Attractions of Poltava district

The Oles Honchar Literary and Memorial Museum-Estate in the village of Sukhe is located in a small peasant hut built in 1892 by the writer's grandfather, Havrylo Honchar. Here, little Oles lived and was raised from the age of three, after the death of his mother.

The exhibition in two rooms of the village house tells about the life and work of Oles Honchar. The central place is occupied by a desk that recreates the writer's work corner in his Kyiv apartment. The writer's personal belongings, his handwritten notebooks, letters and books preserved by his relatives are presented. Different stages of Honchar's life are illustrated by photos from the family album.

During the tour, visitors have the opportunity to hear the voice of Oles Honchar thanks to recordings from his family's audio library.

The Opishnia hydroelectric power station on the Vorskla River was built in 1958 in the village of Miski Mlyny, Opishnia settlement.

Operating hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 225 kilowatts.

A good place for fishing and recreation.

The Peoples Museum "Musical Poltava Region" at the Poltava Professional College of Arts is named after its founder - Ukrainian conductor, teacher, composer and folklorist Mykhailo Fisun, who began forming the collection of the future museum in the early 1970s.

Currently, the exhibition is presented in three thematic halls: "History of the Poltava Music College named after Mykola Lysenko", "The Founder of Ukrainian Classical Music Mykola Lysenko and His Followers", "Musical Poltava Region".

Among the exhibits: photographs, documents, letters, printed and handwritten works of composers, souvenirs, ceramics, sculpture, minting, records. In particular, a collection of ritual songs with the personal seal of Mykola Lysenko, a collection of folk songs with the autograph of the Ukrainian writer Marko Vovchok, the score of the cantata "In Eternal Memory of Ivan Kotlyarevsky" with the autograph of Mykola Lysenko, etc.

Also in the museum you can learn about the life and fate of the most famous kobzars and lyrists of the Poltava region.

The memorial sign to the Poltava halushka, installed next to the observation deck on Ivanova Hill, is considered one of the symbols of modern Poltava.

The authors of the monument are the artist Anatoliy Chornoshchokov and the sculptor Mykola Tsys. The opening of the monument in 2006 was dedicated to the birthday of the writer Mykola Hohol, who praised halushka in his works.

Initially, the monument was erected near the Holy Assumption Cathedral, but at the request of believers, it was later moved closer to the Lileya restaurant.

This place is popular with newlyweds and guests of the city. Every year in the first decade of June, the Poltava Halushka Festival is held near the monument.

The Museum of Science in Poltava was opened in 2023 at the National University "Poltava Polytechnic named after Yuriy Kondratyuk" to the 205th anniversary of the establishment of the educational institution.

This is an interactive space where scientific discoveries made by mankind, inventions of Poltava Polytechnic scientists and the evolution of scientific progress are presented in an accessible and interesting form.

The basis of the exposition is made up of exhibits from the history of the Poltava Polytechnic - one of the most famous and oldest higher educational institutions of the Poltava region. It is located in the historical building of the Institute of Noble Girls - an architectural monument of the first half of the 19th century. The modern university was founded in 1930 as the Poltava Institute of Agricultural Construction.

The museum presents a model of the university building, models of mining machinery and oil production equipment.

15 exhibits from the mobile exposition of the Kyiv "Science Museum" are adapted both for children of primary school age and for adult visitors. By interacting with the exhibits and using the tips of the interpreters, visitors have the opportunity to learn about various laws and phenomena of physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, etc.

The Reshetylivka City Council Local Lore Museum is located in the premises of the Culture and Leisure Center of the urban-type settlement of Reshetylivka. It was opened in 1965 at the initiative of the local community.

The exposition is spread over three rooms and has over 3,500 exhibits. The historical sections of the museum tell about the founding and development of Reshetylivka in ancient times, about the period of social upheavals of the early 20th century, about Soviet rule and the events of World War II, etc.

The pride of the museum is the department of weaving and carpet weaving, where you can get acquainted with the origins and development of folk art of Reshetylivka region in the conditions of subsistence farming, the activities of the Poltava provincial zemstvo regarding the revival of handicrafts at the beginning of the 20th century, the work of local art and industrial artels, a factory of art crafts and a school of craftsmen.

The best examples of Reshetylivka carpets, embroidery, embroidered towels made by local craftsmen are presented. Among the unique exhibits: carpets "Centauri and birds", "Peacocks" (Leonid Tovstukha), carpets "Tree of Life", "Autumn", "Red Viburnum", towels "Berehynia", "Tree of Life" (Nadia Babenko), shirts made by Olena Vasylenko and much more.

Since 1962, the modest Saint Macarius Church has been the cathedral of the Poltava Diocese.

The small parish Macarius church was built on the outskirts of the city at the beginning of the 20th century. According to the prophecy of the foolish Kuzma Ivashyn from Horbanivka, who lived in the 20s of the last century, this church was supposed to withstand the calamity and later become a cathedral, since almost all other churches of the city would be destroyed. And so it happened - a wave of temple destruction in Soviet times bypassed the Macarius Church. And after the Transfiguration Cathedral was demolished in 1962, it really acquired the status of a cathedral.

Several restorations did not change its original appearance. Paintings from the beginning of the 20th century have been preserved in the interior, in the northern part of the church there is the largest shrine of the cathedral - the Horbaniv miracle-working icon of the Holy Mother of God (1786), in the Illinsky aisle - the revered Kapluniv miracle-working icon.

The Church of Nicholas the Wonderworker was founded during the construction of the Poltava Fortress, and was located on one of its bastions on Institute Hill.

At first it was wooden. In 1774, a new stone Saint Nicholas Church was built. By the middle of the 19th century, the small church could no longer accommodate all the parishioners, and in 1855, a two-story stone annex was built at the expense of the merchant Mykola Vakulenko, on the second floor of which the warm church of George the Victorious was located.

The main temple was destroyed during the Second World War (fragments of brick walls remained), and the annex was preserved - in Soviet times it was used as a production facility.

Currently, the Saint Nicholas Church is functioning. Belongs to the community of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

On the night of October 3, 2025, as a result of a nighttime Russian missile attack, the Saint Nicholas Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine suffered significant damage - the blast wave broke out half of the windows and damaged the refectory.

The church of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleymon is located in the park named after Ivan Kotlyarevskyi, on the territory of which the city cemetery used to be located.

The All Saints Cemetery Church was located near the cemetery, in which at the end of the 19th century, the famous pope Hapon, the leader of the Christian trade union of St. Petersburg, the organizer of the mass march of workers on the day of "Bloody Sunday", served as a priest. During Soviet times, the All Saints Church was destroyed.

In 1999, by the decision of the city authorities of Poltava, the construction of the church of Saint Panteleymon was started nearby. On September 19, 2000, the church was consecrated, and on September 23 - the first divine liturgy.

The Church of Reverend Sampson on the Swedish grave in Poltava was founded in 1852 in honor of the victory of the Russian army over the Swedes in 1709.

Peter I himself wanted to build a temple on the Poltava battlefield, but the Holy Synod delayed the decision, and after the death of the emperor, the idea was forgotten. Privy councilor Yosyp Sudienko later decided to carry out Peter's will, allocating 100,000 rubles from his own funds, but he did not live to see the start of construction, and the city government began to spend his money not for its intended purpose. Only after the personal intervention of Tsar Nicholas I, the construction of the church began according to the project of the architect Joseph Charlemagne, and in 1856 the Sampson's Church was solemnly consecrated.

In 1893-1895, reconstruction was carried out, a second throne in honor of Saint Constantine was added to the church. The iconostasis was made in the workshop of the Moscow merchant Astafiev, the icons were painted by the artist Malyshev. In 1909, the belfry over the gate was completed.

The monument "To Swedes from Swedes" near Poltava was erected in 1909 near the Poltava battlefield.

The 6 m high monolithic granite monument was delivered from Sweden. According to the legend, the Russian authorities put forward a demand - there should be no bas-reliefs, sculptures or any other decorations on the monument. The Swedes fulfilled the condition, but every year on the day of the Battle of Poltava early in the morning, when the first rays of the rising sun fall on the granite, the silhouette of a grieving woman appears on it.

On two sides of the monument there are inscriptions in Swedish and Russian: "In memory of the Swedes who died here in 1709, it was built by compatriots in 1909."

The Kotelva People's Museum of Sydir Kovpak was opened in 2007 for the 120th anniversary of the birth of the hero of the partisan movement in his homeland in Kotelva.

Sydir Kovpak became famous as the commander of the legendary partisan unit, which went through the entire Second World War from Putivl in Sumy Region to the Carpathians in western Ukraine.

The Kovpak Museum is located in the school where he once studied (now Kotelva Gymnasium No. 1 named after Sydir Kovpak). The first section of the museum "Kotelva region - homeland of Sydir Kovpak" tells about the history of the region. The second section presents the hero's personal belongings, including clothes and weapons.

Samples of weapons from the Second World War are kept here.

The Memorial Museum-Estate of Potter Vasyl Omelianenko was founded in 2025 in the Opishnia house, where he lived, worked and dreamed of creating a museum of his own pottery. All his working tools and devices, household items, and household items are preserved intact here.

Vasyl Omelianenko (1925-2021) was born and lived all his life in Opishnia. He was not a hereditary potter and did not have a professional education, but he mastered the technique of making clay toys on his own and mastered the basic techniques of working on a potter's wheel. From an amateur potter, he grew to an Honored Master of Folk Art of Ukraine, laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine, member of the National Union of Masters of Folk Art of Ukraine and the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. His works became the hallmark of Opishnia pottery and glorified Ukrainian folk art in the world.

An exhibition using multimedia technologies has been created in the Vasyl Omelianenko Museum-Estate, which presents traditional Opishnia clay zoomorphic dishes and sculptures of the artist. There is a wide array of written and audiovisual ceramological sources about his life and work: documents, publications, photographs, videos, etc. The personal belongings of the master have become part of the exhibition.

The Memorial Museum-Estate of the Potter Vasyl Omelianenko is part of the National Museum-Reserve of Ukrainian Pottery in Opishnia.

The Poltava Literary and Memorial Museum of Volodymyr Korolenko was opened in the house where the writer and his family lived for the last 18 years of his life and where he died in 1921.

The writer's creativity is closely connected with Ukraine, where he was born and spent his childhood, and where he returned towards the end of his life. In Poltava, Korolenko worked on a large autobiographical work, "The History of My Contemporary", which was supposed to summarize everything he had experienced and systematize his philosophical views. The work remained unfinished. The writer died while working on the fourth volume. He was buried on the territory of Peremohy Park near the estate.

The estate itself was restored after the war. The complex includes a building-museum (memorial part), a wing (exhibition hall), a garden. In the reconstructed office of Korolenko, you can see his desk, writing instruments, and a wooden couch.

The house of the merchant Vozdvyzhenskyi (Vozdvyzhenko) in Zinkiv served as a meeting place for the nobility before the Bolshevik coup of 1917.

Vozdvyzhenskyi was the son of a poor burgher from Zinkiv, who traded in tar. Thanks to his entrepreneurial talent, he became a famous industrialist: he built a brick factory, oil mills, and a mill. Later, he began to build high-rise buildings in Zinkiv.

The original building in the style of early romantic modernism with neo-Gothic elements was built in 1897. Now it is a dormitory.