Attractions of Beryslav district

The Kyzy-Kermen fortress (Kazy-Kermen) was built by the Turks at the end of the 15th century on the banks of the Dnipro, on the site of the Lithuanian "Vitovt Customs" they captured.

It served as an outpost for raids on Ukrainian lands, as well as for countering the Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, who from time to time made expeditions on seagulls down the Dnipro. During the Crimean campaign of 1689, the Russian-Ukrainian army of Prince Vasyl Holitsyn besieged the fortress, but it was only managed to take it in 1695 by the Cossacks of Ivan Mazepa.

Fragments of the fortress with traces of later modifications have been preserved on the river bank.

The stone three-arch bridge over the Burhunka Balka was built in the 1780s to facilitate the visit of Catherine II to the Crimea in 1787.

The arched bridge is made in the style of Roman viaducts. It is located directly opposite the turn to the village of Burhunka from the Kherson-Beryslav highway.

Beryslav Historical Museum was created in 1958 on public grounds. In 1967, it received the status of a national museum. Since 1981, it has been a department of the Kherson Regional Museum of Local Lore.

It is located in the building where in 1920 the headquarters of the commander of the 51st Rifle Division of the Red Army, Blucher, was located.

The funds of the Beryslav Historical Museum include more than 7,500 exhibits. Among them are interesting archaeological finds (tools, jewelry, household items), items of clothing of the 18th-20th centuries, a numismatic collection, a selection of posters and photos from the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, documents.

During the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Beryslav Historical Museum suffered significant destruction as a result of shelling of Beryslav by the Russian army on March 23, 2023.

The ancient Cossack Holy Introduction Church in Beryslav is the only wooden church in the Kherson region, an architectural monument of the 18th century.

It was built of oak in 1725 in the Zaporizhzhia fortress of Perevalochna (now the village of Svitlohirske near the confluence of the Vorskla River with the Dnipro), and was originally called Holy Resurrection Church. In 1784, the temple was transported by rafts down the Dnipro River to Beryslav.

During the Soviet rule, the Holy Introduction Church was closed for a short period from 1939 to 1941. The Gospel of 1695 is kept here.

Тational importance мonument of history Kamianska Sich is the remains of one of the most preserved of several Zaporizhzhia Sichs that existed in Ukraine from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Sich was a defensive fortress that served as the administrative and military center of the Zaporizhzhia Cossacks.

Kamyanska Sich was founded by the Cossacks near the confluence of the Kamyanka River with the Dnipro in 1709, after the destruction of Chortomlytska Sich by the tsarist troops. In 1711, it was also destroyed by order of Tsar Peter I, and the Cossacks were forced to retreat down the Dnipro to the possession of the Crimean Khanate.

In 1728, Kamyanska Sich was revived and lasted until 1734, after which the Zaporozhzhians moved to the Pidpilna River, where they founded Nova Sich. Later, a landlord economy was located on the site of the Cossack fortress, but some fragments of the fortress buildings of the 18th century have also been preserved. They are currently being studied by historians and archaeologists.

The grave of Kost Hordiyenko, the chieftain of Kosh, with a stone cross, has been preserved, and a monument to the chieftain has been erected.

Since 2009, the Kamianska Sich historical and cultural monument has been under the protection of the Khortytsia National Reserve, a branch of the reserve operates here. A symbolic entry gate to the sich was installed and a lapidarium was set up, where stone monuments (grain graters, harmonicas, etc.) are collected. You can also see the grotto and the remains of the former estate of the landowner Agarkov. Ukrainian Cossacks and patriotic circles of the Kherson region celebrate public holidays and hold solemn events on the territory of the monument.

Kamyanska Sich National Nature Park was created in 2019 on an area of about 12,000 hectares on the basis of 2 large streams - Kamyanska and Mylivska. It also included the terrace of the Dnipro River between the villages of Chervony Mayak and Kachkarivka, the areas of the plakor adjacent to the beams and terraces, the water area of the Kakhovka Reservoir and the beams flooded by it below.

The territory and objects of the reserve were damaged as a result of the Russian bombing at the beginning of February 2024.

The Lutheran Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was built in Zmiivka in 1884 by German immigrants on the high peninsula above the Dnipro.

During the Soviet rule, the kirkh was closed, German settlers were deported to Germany and camps in Siberia.

Today, the former German church of Saints Peter and Paul has been restored. 60 representatives of the German community live in Zmiivka, who conduct services and take care of the church. The service here is conducted mainly in German.

Saint Hryhoriy Bizyukiv Men's Monastery, located on the bank of the Dnipro in the village of Chervonyi Maiak, was at one time one of the largest monasteries in the south of Ukraine.

The monastery was founded in 1781 as the Sophroniy hermitage on the site of an old Turkish fortress, which after the expulsion of the Turks was called "Zaporizhzhian town". At first, monks lived in caves. According to legend, these multi-kilometer tunnels, passing under the entire village, existed since the time of the nomads. In 1803, the Bizyukiv monastery was transferred here from the Smolensk province, and from that time the monastery received its current name.

During the Soviet rule, the Saint Hryhoriy Bizyukiv Monastery was closed, the Zaporizhzhian Church of Saint Hryhoriy (1782), the Ascension Cathedral and the bell tower (1894) were destroyed, and part of the fence was dismantled. The walls with towers (XVIII-XIX centuries), the Intercession Church, the bishop's house with the Church of the Three Saints, the Trinity Church, the Refectory, the building of cells, the hotel building, the gate, fountains, cave cells (XVIII century) have been preserved.

Now the monastery is being revived. One of these caves cut out of a steep limestone rock, where a small cave church has been preserved, is a place of pilgrimage for pilgrims.

The monastery belongs to the Kherson Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

On February 10, 2024, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Bizyukiv Monastery was damaged by massive shelling by the Russian army - the roof and facade of the building were destroyed.

The Orthodox Church of Saint Michael the Archangel in Zmiivka is located in the premises of the former Protestant Church of the Apostle John. The brick church was built in the 19th century on the site of the wooden church of 1787, from which the establishment of a Swedish village in the Kherson region by Swedish settlers began.

It is shared by the Orthodox and Swedish Protestant communities. The interior combines Protestant and Orthodox motifs.

A memorial sign to the repressed Swedes and Germans who were persecuted by the Soviet authorities in 1937-1938, as well as a memorial sign on the occasion of the anniversary of the founding and settlement of the village of Zmiivka by Swedish colonists, was installed on the territory of the Saint Michael Church.

Belongs to the community of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

In 2008, the Swedish King Carl XVI Hustav and his wife Silviya visited Zmiivka. Before the arrival of the king, the temple was repaired, a new dome was installed on it.

The remains of defensive structures on the banks of the Dnipro in the village of Tiahynka belong to Lithuanian and Turkish times.

Back in the 14th century, the Lithuanian Tyahyn castle with three round towers at the corners was built on the island of Velyke Horodyshche.

In 1491, after seizing these lands from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey rebuilt the Tyahyn fortress, which became one of the strongholds for Tatar raids on Ukrainian lands.

In 1492, Zaporizhzhia Cossacks captured and destroyed a Turkish ship under the walls of Tyagin fortress, which is considered to be the first mention of Cossacks and the date of foundation of Zaporizhzhia Cossacks.

In 1673, Ataman Ivan Sirko marched on the Tyahyn fortress, and in 1693, Colonel Semen Paliy defeated a Tatar detachment here. The fortress was finally destroyed in the 18th century.

In 1992, a monument in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Ukrainian Cossacks "Cossack Slava" was erected on the site of the hillfort in the form of a column with the figure of Saint Michael the Archstrategist. Fragments of the fortress walls were preserved near the old bridge.