Attractions of Izmail

The Small Mosque is the oldest architectural monument of Izmail (XVI century), one of the few examples in Ukraine of medieval classical Ottoman architecture of its heyday.

The mosque is located near the Turkish fortress of Ishmael, taken in 1790 by Russian troops and the Black Sea Cossacks under the command of Oleksandr Suvorov.

A museum with a diorama "Siege of Izmail Fortress" created by artists Yevhen Danilevsky and Veniamin Sibirsky was opened in the mosque. The 20x8 m canvas depicts the decisive moment of the storming of the fortress.

The Izmail Memorial Park-Museum "Fortress" was created in 1991 to protect the historical territory of the Izmail Fortress of the XVI-XIX centuries and other architectural monuments of the city.

The administration and exhibition halls of the museum are located in an old one-story building in the city center. The exposition consists of one large hall and three rooms, which shows the history of the formation and development of the fortress of Ishmael, reflects the life of the medieval city.

In the courtyard of the museum there is a Park of Miniatures, which exhibits models of objects that took place in Turkish Ishmael in the XVI-XVIII centuries: a general view of the fortress, the Broska Gate, the stone bastion of Tabia, the Red Mosque in the Tatar districts, the Small Mosque diorama "Assault on the fortress of Izmail"), St. Nicholas Church, residential buildings, caravanserai, city fountain. The miniatures are made at a scale of 1:30.

A sightseeing tour of the main sights of the city of Izmail is offered.

The Izmail Museum of History and Local Lore of the Danube Region was founded in Izmail in 1990.

Located in an old two-story mansion of the late XIX century, which belonged to the Bessarabian landowner and mayor Fedir Tulchianov.

The museum's collection includes more than 40,000 exhibits. The exhibition area of ​​about 1,000 square meters features permanent exhibitions: "Ancient History and Archeology of the Lower Danube", "Turkish Izmail", "Contribution of the Tulchianovy Merchant Dynasty to the Development of Izmail", "World War I in Memory of Izmail", Gloty Hall and the pavilion of nature.

You can see archeological finds, precious coins and jewelry, ceramics, furniture, watches, musical instruments, samples of folk and secular (salon) clothing and more. Of particular note is the collection of costumes of the museum theater "Sophocles", created in the style of different eras: Kyivan Rus X-XI centuries, aristocratic and folk clothing of the XVI-XIX centuries.

The theater, which employs museum staff, shows a number of performances and mini-performances.

The courtyard of the museum with flower beds, trees and exotic shrubs is open to the public, where an old two-storey 19th-century Balkan-style wing with a wooden gallery on the second floor and a corner tower is located.

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God in Izmail is the main temple of the city.

It was built in the center of Izmail in 1820-1831, during the heyday of urban planning, in the house of an old wooden temple from Turkish times. The cathedral in the style of classicism was built according to the project of the architect Avraam Melnykov, professor of architecture and rector of the Moscow Academy of Arts (according to another version - Heorhiy Torichelli).

At first it was a simple one-domed temple. Next to it in 1848, a 65-meter three-tier bell tower was built, the bells for which were cast from the metal of captured Turkish cannons. A little later, the bell tower was connected to the cathedral by a covered gallery, and above it was built the upper temple of Nicholas the Wonderworker. The distinct oval colonnade was built in 1837. As a result, the form of the Holy Intercession Cathedral began to vaguely resemble the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

The interior was painted in the Art Nouveau style by the artist Pavlo Piskarev, a student of Viktor Vasnetsov.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a clock with a battle was installed on the belfry, which is still going on.

The Izmail Art Gallery presents a collection of modern Ukrainian and foreign art, an exposition of decorative and applied art, sections of Ukrainian and Western European art of the 16th-19th centuries, works of icon painting, art of the peoples of the East.

Painting, graphics, sculpture are presented. A portrait of Generalissimo Oleksandr Suvorov painted by an unknown 19th-century master, engravings with portraits of Hryhori Potomkin, Kostyantyn Vorontsov, Fedir Tolstoy, graphic sheets of itinerant artists Ivan Shyshkin, Illya Repin, and Volodymyr Makovsky are on display. The painting "Bay" by the celebrated mariner Rufin Sudkovskyi is presented.

Among the pearls of the museum collection is a vase by the famous French master Emile Halle.

The remains of the Turkish fortress of Izmail, taken in 1790 by Russian troops and Black Sea Cossacks under the command of Oleksandr Suvorov, have been preserved on the high bank of the Danube in the western part of present-day Izmail.

The fortress was mostly earthen, with brick retaining walls and three stone bastions on the Danube side. The plan to storm Izmail, approved by Suvorov, was drawn up by the commander of the Black Sea rowing flotilla, Yosyp de Rybas. He also led the largest assault column of Cossacks, attacking the fortress from the river. The battle lasted more than 16 hours. The Turks were defeated, losing 29,000 killed, while the losses of the Russians amounted to 4,000 killed. Mikhaylo Kutuzov was appointed commandant of conquered Izmail.

After the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War, under the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty, Izmail Fortress was blown up, the fortifications demolished. Now from the side of Sudnoremontnykiv Street you can see fragments of earthen ramparts and a grand defensive moat up to 11 meters deep, as well as one fragment of the retaining wall consisting of plinths. The park on the banks of the Danube preserves the remains of a moat and an embankment, the Kiliia Gate of Saint Nicholas Monastery, the Church of the Assumption (1643-1841), the Church of Saint Nicholas (1644-1852), and the Small Mosque (XVI century), which exhibits diorama "Siege of Izmail Fortress". The Eagle monument has been erected in the military cemetery.

In 1991, the Izmail Memorial Park-Museum "Fortress" was established, whose staff conducts tours of the fortress.

The administration of the park-museum and the exposition on the history of the Izmail fortress are located in the city center (51 Nezalezhnosti Avenue).

The Izmail Military History Museum is located in a mansion of the XIX century, which belonged to the mayor Ioann Abraham.

The museum's collection includes more than 30,000 exhibits: flags, military uniforms and equipment of the XVII-XX centuries, a collection of cold steel and firearms, paintings and graphics on the Russian-Turkish wars, archeology and everyday life, numismatics.

The diorama in the Little Mosque is a department of the Izmail Military History Museum.

The equestrian monument to the general Suvorov, who led the capture of the Turkish fortress Izmail in 1790, was made in 1913 by the Odesa sculptor Borys Eduards for the memorial in Rymnik (Romania).

Shortly after the beginning of the First World War, the sculpture was evacuated. For a long time, she stood in the workshop of a sculptor in Odesa. According to another version, the Roman sculpture disappeared during the war, and Edwards' workshop kept a copy, which he created specifically for the installation of the monument in Ishmael. Only in 1945, the statue was transported to Izmail and installed on the central avenue of the city. A copy of this monument was installed in Tulchyn (Vinnytsia region).

On December 1, 2022, during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the monument to Suvorov in Izmail was dismantled by the decision of the deputies of the Izmail City Council. The further fate of this monument should be determined by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.