Attractions of Kharkiv region

Byelovska fortress (Bielovska) in present-day Berestyn is the central fortification of the Ukrainian defense line.

A chain of fortifications between the Dnipro and Siverskyi Donets to protect the southern borders of the Russian Empire from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars was created in 1731-1733. The line played the role of a dividing line between the free lands of Zaporizhzhia Sich and Hetman Ukraine under the control of the Russian tsars. The author of the project of 16 fortresses of the Ukrainian Defense Line was General Weissbach.

The Byelovska fortress on the banks of the Berestova River was named after the garrison stationed in it - the Byelovsky infantry regiment. There was also the administration of the fortresses, which soon turned into the administrative center of the entire district.

Two northern bastions, a rampart and a moat are partially preserved. A memorial sign has been installed on the northwestern bastion.

The Kharkiv suspended Cableway is laid from the Central Park of Culture and Recreation (Sumska Street) to the Botanical Garden (Otakara Yarosha Street).

Along the way, two-seater cabins pass over Sarzhyn Yar, from where a view of Pavlove Pole - one of the old districts of Kharkiv - opens up. The building of the Pavlove Pole boarding station, designed by architect Ihor Popov, is decorated with a mosaic panel by Viktor Savenkov.

The total length of the Cableway is 1385 meters, the height is up to 26 meters. Travel time one way - 18 minutes.

The Museum of Childhood was created in Kharkiv by the innovative teacher Valeiry Leyko in 2009. The museum is located on the third floor of the Nickname Educational Center (Honey Academy), next to the Kharkiv Theater of Young Spectators.

The goal of the museum is to show the child who they want to be and what they want to do in their future lives, through interactive lectures to help children learn and develop, to give them the opportunity to see the world of travel, sports, books, collecting, and creativity.

The museum's exhibits include antique and modern toys, games, books, construction sets, games, elements of various collections, and everyday objects of children of the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum is interactive - all exhibits can be touched and played with.

The Central Synagogue of Kharkiv was built in 1913. The building in the Neo-Gothic style with elements of the Moorish style was built by architects Yakiv Hevirts, Valentyn Feldman, Mykhaylo Piskunov.

The height of the dome is 42 meters, the area is more than 2 thousand square meters, the capacity is up to 1 thousand people. This is one of the largest synagogues in Ukraine.

From 1923 to 1990, the synagogue did not function, the building housed a club, a cinema, and after the Second World War - the sports association "Spartak". Today, the chorale synagogue belongs to the Hasids.

As a result of Russian missile attacks on Kharkiv during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Choral Synagogue suffered significant damage - the windows in the women's hall on the third floor were blown out by the shock wave.

The Chuhuiv Museum of Local Lore is located in an officer's house from the period of military settlements (19th century).

The collection includes about 10,000 items: antique furniture, clothes, weapons, awards, ethnographic materials, archaeological finds, documents and photographs from different years.

The museum has permanent exhibitions dedicated to the founding of the city, military history, an exhibition from the museum's funds, private collections and other sources. They reveal the pages of the past from the construction of the Chuhuiv fortress in the 17th century to the present day.

The city garden named after Taras Shevchenko is the oldest green area in the center of Kharkiv, one of the most favorite places of rest for the citizens.

Founded in 1804 by Vasyl Karazin, the founder of Kharkiv University, on the basis of a natural oak grove on the outskirts of the city, it was then called University. A monument to Karazin (1907) was erected on the north side of the park.

A chestnut avenue leads from the monument to Taras Shevchenko (1935) to the university building. Next to the "Ukraine" movie concert hall - the central entrance to the Kharkiv Zoo (1895). The Astronomical Observatory (1808) is located in the garden.

Other monuments installed in the park: Monument to repressed Kobzars (1997), sculpture "Soccer Ball" (2001), monument to Archangel Michael moved from Kyiv (2004), sculpture "Aksakal" (1989 -2007 years).

A high cliff above Siverskyi Donets on the southern outskirts of the village of Koropove, from its 60-meter height offers wonderful views of the surrounding area.

Nicknamed Cossack Mountain, because the Cossack Nicholas monastery was located nearby, the ruins of which have been preserved in the village. When Empress Catherine II liquidated the Zaporizhzhia Sich in 1788, the monastery in which many fugitive Cossacks were hiding was also destroyed.

According to legend, Cossacks in monastic robes broke through the ranks of Russian troops surrounding the monastery and threw themselves from the bank cliff into the river, trying to escape by swimming. Today, a memorial cross has been erected on the mountain.

The Cross of Ascension Church in Izium was built at the expense of the parishioners instead of two outdated wooden churches of the 18th century.

Initially, it was made in the style of classicism, but during its more than one and a half century history, it was rebuilt several times.

It was closed in Soviet times.

The paintings of the dome and the oil painting on the walls, made by the artists of Viktor Vasnetsov's school, have been preserved. Only the lower tier of the belfry adjoining from the west has been preserved.

The Church of the Ascension of Holy Cross (Nicholas) was heavily damaged by Russian shelling in March 2022 during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The building complex of the Building of State Industry was built in Kharkiv on the initiative of Feliks Dzerzhynskyi, becoming the core of the new administrative center of city, which was then the capital of Ukraine.

This is the first high-rise reinforced concrete structure in the USSR (63 meters). The useful area of the premises is 60,000 square meters. The building was designed by a group of Leningrad architects in the then fashionable and advanced style of constructivism. Construction under the leadership of engineer Pavlo Rottert was completed in record time - in 3 years.

Until 1934, the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine was located here. In 1955, one of the first 45-meter television towers in the USSR was installed on the roof. Now the building houses the regional government, offices of many companies.

In the 5th entrance there is a museum of Derzhprom, created in the 1980s with the participation of Kharkiv writer Eduard Zvonytskyi.

The Derzhprom building is recognized as an architectural monument of national importance - it is the largest monument of constructivism in the world.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine on March 1, 2022, Maidan Svobody, where the Derzhprom complex is located, was attacked by Russian Kalibr missiles. One of them hit the historic building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, injuring twenty people and killing ten. All the windows were broken and significantly damaged, and in some places the ceilings were completely destroyed.

On September 7, 2023, UNESCO included Derzhprom in the list of objects for enhanced protection and in the preliminary list of World Heritage.

On January 2, 2024, the Derzhprom building suffered severe damage for the second time, when a Russian missile hit next to the building. The impact of an enemy rocket damaged the glazing of windows and stained-glass windows in almost the entire northwestern part of the Derzhprom building.

On October 28, 2024, the Derzhprom building was once again destroyed. As a result of a direct hit by a FAB-500 guided aerial bomb in one of the entrances of Derzhprom during the aerial bombardment of Kharkiv by the Russian occupiers, 3 floors of the building were completely destroyed.

The Kharkiv city dolphinarium "Nemo" opened in the garden named after Taras Shevchenko in 2009 for Children's Day.

Theatrical performances with the participation of marine animals take place here, as well as dolphin therapy sessions, which are an effective method of improving and rehabilitating children with functional limitations. 4 dolphins, 3 fur seals and 1 sea lion participate in the performances. Visitors are also offered swimming with dolphins.

The Dolphinarium Nemo in Kharkiv works in any weather, all viewing points are under a canopy.

The Donets Hillfort is located on the right bank of the Uda River on the northern outskirts of Pokotylivka near Kharkiv.

The ancient Rus fortress-city of Donets is mentioned in the "Ipatiev Annals" and the "Words about Ihor's Campaign" as the first Rus city reached by Prince Ihor Svyatoslavych, returning from Polovtsian captivity after an unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsy.

Donets was a border town and trade center of Ancient Rus, it was inhabited by artisans and herders. The city ceased to exist after the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

Powerful earthen ramparts of the Donets hillfort of a triangular shape with sides from 200 to 400 meters have been preserved, as well as several semi-underground dwellings. Archaeological excavations are regularly conducted here, as a result of which many interesting finds have already been made.

A wonderful view of the Uda Valley opens from the ramparts of the Donets hillfort.

The municipal institution "Dvorichna Museum of Local Lore" was founded in 1992.

It is located in a specially built room in the center of the village of Dvorichna.

The stock collection of the museum includes about 3,000 exhibits, which acquaint visitors with the history of the region, life and traditions of its inhabitants, famous people of Dvorichna region.

The historical exposition presents tools of the Stone Age, arrowheads of the Scythian era, remains of pottery from different times, as well as weapons from the Second World War: anti-tank gun ZIS-3, Maxim machine gun, Shpagin's machine-pistol, part of Dehtyaryov machine gun, Mosin rifle model 1891-1930, etc.

The Museum of Famous Kharkiv Residents named after Klavdiya Shulzhenko was founded in 1996 on the initiative of the singer's relative Borys Ahafonov on the basis of the apartment in which Klavdiya Shulzhenko lived from 1959 to 1974. The museum building is a monument of 20th century architecture.

The museum collection was assembled with the participation of the singer's son Ihor Kemper-Shulzhenko. In one of the rooms, the interior of Klavdiya Shulzhenko's house is recreated - here you can see the singer's personal belongings, furniture, and dishes. The exhibits in the other three halls tell about the life and creative path of the pop legend. On display are editions of Klavdiya Shulzhenko's works, manuscripts, sheet music, letters, concert programs, posters, numerous rare photographs from the family album, personal memorial items, and concert dresses in which the artist performed.

The museum's exposition includes special thematic exhibitions dedicated to the life and work of Leonid Bykov, Irina Buhrymova, Lyudmila Hurchenko, Isaak Dunayevsky, Anatoliy Efros, Volodymyr Kraynyev, Les Kurbas, Yevheniya Miroshnychenko, Vadym Mulerman, Nataliya Fatyeyeva and many others who make up the fame of Kharkiv's artistic figures.

A branch of the Famous Kharkiv Residents Museum named after Klavdiya Shulzhenko is the Hryzodubov Family Memorial Museum-Apartment.

An open-air Fantasy Park was opened in Kharkiv in 2021.

The park of light sculptures is located in a public garden near the Kharkiv Municipal Cultural Center, the former Metallist House of Culture.

Art installations and figures of fantastic heroes are installed on park alleys and lawns. In the evening, the figures are illuminated and come to life with the help of projection technologies. A stage has been set up in the park, a large playground has been equipped, a fountain has been reconstructed, pedestrian paths have been laid, and recreation areas with benches have been landscaped.

It is assumed that young sculptors, designers, lighting designers, architects, musicians and artists will be able to embody their creative ideas on the territory of the creative space of the Kharkiv Fantasy Park.

The Feldman Ecopark family recreation complex near Kharkov is a charity project of the Oleksandr Feldman Foundation. Since 2013, it has the status of a regional landscape park.

Ecopark is an area for family recreation with entertainment and a zoo where tigers, wolves, monkeys, kangaroos, proboscis, raccoons and others are kept. Visitors have the opportunity not only to observe the animals, but also to communicate closely with some of them in the "Contact Zoo" zone - to feed and pet the animals of the so-called tactile group: chickens, geese, ducks, peacocks, rabbits, alpacas, Cameroonian goats, decorative sheep, donkeys, ponies, Vietnamese pigs (the feed is provided by the ecopark). A group of young naturalists works.

For lovers of active recreation, the ecopark has a rope town, trampolines. The territory is equipped with gazebos, each of which has a samovar, tea, sugar, cups and bagels. In the winter time, on weekends, visitors are treated to kulish and sweets, and in the spring and summer period, small visitors are treated to cotton candy and popcorn.

Russian-Ukrainian war

In the very first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, the territory of the ecopark, where about five thousand animals lived, was in the zone of Russian shelling, and battles were going on nearby. For 199 days, Feldman Ecopark was under daily enemy fire.

Every day, Ecopark employees and volunteers, risking their lives, broke into its territory to feed, water and warm the animals. Six people - park employees and volunteers - died while trying to save their wards. Among them is a minor boy who helped his parents.

During the fighting for Kharkiv, the Russians destroyed 97% of the enclosures and buildings of the Ecopark. More than 300 animals died. 4,750 animals and birds were saved from death and evacuated.

From February 2023, 140 hectares of the territory of the Ecopark will be demined from stretch marks, remnants of cluster munitions, anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, clearing rubble. The shot enclosures, as a reminder of Russian aggression, will not be cleaned yet.