Attractions of Mykolaiv district

The Turkish fortress of Kinburn was built in the 15th century on the Kinburn spit at the mouth of the Dnipro.

In 1736, it was captured and destroyed by the Russian detachment of General Leontiev, but rebuilt by the Turks. According to the Kyuchuk-Kainardzhii peace treaty in 1774, the Kinburn fortress went to Russia. In 1787, during the Second Russo-Turkish War, a Turkish landing force of janissaries trying to take over Kinburn's fortifications was completely defeated by the garrison under the leadership of Oleksandr Suvorov, which allowed the Russians to soon capture the Turkish fortress of Ochakiv. The Ukrainian Cossacks of the Black Sea Flotilla took an active part in this battle.

In October 1855, the Kinburn fortress was attacked by the Anglo-French fleet, surrendered and has not been restored since then.

Earthen ramparts and a ditch crossing the spit from north to south to the west of the village of Pokrovske have been preserved.

JSC "Koblevo" is one of the leading winemaking enterprises of the Black Sea region.

"Koblevo" winery was founded in 1982 in the picturesque Tylihul reserve near the shores of the Black Sea.

Now it has all links of the technological chain of natural wine production: vineyards, primary winemaking plant (production of wine materials) and secondary winemaking plant (wine production). The assortment includes more than 30 items. The plant's collection includes 2 gold, 18 silver and 10 bronze medals received at various competitions and festivals ("Crimea. Wine", "Yalta. Golden Griffin", "Vinum" and others).

Excursions are regularly held, during which visitors can see the complete process of wine making: from picking grapes to bottling. Guests are invited to taste some of the best wines of the Koblev winery: Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Aligote, Merlot, Saperavi, Cabernet and others. During the tasting, visitors are taught the culture of wine consumption.

The Kostyantynivska Battery in the Mykolayiv area is an artificial dam on the right bank of the Buzky estuary, which ends with the fortified island of Flagshtok.

It was built in 1855 according to the project of the famous military engineer Eduard Totleben. The dam starts from the former village of Mala Korenykha (now a district of the city) opposite the center of Mykolaiv and runs across the estuary.

During the Crimean War, it became part of the defense system of the city, when there was a threat of its capture by Anglo-French troops. The artillery battery located on the island, together with the Kaufmann battery on the opposite bank of the estuary, blocked the narrow fairway passage for ships with fire.

The Kostyantynivska Battery did not take part in the battles, after the end of the war the battery was abandoned.

The Ochakiv Museum of Marine Painting is named after the artist Rufin Sudkovsky, who was born in Ochakiv in 1850. The main direction of his creativity was seascapes, the subjects for which he found on the coasts of Ochakiv and Odesa. The museum exhibits many of Sudkovsky's works. The artist's grave is located on the territory of the Saint Nicholas Cathedral.

The Rufin Sudkovsky Museum in Ochakiv is the only museum in Ukraine dedicated to marine painting, a type of fine art depicting the sea. The museum is a territorially separate department of the Vasyl Vereshchahin Mykolaiv Regional Art Museum.

The basis of the museum's collection is paintings by famous Ukrainian marine painters of the 19th century, Rufin Sudkovsky, Oleksiy Hanzen, Ivan Ayvazovsky, as well as paintings by Tatyana Yablonska. The subjects of the paintings are closely related to the cultural context of the region - they recreate Ukrainian landscapes of the Black Sea coast, the sea elements, the life of sea fishermen, military battles and historical milestones in the development of Ukraine as a naval state.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the city of Ochakiv has been under constant enemy fire. As a result of shelling by the Russian army, the building of the Rufin Sudkovsky Museum of Marine Painting suffered significant damage, forcing the museum to close its doors to visitors. The museum's collection has been evacuated to a safe place, and the process of digitizing it is ongoing.

A memorial plaque in honor of the prominent Ukrainian writer, playwright, theater director and actor Marko Kropyvnytskyi was installed in 2025 on one of the oldest houses in Mykolaiv, replacing the Potomkin plaque, which was dismantled as part of decolonization.

Located at the intersection of Marka Kropyvnytskoho Street and the pedestrian Soborna Street.

The memorial sign at the place of the foundation of the city of Mykolaiv is better known as the "Monument to the Students' Shara" thanks to Mykolaiv students.

At first, it stood in a prominent place before the descent to the lower embankment (on the site of the current monument to Mykhailo Faleev), then it was moved a few hundred meters to the side.

The monument has the form of a cube, on the edges of which are carved images of ships and a long inscription, the first and last words of which make up the phrase "there is a shara".

According to local student tradition, before the session, students who wanted to receive the patronage of the almighty Shara had to come to the monument and beat their heads against the carved corner of the monument, asking for easy grades in the exam.

The bust of Generalissimo Suvorov was unveiled in Mykolaiv in 2010 near the Department of Military Training of Vasyl Sukhomlynsky National University for the 280th anniversary of the birth of the 18th century commander.

The monument to the work of sculptor Dmytro Korinovsky was created at the expense of students and teachers of the military department, activists of the Mykolaiv regional organization of graduates of Suvorov and Nakhimiv schools, and other patrons, instead of the sculpture stolen a few years ago on the Kinburn spit.

On January 5, 2023, during Russia's large-scale military invasion of Ukraine, the monument to Russian General Suvorov in Mykolaiv was dismantled as part of de-Russification. Before that, caring residents of Mykolaiv covered the monument with red paint.

Reference: Oleksandr Suvorov was the organizer of the suppression of national liberation uprisings and deportations, in particular the suppression of the Kolyivshchyna in Right-Bank Ukraine and the Kostyushko Uprising, as well as, in 1778, the deportation of Crimean Christians to the Russian Empire, and in 1782-1783, the deportation of Nogai people from the Kuban. All these measures were marked by brutality and had signs of genocide.

The Mykolaiv regional art museum of a name of Vasyl Vereshchahin represents more than 9 thousand works of fine arts.

The collection was based on 148 paintings by the outstanding battle artist Vasyl Vereshchahin, on whose initiative a society of lovers of fine arts was established in Mykolaiv. His most striking works reflect the course of hostilities in various wars, but the most popular was the painting "The Apotheosis of War" - Vereshchahin's protest against all wars. Central to the Vereshchahin Hall is the Himalayan Trilogy (1880s), an Indian series of works by the artist. In the painting "The Forgotten Soldier" the artist depicts an English infantryman killed and forgotten in the mountains. Widely known series "Letter to the Mother" (1901), three paintings of which are in the exhibition hall. The exhibition includes personal belongings of the artist, the setting of his studio.

The Mykolaiv  Art Museum also presents works by Vasyl Tropinin, Oleksiy Venetsianov, Karl Bryullov, Valentyn Serov and others are also presented.

The Art Museum named after Vasyl Vereshchahin is located in one of the best buildings of Mykolaiv, which is an architectural monument of the second half of the 19th century.

The Mykolaiv Military History Museum was opened in Mykolaiv in 1975 in an old mansion from the late 19th century, which belonged to the famous von Shardt family of German colonists in the city, as the Museum of the Underground Partisan Movement in the Mykolaiv Region.

The museum contains a rich collection of documents, photographs, and objects that tell about the struggle of the residents of the Mykolaiv region against the German invaders. Presented are fictitious medical certificates, passes, passports, copies of German seals, made by the underground to save young people from being deported to Germany and to organize the escape of prisoners of war from the concentration camp.

In the center of the hall, a collection of small arms and large-scale models of military equipment are exhibited.

The exposition "OUN-UPA in Mykolaiv Region" presents documents, personal belongings, and leaflets of OUN underground members that tell about the national liberation movement in Mykolaiv Region, and demonstrates the composition and structure of the detachments that operated in the region.

A separate exposition of the Mykolaiv Military History Museum "The War That Continues..." tells about the defense of Mykolaiv Region and southern Ukraine from Russian aggressors during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The exposition presents documents, food rations, weapons, and military uniforms of soldiers of the aggressor army.

The Mykolaiv Military History Museum is a branch of the Mykolaiv Regional Museum of Local Lore.

The Mykolaiv Vernissage is a small gallery of open-air paintings on Sobornaya near Chestnut Square, a place where Mykolaiv artists exhibit and sell their paintings.

Here you can order any painting, portrait or cartoon from an artist you like. Visiting this gallery is part of the cultural program of most Mykolaiv residents who have gone for a walk in the city center.

Mykolaiv Vernissage has existed since Soviet times. And although the number of artists has decreased significantly since then, this gallery is still considered one of the largest in Ukraine.

There are also several counters with souvenirs, where you can buy magnets or cups with the image of Mykolaiv, small works of art by local craftsmen, jewelry and other small tourist products.

Mykolaiv Yacht Club is a coastal recreation area in the northwestern part of the city on the Pivdenniy Buh River.

The oldest yacht club in Ukraine was founded in Mykolaiv in 1887 on the initiative of Adjutant-in-Chief of the Black Sea Fleet and Ports Yevhen Holikov, historian Mykola Arkas, scientist Volodymyr Ryumin. For its creation, a coastal area was allocated in Spassk - a suburb of Mykolaiv, where at that time the palace of Prince Hrihoriy Potemkin (not preserved) and the Turkish (Sultan) fountain (1792, restored in 1926) were located.

In 1904, the ceremonial opening of the newly constructed stone building of the Mykolaiv Yacht Club, built according to the project of the Mykolaiv architect and member of the yacht club, Leopold Rode, took place. This building has survived to this day.

The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the oldest church in Mykolaiv. It was built in 1800 with donations from Mykolaiv merchants, so it was called the Starokupetska (Old Merchant) Church.

The 38-meter-high classicist building has powerful walls made of hewn tortoiseshell stone. Later, two side altars were added, the church became the city diocesan cathedral. In 1876, a belfry was built, a huge bell weighing more than 8 tons was installed in it.

The cathedral was closed in 1938, the premises housed the officers' garrison house. Since 1992, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin has been operating again. A new iconostasis with its original appearance was installed.

The Nova Odesa Museum of Local Lore is located in the center of the city of Nova Odesa on the second floor of the city House of Culture. The museum was established in 1972. In 1976 it received the status of "people's".

The museum exposition is located in 3 halls and has about 5 thousand exhibits. The first hall highlights the development of humanity in the region. The hall "Ukrainian House" exhibits agricultural tools that were used by the population of Nova Odesa at the end of the 19th century. Separate expositions are dedicated to the national liberation movement of 1918-1920, the Holodomor of 1932-1933, the period of Stalinist repressions and World War II.

The Ochakiv Military History Museum was opened in 1972 in the former building of a Turkish mosque (now Saint Nicholas Cathedral).

Later, the museum was moved to an administrative building in the center of Ochakiv.

The museum's exposition is located in three halls and has about two thousand exhibits that highlight the history of the region from post-Soviet settlements to the events of World War II. The first section of the exposition is dedicated to the development of the Black Sea steppes by the Eastern Slavs of Kyivan Rus in the 9th-10th centuries and the presence of part of the lands of the Northern Black Sea region as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The second section is dedicated to the Turkish-Tatar rule in the Northern Black Sea region in the 15th-17th centuries, the foundation of the Ochakiv fortress and the Kinburn fortification, and is accompanied by objects found during the Ukrainian-Turkish archaeological expeditions of 1997-1998 (coins of the Tatar Khanate, jewelry, details of military equipment, etc.).

The third section of the exhibition tells about the campaigns of the Zaporizhzhian Cossacks under the walls of the Ochakiv fortress: about Dmytro (Bayda) Vyshnevetsky, who in 1556 rescued many slaves from the fortress; about Petro Konashevych-Sahaydachny, who became famous for his sea campaigns against the Turks; about Ivan Sirko, who in 1669 carried out a very successful military maneuver, freeing Orthodox prisoners from the Ochakiv fortress. The attention of visitors is always attracted by the collection of pipes, a cooking cauldron, weapon samples, a model of a Cossack seagull by Roman Dohar. In addition, the exhibition highlights the struggle between Russia and Turkey for the Black Sea coast. This part of the exhibition is accompanied by paintings, engravings, dioramas, firearms and cold weapons, awards, trophy banners, coins, Turkish seals, etc.

The last section of the exhibition highlights the events of World War II.

The Ochakiv Military History Museum is a branch of the Mykolaiv Regional Museum of Local Lore.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the city of Ochakiv has been under constant enemy fire. As a result of shelling by the Russian army, the Military History Museum building suffered significant damage, forcing the museum to close its doors to visitors.

The building of the Officers' Assembly in Ochakiv was built in the middle of the 19th century in the style of classicism.

In 1906, the trial of Lieutenant Petro Schmidt and other participants in the mutiny on the cruiser "Ochakiv" took place in this building.

The Schmidt monument is located opposite the Officers' Assembly. On the pedestal is carved the text of the signal raised over "Ochakiv" after the beginning of the uprising on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet: "I command the fleet. Schmidt."

In Soviet times, the former building of the Officers' Assembly housed the House of Fleet Officers and an art gallery. The building is currently in a state of disrepair.