with its size and rich decoration, uncharacteristic for the Ukrainian hinterland. According to legend, in clear weather you can see Kyiv and Chernihiv from the 50-meter-high belfry at the same time, but the ascent to the belfry is not allowed recently due to the emergency condition of the stairs.