Attractions of Kharkiv district

The rotunda of the "Mirror Stream" fountain in Victory Square opposite the Opera House is considered a hallmark of the city.

It was built in 1947 according to the project of the architect Viktor Korzh in honor of the Victory in the Second World War.

Until 1930, the Myronosytska Church (1701) was located on this site, then a wasteland and a trolleybus park. According to legend, the decision to create a square with a fountain was made by the city authorities after Mykyta Khrushchev, who visited Kharkiv, was dissatisfied with the view from the window of the regional committee.

At first, the gazebo-fountain was called "Glass stream". In 2007, for the 60th anniversary of the "Mirror Stream", its reconstruction was carried out. The next reconstruction took place in the fall of 2019.

The monument to Father Fedir, a character in the novel "Twelve Chairs" (1928) by Ilya Ilf and Yevhen Petrov, is installed on the 1st platform of the South Railway Station in Kharkiv.

The monument serves as an illustration of an episode of the novel in which Father Fedir writes a letter to his wife to the county town of N from the Kharkiv railway station, as well as a reminder of how Father Fedir was seen on the Donetsk railway: "He fled along the platform with a kettle of boiling water..".

Father Fedir is depicted in the image embodied by the Soviet film actor Mykhaylo Puhovkin in the screen adaptation of "12 Chairs" directed by Leonid Hayday (1971).

On the pedestal is a quote from his letter to his wife: "Kharkiv is a bustling city, the center of the Ukrainian Republic. After the province, it seems as if he has gone abroad."

Cossack Kharko (Kharyton) is the mythical founder of the city of Kharkiv, about whom several urban legends have been compiled.

According to the "Topographical description of the Kharkiv governorship" (1785), "...if we believe the rumor, one of the wealthy Ukrainians established a farm in this place, but who he was, where and when, there is no information about it, by the name of Kharyton, and according to the colloquialism, Kharko, from which this city and the river supposedly got their title."

The monument to the Founders of Kharkiv in honor of the city's 350th anniversary was opened in 2004 at the beginning of Nauky Avenue. Presented to the city by the famous sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. This is the first equestrian monument in the history of the city. It is a 12-ton bronze sculpture of a horseman, the Cossack Kharko. In his hand he holds a spear, a shield, behind his shoulders is a bow and a quiver of arrows. The height of the sculpture is 6 meters, the pedestal is 7 meters.

The monument to Ostap Bender, Ipolyt Matviyovych Vorobyaninov and Ellochka the cannibal - cult characters of the novel "12 Chairs" by Ilya Ilf and Yevhen Petrov - was opened in Kharkiv in 2005 on City Day.

The "Great Combiner", cast in bronze, sat on a bench installed in front of the entrance to one of Kharkiv's cafes. Kisa Vorobyaninov, who was looking for treasures hidden in a furniture set together with the "great combiner", is depicted as begging for alms. Ellochka in a defiant pose seems to invite passers-by to sit on the treasured chair.

A sculpture depicting a student programmer is located in the city of Kharkiv near the central entrance to the Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics.

Established in 2010 in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics. The author of the project is Roman Blazhko, the designer is Viktor Honcharenko.

The monument to the student programmer was made of bronze with charitable funds.

The Scientific and Educational Museum of Sexual Cultures of the World was established in 1999 by the staff of the Department of Sexology and Medical Psychology of the Kharkiv Medical Academy.

The first museum of its kind in the post-Soviet space covers the sexual cultures of 12 countries. The exhibition presents paintings by ancient Egyptian artists, ancient Chinese drawings, ancient statuettes, reproductions of paintings by Picasso, Manet and other artists, modern drawings and photographs.

Part of the exhibition is devoted to the sexual education of children and adolescents. Particular attention is paid to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS.

The materials of the museum are selected in accordance with the requirements of the programs of educational institutions. There is a sex shop at the museum.

The national memorial complex "Height of Marshal Konev" was opened after reconstruction in 2003, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Kharkiv from the Nazi invaders.

In 1943, the headquarters of the commander of the Steppe Front was located here, from where Marshal Konev, in order to save the city from destruction, ordered a night assault on Kharkiv, and the next day the city was liberated. About half a million soldiers died in the battle, but this operation initiated the liberation of all of Ukraine.

The "Height of Marshal Konev" memorial was built in 1965, in 2003 a complete reconstruction was carried out. The complex includes a 17.5-meter-high stele, an exhibition of military equipment, a chapel in honor of John the Warrior, and the museum "Kharkiv region in the Second World War 1941-1945".

Konev's command post is reproduced in one of the museum's halls, and his last uniform is on display.

The first wooden Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin in Derhachi was built in 1685.

He stood on a sandy plain called Buryakivka. The builder of the church was Yakiv Turanskyi.

At the beginning of the 19th century, a new brick church was built, which was consecrated in 1838. The church has four thrones. The main throne in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin.

On April 4, 2022, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin was damaged by Russian artillery fire. Shelling by the Russian occupiers damaged the facade and windows of the church, destroyed the Sunday school and the church shop.

The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin in Cherkaski Tyshky was built in 1830 at the expense of the centurion Andriy Tykhotskyi and other parishioners.

However, the official annals of the church have been kept since 1772, when the wooden church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Tyshky is first mentioned.

The project of the new stone church was developed by the well-known at that time architect Yevhen Vasylyev, the author of the projects of many churches in Slobozhanshchyna. The iconostasis was created by the artist Illya Repin in the 1960s, while he was still a student at the Academy of Arts. In 1906, the church was significantly expanded at the expense of the descendants of the landowner Tykhotskyi.

During the Soviet era, the church was closed, the icons of Repin's work disappeared during the German occupation, but a few remained in the Kharkiv Art Museum. During the Second World War, the church was reopened, but until recently it remained in a dilapidated state.

Restoration is currently underway.

The Nova Vodolaha Museum of Local Lore is located in the center of the village of Nova Vodolaha.

In the ethnographic exposition, many household items of Slobozhanshchyna, brought from ethnographic expeditions, are collected.

The area arose in 1660-1662, when a fortification was built here, adjacent to the Kharkiv fortress.

After some time, the center of the fortification became a large shopping area called Narodna. At the corner of the square and Universitetska Street in the second half of the 18th century, there was a post office (now on this site is a post office building), next to which a stone verst pillar with inscriptions indicating the distances from Kharkiv to Moscow and neighboring provincial cities was installed. Decrees were read near the pillar and public punishments were carried out, so the square was also called Lobna.

In the middle of the 19th century, the square was called Pavlivska in honor of the merchant Pavlov, who opened the first store with fixed prices for goods. Later, the large building of the insurance company "Russia" (1910-1915, architect Mykola Verovkin) and the City Merchant Bank (1913, architects Mykola Vasylyev and Oleksandr Rzhepishevsky) were built, on the two upper floors of which the Astoria hotel was located.

During the Second World War, the building was destroyed, but then restored in its original form.

On the night of August 27, 2022, during the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Russians launched a missile attack on Pavlivska Square in Kharkiv. The historical building of 1912 was damaged, the windows and doors of the building were blown out by the blast wave.

The Church of Peter and Paul was founded in 1866 in the suburb of Kharkiv - on Zhuravlivka (now it is Taras Shevchenko Street with the surrounding area).

The stone building was laid in 1871, the construction was completed in 1875. The Church of Peter and Paul was built in the Rus-Byzantine style according to the project of architects Fedir Danilov and Vasyl Nebolsyn. The temple is single-domed, with three thrones. A women's church and parish school operated under him. Even during the times of persecution and Hitler's occupation, the church did not stop working.

By the 130th anniversary, the Peter and Paul Church was restored, and the Basil the Great Sunday School was opened, where parishioners are taught the basics of doctrine and the art of church singing.

The Museum of Photo Illusions opened in 2017 in the very center of Kharkiv.

There are 28 photo zones with different subjects for visitors. Carefully thought out locations allow you to take the most incredible photos due to the game of perception, scale and perspective.

The museum employs a photographer who can provide his services for an additional fee - shooting on professional equipment, retouching and processing the resulting images.

Terraced Pokrovsky Square (architects Heorhiy Vehman, Ihor Zhylkin, Mykhaylo Lutsky, Hanna Mayak, 1951-1952), located on Sobornyi descent, adjacent to University Street.

Previously, the buildings of the Old Passage, which belonged to the merchant Pashchenko-Tryapkin, were located on this place, but were destroyed during the occupation of Kharkiv by German-fascist troops. In 1951, on the site of the ruins, a terraced square with stairs, a fountain and a cascade was built using the method of folk construction. From the upper terrace, you can admire a wonderful panorama of the Zalopanska part of the city, Serhiyiyivsky Maidan and the Annunciation Cathedral.

A monument to Hryhoriy Skovoroda (architect Yuriy Shkodovsky, sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze) was installed on the site of the square. The territory of the former Kharkiv fortress begins a few tens of meters from the monument.

In 2009, the square was reconstructed and handed over to the Holy Intercession Men's Monastery. An Orthodox cross is placed at the top of the fountain, the water in the fountain is consecrated.

The first Saint Nicholas Church in the village of Zhihor (now a suburb of Kharkiv) was built in 1747 at the expense of Colonel Andriy Shcherbinin.

The church was made of wood and soon burned down. The current stone church of Nicholas the Wonderworker with one throne was started to be built in 1890 at the expense of the parishioners. A church and parish school operated at the temple. After the revolution, the temple was closed and opened several times.

Today, the church has been completely restored. Inside, the walls are extremely beautifully painted. The church is functioning, and a church-parochial school has been opened again.