Attractions of Zaporizhzhia

Saint Andrew's Cathedral was built in 2000 at the expense of the Motor-Sich company and other patrons.

It is located on the site of an unremarkable cinema, which was adjacent to the passage of motor builders. Until 2000, the Saint Andrew's religious community of the city met in the converted cinema hall.

The temple is made in the form of a cross with a large central dome and two small domes on the sides. Nearby is a high bell tower.

The con-catheral sanctuary of God the Merciful Father is the only Catholic temple in Zaporizhzhia.

The Roman Catholic parish existed in Oleksandrivsk (Zaporizhzhia) even before the revolution, but in the 1930s the Catholic church was closed and later destroyed.

Since 1999, a new church has been built in the city. A cornerstone taken from the Basilica of Saint Peter the Apostle in Rome was laid in its wall. In 2004, the consecration ceremony of the temple of God the Merciful Father took place (the only one under such an address in Eastern Europe).

The building is rectangular, divided internally by rows of columns and pillars into an odd number of longitudinal parts (3 naves) with lighting from upper windows and an apse niche in the altar part. Classically strict interior decoration.

Sobornyi Avenue in Zaporizhzhia is one of the longest avenues in Europe - 11 kilometers (with the DniproHES dam - 13 kilometers).

It runs from the Zaporizhzhia-1 railway station to the DniproHES dam. The residential quarters of "Sotscity" in the area of the dam are considered to be one of the best examples of urban planning art of the pre-war USSR. The project of this architectural ensemble in 1932 received a gold medal at an exhibition in Paris. Several buildings of pre-revolutionary Oleksandrivsk have been preserved in the area of Peremohy Street.

In 1952, the avenue, which connected fragments of several old streets, was named after Lenin. In 2016, it was renamed Sobornyi (Pokrovsky Cathedral is located on it).

A classic industrial panorama of the industrial part of the city opens from the bridge over the ravine of the Kapustyanka River. Along Sobornyi Avenue there are several squares with fountains, many restaurants and cafes. Most of the administrative buildings, educational institutions and cultural institutions of Zaporizhzhia are located here.

The Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of Southern Ukraine was established in 1997 at the Faculty of History of Zaporizhzhia National University.

Several generations of student historians managed to collect one of the best collections of tiles, household items and relics in the territory of Steppe Ukraine. 

In 2015, the Museum of Soviet Life was opened in the adjacent room. Among its exhibits are furniture, household items and appliances of the 20th century. The clothes of those times are hung in the closets, a place is reserved for costume jewelry, cosmetics, and perfumes of the Soviet era. Featured record player collection, post-war magazines, record phone collection, radio, and more. Many family letters, photographs, documents, and certificates are also exhibited.

The museum complex of the Zaporizhzhia National University also includes the ZNU Zoological Museum and the Water Museum.

The Technical Progress History Museum of the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University was opened in 2016 on the occasion of the celebration of the 116th anniversary of the establishment of the educational institution.

The museum in it was started back in 1970, when the first museum room of the then Zaporizhzhia Mechanical Engineering Institute was opened.

The current exposition demonstrates the stages of development of science and technology in Zaporizhzhia from the 18th to the beginning of the 11th century. Instruments, computing devices, radio communication devices, electronics of various periods of the 20th century are presented. The history of the technical university is told by photos and certificates of graduates of the last century, literature and interior elements from the time of the establishment of the institution, layouts, models and projects of graduates.

The central exhibit of the museum is the ZAZ-965 "Zaporozhets" car - one of the first to roll off the assembly line of the then "Komunar" plant (now "AvtoZAZ") in 1960.

The Motor Sich Museum of Technology in Zaporizhzhia was opened in 2012.

The museum is located in the former building of the station of young technicians near the territory of Motor Sich - one of the world's largest enterprises for the production of aircraft engines.

The basis for the creation of the Aviation Museum was the National Museum of Enterprise History, opened in 1980. The exhibition presents aircraft engines manufactured by PJSC "Motor Sich", from the first reciprocating star-shaped aircraft engines to modern turbojet engines, as well as models of the first aircraft and helicopters. etc.

Upstairs is an exposition of 26 models of retro motorcycles, as well as consumer goods produced by the plant: chainsaws, motoblocks, milk separators, wind farms, etc.

A Mi-24 transport and combat helicopter with a Motor Sich engine has been installed at the entrance to the aviation museum building.

In February 2023, exhibition exhibits were removed from the Technology Museum in order to protect the residents of the surrounding buildings from a Russian rocket attack.

The "Phaeton" Museum of Technology and Retro Cars in Zaporizhzhia is the only publicly accessible museum of a similar profile in Ukraine.

A private collection of rare vehicles of domestic and foreign production of the middle of the last century was collected and restored by members of the car club "Phaeton".

On an area of about 1,000 square meters in six halls, more than 250 units of active automotive equipment from the 1930s and 1960s are exhibited.

The exposition of the museum of retro cars presents cars "Dodge", "Willis", "Ural-ZiS", ZiS-5, ZiS-6 ("Katyusha"), etc. All cars are on the move, have repeatedly participated in exhibitions and races.

Visiting the museum exposition and workshops is possible with a tour on prior request, in groups of 10 to 20 people.

The entertainment and educational water center "Water Museum" opened in 2021 at the Engineering Educational and Scientific Institute of the Zaporizhzhia National University.

The exposition characterizes the hydrosphere of the planet Earth, informs about the water resources of Ukraine, introduces the geological structure of the earth's crust and the process of water filtration, demonstrates the technological schemes of wastewater treatment at treatment plants, teaches rational water use, etc.

From the exhibition sections, you can highlight a 3D model of the town, which demonstrates the water cycle in nature, an experiment site (mini-laboratory), an exposition of water purification methods, as well as a photo location.

Tours are held on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. and at 12:00 p.m. Pre-registration is required to visit.

The museum complex of the Zaporizhzhia National University also includes the ZNU Zoological Museum, the Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of Southern Ukraine and the Museum of Soviet Life.

The Private Museum of the History of Weapons in Zaporizhzhia is located in the city center.

The exposition is based on the personal collection of entrepreneur Vitaliy Shlayfer.

The museum presents the following types of historical weapons of different times and peoples: submachine guns, rifles, shotguns, pistols and pistols, swords, sabers, swords, axes, chain mail and more. In total, more than 4.5 thousand units.

The museum conducts examination, evaluation and restoration of antique weapons.

The exhibition is located in the premises of the weapons store "Diana".

Zaporizhzhia Academic Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after Volodymyr Mahar is a work of architecture of the era of Soviet monumental classicism.

The building in the style of "Stalin empire" was built in 1953. It is decorated with bas-reliefs and pilasters, sculpting and painting, crystal chandeliers, an exclusive mosaic floor with pictures of dams and blast furnaces. The pediment of the building is decorated with a plaster sculpture of a girl with a lyre. Two Komsomol members with a bandura were stationed at the girl's feet.

The theater has existed since 1929, and for a long time bore the name of Mykola Shchors. It is currently named after Volodymyr Mahar, who was the main director of the theater from 1929 to 1965.

Zaporizhzhia Children's Railway is one of the best and largest in Ukraine.

It was built in 1972 on Saturdays by Komsomol members and youth of the city of Zaporizhzhia. At the time of its opening, its length was 3.5 kilometers, and there were 3 stations on the road. Currently, the full operational length is 9.4 kilometers, there is a tunnel 80 meters long. Rolling stock: diesel locomotives TU7A-3108, TU2-136, TU2-144, PV51 wagons, cargo platform.

Near the main station "Pivdenna" there is a zoo, a terrarium, an aquarium and a winter garden.

The train runs 4 times a day.

The Zaporizhzhia State Circus is one of the central organizers of leisure and recreation for both children and adults in the city of Zaporizhzhia and the region.

1.5 thousand seats.

Prominent representatives of circus art such as Yuriy Nikulin, Ihor and Emil Kio, family dynasties Durovy, Filatov, Zapashny and many others performed in the arena of the Zaporizhzhia Circus.

Circus performances take place on Saturdays, Sundays at 12:00 and 15:30, as well as on holidays.

In the circus, in addition to performances for children, performances by pop artists take place.

The Museum of the Zaporizhzhia National University was opened in 1985 in the main educational building of the institution.

The exhibition tells about the history of public education in the former city of Oleksandrivsk from the beginning of the 20th century, about the founding of the Zaporizhzhia Pedagogical College at the basis of a teacher's seminary in 1921, about Stalin's repressions and the fate of the members of the staff of the Zaporizhzhia State Pedagogical Institute in the mid-1930s, about the participation of students and teachers in The Second World War, about the post-war reconstruction and the further path of the institution to the current university status.

In 2016, an updated exhibition was opened, the highlight of which was the decoration of the educational buildings of the university, made by Zaporizhzhia artist Kateryna Tarlinska using digital art.

The museum complex of the Zaporizhzhia National University also includes the ZNU Zoological Museum, the Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of Southern Ukraine, the Museum of Soviet Life, and the Water Museum.

The communal institution "Zaporizhzhia Regional Art Museum" subordinated to the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council represents the fine arts of the XIX-XX centuries.

The museum was founded in 1971. The collection, collected by the team of art critics, has more than 16 thousand exhibits. In particular, the paintings of Ivan Ayvazovsky, Oleksiy Boholyubov, Volodymyr Makovsky, Mykola Pymonenko, Oleksandr Murashko, Oleksandr Benua, Tetyana Yablonska, Mykola Hlushchenko are exhibited. Contemporary art is represented by the works of Oleksandr Roytburd, Ivan Marchuk, Anatoliy Kryvolap.

The museum has a collection of works by folk artist Mariya Prymachenko, as well as a unique collection of works of Ukrainian folk decorative and applied arts, including a collection of Petrykivka paintings by master Marfa Tymchenko.

The Zaporizhzhia Regional Museum of Local Lore is located in the former building of the Zemsky Administration (1912) - one of the few surviving buildings of pre-revolutionary Oleksandrivsk.

Founded by archeologist and folklorist Yakiv Novitskyi. More than 100,000 exhibits highlight the history of the city from ancient times to the Second World War. The most interesting collections: paleontological remains of animals from the Neogene and Anthropogenic periods; archaeological finds from the Zaporizhzhia mound; Sarmatian ornaments; collections of insects; stuffed animals of rare birds; weapons and household items of the Zaporizhzhian Cossacks.

One of the departments is devoted to the native of the Zaporizhzhia region, Otaman Nestor Makhno, who became famous during the revolutionary years as the leader of the anarchist people's movement in the southern regions of Ukraine.