Attractions of Bolhrad district

The center of ethnographic, green, rural tourism and family recreation "Frumushika-Nova" is an open-air museum known as "Bessarabian village".

The construction of the Frumushika-Nova farm began in the summer of 2006 on the site of the Moldavian villages of Frumushika-Nova and Roshiya, which were evicted in the spring of 1946 due to the creation of a military training ground.

The "Frumushika-Nova" complex includes stylized national ethnographic estates built around a production base - a modern sheep complex (one of the largest sheep farms in Europe for breeding Karakul sheep). Nearby there are 10 holiday cottages that meet modern European requirements. The complex also has a Bessarabian restaurant and its own wine cellar with a mini-museum of Bessarabian viticulture. There is a picturesque lake with swans and wild geese, and enclosures with local animals: wild boars and other animals, a large pheasantry was built for 1000 pheasants and quails, there is a farm for ponies and donkeys, on which you can ride if you wish.

On the territory of "Frumushika-Nova" there is the largest monument "Chaban" in the world, entered in the Guinness Book of Records, as well as in the National Register of Records of Ukraine. The height of the monument is 16 meters 43 centimeters (17.93 with the pedestal), and the weight of the monument is 1080 tons.

In the neighboring village of Semysotka, the "Semysotka Smart Village Museum" has been created since 2011, combining the features of an open-air museum, an eco-village with permanent residents, and a rural green tourism complex.

The family winery "Kolonist" was founded in Krynychne near Bolhrad in 2005 by the Plachkov family with the aim of producing local premium wines. The winery was named after the Bulgarian colonists who settled this territory at the beginning of the 19th century. The founder and owner of the winery, Ivan Plachkov, is a descendant of this people who turned the scorched steppe into a flourishing and fertile land.

The production of Bessarabian wines was established here using classical technology and modern equipment. The company owns 21 hectares of young vineyards and 60 hectares of vineyards about 35 years old, which are located on the southwestern slopes of the largest freshwater lake in Ukraine - Yalpuh. Due to the sloping slopes, the vineyards receive double sunlight - from the sun and reflected from the surface of the lake, and are also well blown by winds. 33 hectares of vineyards, pruned using the Guyot and Cordon methods, grow on loamy soils rich in minerals with deep limestone deposits. These pruning systems ensure low yields and, combined with a special terroir, produce high-quality grapes.

The quality of production is ensured by the latest equipment from France, Germany and Italy and aging in traditional 100-year-old French oak barrels. The technology was developed by the famous Bordeaux oenologist Olivier Dogue. The Kolonist winery annually produces about 280 thousand bottles of wine of 10 varieties. There is a Wine Center with a tasting room where you can taste wines from the entire line of the "Kolonist" brand: Chardonnay, Sukholymanske, Traminer, Aligote, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Cabernet dessert, Cabernet dry, Merlot, Odesa black dry, Odesa black dessert, Odesa black aged.

At the Festival of Young Wine, tourists have the opportunity to join the harvest process, start it barefoot in "sharapans" to incendiary music. During each of the events, tourists have the opportunity to get acquainted with the local traditions of the multinational Danube Bessarabia.

One full day of stay at the winery during the festivals includes: a tour of the territory, vineyards, wine cellars, wine, oil and vinegar production, a tasting room with a fireplace; full board (local Bessarabian cuisine and "Kolonist" wine); during the harvest, the program includes picking grapes yourself and the opportunity to crush grapes with your feet to incendiary music; a professional wine master class and tasting of wines, oils and balsamic vinegar.

The "Kolonist" winery is a participant in the "Wine and Taste Route of Ukrainian Bessarabia" project.

The Folk Museum of Bessarabian Culture "Stara Kishta" (from Bulgarian - "Old House") was created in the village of Kubei in 2018 in the old house of the Bulgarian Raynov family, who moved to Kubei at the beginning of the 20th century.

The founders of the museum managed to preserve the house, which is more than a hundred years old, in its original form and recreate the atmosphere and everyday life of a traditional Bulgarian house of those times. Over the years, the museum has been filled with ancient authentic household items and crafts - from unique devices for removing shoes, traditional tables at which the whole family gathered, to beds, pillows, icons and embroidered blankets, shirts, dresses and runners.

The "Stara Kashta" museum regularly hosts various master classes in folk crafts, restores and demonstrates ancient national Bulgarian rituals, holds meetings, photo shoots in authentic costumes, tastings of national cuisine, performances by folk groups, etc.

"Stara Kashta" is a place where you can experience the authentic Budzhak and Bessarabian culture, life and traditions of the peoples living in southern Ukraine.

The Winehall Oksamytne Viticulture and Wine Farm was founded in 1998 on the site where Count Davidov's chateau had been established 120 years ago. It has 550 hectares of its own vineyards in the valley of Lake Yalpuh. It produces wines under its own brands Villa Tinta (dry ordinary wines from local and European grape varieties), Tintarella (sparkling wines using Sharma technology) and Tinta (semi-sweet blended wines).

The plant is equipped with modern equipment for all stages of production, from Italian crushers and French pneumatic presses Vaslin Bucher for careful and gentle pressing of grapes and ending with the Italian line for bottling of still and sparkling wines. You can get acquainted with the technological process of grape processing, production and bottling of wine during the tour and tasting.

The excursion program begins with a tasting of the sparkling wine on the factory roof with a view of the vineyards and Lake Yalpuh at a distance of 1-4 km from the winery. Harvesting can also be observed during the grape processing season. Then the tour continues in the grape processing shop, bottling shop and champagne shop. After the excursion, guests are invited to the tasting room in the cellars of wineries. Excursion is included in the cost of tasting.
    
"Winehall Oksamytne" is a participant in the project "Wine and Taste Route of Ukrainian Bessarabia". Since 2018, "Winehall Oksamytne" together with winemakers of the Yalpuh Lake Valley participates in the creation of one of the first in Ukraine PDO Yalpuh for wines from Odesa Black and Sukholimanskiy and PGI of the same name for wine from European grapes.

The Artsyz Historical and Local Lore Museum was founded in 1977 on the initiative of a local history teacher, Dmytro Cherbadzhy, who became its first director.

The museum collection consists of more than 8 thousand exhibits from different periods, in particular Scythian, Slavic and German (1816-1940), of which 200 are original. The halls of the museum present ethnographic expositions of everyday life and traditions of representatives of Ukrainian, Bulgarian and German nationalities - "Bessarabian House of the 19th Century", "Bessarabian House of the 20th Century", "Bessarabian Barn", "Bessarabian Courtyard".

In 2021, an exposition of women's dresses of different nationalities of the multinational Bessarabian region and an exposition of money were opened.

The branch of the museum of the Main Office of the National Police in the Odesa region opened in Artsyz in 2022 in the police station No. 1 of the Bolhrad district police department.

The museum's exposition presents rare items related to the work of law enforcement officers at different times - from Kyivan Rus to the present. The museum's collection includes over a thousand exhibits, which were collected for about a year: photographs, documents and personal belongings of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, their awards, samples of weapons and uniforms of different historical periods, magazines of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, samples of official transport. Many unique exhibits were donated by pensioners of internal affairs bodies.

The Bolhad Historical and Ethnographic Museum was opened in 1961 on a public basis. In 1968 it received the status of a people`s museum. In 1989 it became the ethnographic department of the Odesa Historical and Local Lore Museum and was named the "Historical and Ethnographic Museum".

The museum's collections reflect the ethnography of the peoples of Southern Ukraine, in particular, the national costumes of the Bulgarians, Gagauz, Albanians, Ukrainians, Moldovans, Jews, Romanians, Turks, as well as copper and clay utensils of the late 19th century are presented for viewing. Archaeological finds of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC are also exhibited.

A separate hall is dedicated to the history of the founding of the city of Bolhrad, which is inextricably linked with the name of the plenipotentiary governor of Bessarabiya, governor-general of the Novorossiya Territory, Ivan Inzov. The museum's exposition contains materials dedicated to this military and statesman.

Other sections present old postcards, photographs, souvenirs, jewelry, various tools and other exhibits that introduce the folk crafts and trades of the peoples living in Bessarabiya.

The museum building houses the Center for Bulgarian Culture.

Cheese dairy "Shchedra Okolytsia"  is a small experimental family production with modern equipment and its own cheese cellar. The company manufactures traditional and original cheeses and dairy products.

The family cheese dairy is located in a unique place - near the beginning of one of the famous Trayan's Walls in the village of Tabaky on the outskirts of Bolhrad.

Within the framework of the project "Wine and Taste Route of Ukrainian Bessarabia", the founders of the enterprise Halyna and Petro Kurdov aim to preserve and popularize traditional Bessarabian cheeses, to restore forgotten recipes.

The cheese dairy "Shchedra Okolytsia" conducts excursions with visits to production shops and basements, where cheeses ripen in the cold. Guests are shown the production process of cheese making, during which all operations are carried out manually. After the tour, guests can be offered a tasting of finished products and workshops on the production of cheese.

The house-museum and home bakery "Khlebna kyshta" in Krynychne (pronounced as "khlibna kyshta", which means "bread house" in Bulgarian) is a private estate of Krynychne folklorist Tetiana Yancheva-Dukova, where tourists are served with traditional Bessarabian bread-making.
    
Homemade cornmeal bread is made here according to ancient Bulgarian recipes, which use intoxicating yeast and wine products. This bread has a special taste and appetizing texture. It can be stored for a long time without hardening and without losing its taste.

For tourist groups, the hostess can organize a tour of the house-museum of Bulgarian life "Bytova Kyshta" and an exhibition of woven products of the last century. He will also demonstrate the process of baking sourdough bread, hold a master class on making traditional Bulgarian bakery products, and at the end will arrange a delicious tasting. An additional attraction will be the performance of Bulgarian songs accompanied by folk instruments.

The tasting can be complemented by a lunch with dishes of Bulgarian national cuisine, including "Kurban" (lamb soup), "Agnieszka Churba" (lamb soup), "Kashychka ut pulenci" (chicken cream soup), "Lozena sarma" (stuffed grape leaves with bulgur), "Ryba sas bulgur" (fish baked with onions and bulgur), cheese, sliced vegetables.

The House-museum and home bakery "Khlebna kyshta" is a participant in the project "Wine and Taste Route of Ukrainian Bessarabia".

The memorial sign in honor of General Ivan Inzov was opened in 2010 for the 165th anniversary of the death of the founder of Bolhrad, a hero of the Franco-Russian war, a guardian of immigrants from the southern part of the Russian Empire.

The first monument to Inzov in Bolhrad was created with public funds back in 1911, but it was dismantled and taken to Romania under the Romanian authorities. It is planned to create an exact copy.

The current memorial is a round obelisk with a relief portrait of Inzov. The inscription on the reverse side reads: "General Inzov of the Suvorov and Kutuzov schools made a famous name for himself in military and civil positions. He gave the settlers a new life in the new Motherland. With his assistance, the construction of Bolhrad was started."

The Memorial Museum of the poet, journalist, and national hero of Bulgaria, Khrysto Botev, was opened in 2008 in the village of Zadunaivka in the Odesa region, where he taught in 1866.

The museum exposition is located in three halls. The first hall tells about the subjugation of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Empire and the resettlement of Bulgarian refugees to neighboring lands. The second hall is dedicated to the life and work of Khrysto Botev - here are presented Botev's works, newspapers in which he was published, bibliographical literature, and the poet's reading circle. The third hall tells the story of the founding of the village of Zadunaivka by Bulgarian immigrants. The museum exposition presents not only documents, books, and household items of Bulgarians, but also panels with images of contemporaries - residents of Zadunaivka.

The Khrysto Botev Museum is a branch of the Odesa Literary Museum.

The "Balkanski Yastiya" (Balkan Dishes) Museum and Tasting Complex was founded in Bolhrad by the Bessarabian family of Serhiy and Nataliya Rusev. In addition to production facilities, the enogastronomic tourist location has a branded store of finished products and a tasting room decorated in the style of a traditional Bulgarian mehana (national restaurant).

The "Balkanski Yastiya" mehana has a museum exhibition on ethnographic themes: authentic costumes of Bessarabian and Thracian Bulgarians, handmade carpets, antique furniture, various containers for drinks, including more than 400 decanters for wine and rakia.

During the excursions, the owner of the enterprise, Serhiy Rusev, talks about the history of the establishment of the enterprise, the search for authentic recipes for the production of products and the preparation of traditional Bulgarian dishes, about the stages of production and the raw materials used in the process. During the visit, under the guidance of a technologist, you can take part in the making of sausages.

The tour ends with a tasting of the best samples of the finished products of "Balkanski Yastiya". All products are made according to ancient Balkan recipes using local raw materials of local animal breeds and spices grown independently.

The assortment includes raw cured sausages (karnak, sujuk, sushnetsya), dried beef and pork, semi-finished meat products (kebab, kyufte, pleskavitsa), home-made liqueurs, jams and marmalades, homemade adjika, and paste from bell peppers.

Visitors to "Balkanski Yastiya" have the opportunity to take pictures in national clothes, become a participant in the Bulgarian national holiday, learn to sing Bulgarian songs, take a dance master class, and take part in a master class on cooking traditional Balkan dishes.

The "Balkanski Yastiya" Museum and Tasting Complex is a participant in the project "Wine and Taste Route of Ukrainian Bessarabia".

The Church of Saint Mitrofan in Bolhrad is the temple-tomb of General Ivan Inzov, the guardian of foreign settlements on the territory of Bessarabia, which the Russian Empire conquered in 1806-1812.

General Inzov paid special attention to the situation of the Bulgarian immigrants who founded Bolhrad. In particular, with his efforts, the Bulgarians were equalized in rights with the German colonists.

During his lifetime, Inzov expressed his desire "that his ashes lie in Bolhrad after his death." The cemetery rotunda church of Saint Mitrofan was built in 1840-1844. After Inzov's death in 1845 in Odesa, residents of Bolhrad carried the coffin with his remains on their shoulders to Bolhrad and buried them in the Saint Mitrofan Church, which became Inzov's mausoleum. The restored hearse of Inzov, which was never used for its intended purpose, is stored in the church. The words carved on the tombstone: "...He gave the envoys a new life in the new Motherland. The grateful Bulgarian colonists wished to transfer the ashes of the perpetrator of their prosperity to the depths of their settlement to preserve his name in the memory of the people."

The majestic Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral in Bolhrad is the main spiritual center of the Bulharian community of Bessarabia, a monument of cultural heritage of national significance.

The cathedral was built in 1833-1838 with donations from the inhabitants of the city of Bulgarian origin. Architect Abraham Melnykov used the architectural style of mature classicism in the project. The height of the dome, decorated with Corinthian pilasters, is 50 meters.

The interior was painted in 1912-1914 by the artist Pavlo Piskariov in the style of romanticism. Some sources indicate that the sketches for the murals were created by the famous artist Viktor Vasnetsov.

There is a small museum at the Transfiguration Cathedral, where some artifacts related to the history of the temple are collected.

Trayan's Wall near the village of Tabaky is part of a system of earthen ramparts preserved from the times of the Roman Empire, which was built on the territory of Podillya, Bessarabia and Dobrudsh. It was a kind of southeastern border of the empire during its heyday in the 2nd century AD, during the reign of Emperor Trayan.

Trayan's Wall in the territory of Bessarabia is 150 kilometers long. It originates from the village of Vadul-lui-Isac (Moldova), then extends into the territory of Ukraine, crosses the village of Tabaky and rests on a high steep bank against Lake Sasyk. A memorial sign to this ancient border has been erected between the villages of Borysivka and Hlyboke, which are located on the shore of Lake Sasyk.

Near the village of Tabaky, crossing modern highways, sections of the rampart have been preserved, which give an idea of ​​the power of these engineering structures.

In the middle Dnipro region, similar structures are called Serpent's Wall.