Attractions of Poltava region

The memorial museum-manor of the philosopher and collector of Opishnia ceramics Leonid Smorzh was opened in 2010 in the village of Opishnia Miski Mlyny.

The exposition is based on the largest in Ukraine private collection of Opishnia ceramics, which during 1960-1990 was collected by a famous Ukrainian scientist, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Leonid Opanasovych Smorzh. The collection includes about 700 unique author's pottery works of famous potters Opishny - Ivan Bilyk, Mykhaylo Kytrysh, Havrylo and Mykola Poshyvaylo, Hryhoriy Tyahun, Vasyl Omelyanenko, Trokhym Demchenko, Oleksandra Selyuchenko. The vast majority of these works exist in only one copy, as they are made to order.

In addition to ceramics, the exhibition presents embroidered Ukrainian men's and women's shirts, towels and tablecloths, as well as about 100 Easter eggs collected in different regions of Ukraine, striking bright colors and rich symbolism.

The Leonid Smorzh Museum-Estate also houses a private library of the scientist, which is about 3,000 books, including rare editions. A large number of photographs and personal belongings of the collector, which are presented in the museum's exposition, complement the exposition.

The Memorial Museum-Estate of the philosopher and collector of Opishnia ceramics Leonid Smorzh is one of the subdivisions of the National Museum-Reserve of Ukrainian Pottery in Opishnia.

The lilac grove on the outskirts of Dykanka was laid out in 1822 by the owner of these lands, Prince Victor Kochubey, on the site of a clay quarry where raw materials for his brick factory were mined.

According to legend, Kochubey created this floral miracle to please his terminally ill daughter Hanna. Lilac seedlings of 40 varieties were brought to Dykanka from different countries of the world.

Now the lilac grove is under the protection of the regional landscape park "Dykanskyi". To date, only 5 varieties of lilac have survived, but due to the large area of the grove (2.5 hectares), it is called the largest in the world.

Every spring, during the flowering of the lilac, Dykanka becomes a place of tourist pilgrimage. Every year in the middle of May, the traditional holiday "Songs of the Lilac Grove" is held.

The literary and memorial museum of the Drahomanovy family was created in 1991 in the city Hadiach, where the outstanding Ukrainian public figure Mykhaylo Drahomanov was born, as well as his sister, the famous writer Olena Pchilka, the mother of the poetess Lesya Ukrayinka.

The exhibition includes 170 exhibits that reveal the fascinating period of the Drahomanovs' life and work.

The most interesting exhibits: the "Egyptian woman" statuette, which Lesya Ukrayinka brought from her trip to Egypt; Scythian amphora of the III-II centuries BC; handmade oak furniture set of the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. .

The Lubny Museum of Local Lore named after Hnat Stelletsky is one of the oldest museums in the Poltava region.

Founded in the second half of the 19th century. Initially, it was a museum room at the Lubny Male Gymnasium. The initiator of the opening and the first director was the Ukrainian archaeologist, teacher Fedir Kaminsky. The basis of the exposition was the finds made by him during excavations in the Lubny region.

In 1918, on the basis of the nationalized museum of the gymnasium, the State Museum of Local Lore was created, which currently has about 30,000 exhibits in its collections. Occupies an old one-story mansion in the city center.

In the permanent exposition of Lubny Local Lore Museum named after Hnat Stelletsky - archaeological finds of the Hintsevska settlement lot from the Eneolithic era, decorations from the Scythian era, relics from the Cossack times of the 17th-18th centuries, materials about the Mhar Monastery. There is a collection of numismatics, church utensils, and old books.

A collection of "Scythian women" is exhibited near the entrance to the local lore museum.

The Manuilivka Literary and Local Lore Museum in the village of Verkhnia Manuilivka began working on July 13, 2022. It was created on the basis of the Literary and Memorial Museum of Maksym Horky, which was closed in May 2022 by the decision of the village council as part of decommunization.

The museum is located in five halls of a post-war building in the park of the former estate of the landowner Oleksandra Orlovska.

Currently, the format of the museum is being changed. A special working group, created from local local historians and specialists from Poltava, is working on the filling of new museum exhibits.

The museum is formally working, but the exposition is just beginning to be created.

The memorial to the victims of the "Khorol Yama" concentration camp was created in 1991 in the former Khorol suburb of Dubky, where a German concentration camp for prisoners of war existed from 1941 to 1943.

The death camp was located near the quarry of the brick factory. Only in the first six months of its existence, more than 37,000 people died. In total, the ashes of about 91,000 residents of Khorol and other cities of Ukraine, soldiers, officers and partisans lie in six of the mass graves known to date.

The ministerial (state) school in Chornukhy was built in 1900-1903 by the zemstvo of Lohvytskyi District. This two-story building in the style of classicism is the oldest architectural monument of the village.

Initially, the school was two-class, with a five-year term of study. Since 1918, it bears the name of Hryhoriy Skovoroda, who was born in Chornukhy. In 1972, a new school building was built nearby, but the old school also continues to be used for its intended purpose. Today it is Chornukhy Lyceum named after Hryhoriy Skovoroda.

The monument at the resting place of Peter I in Poltava was erected where the house of the Cossack Mahdenko was located in the 18th century, where the Russian Tsar Peter I stayed on the second day after the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

The first monument, erected in 1817, was a simple brick obelisk. In 1849, the current monument of architect Oleksandr Bryullov, brother of the famous artist Karl Bryullov, was erected instead.

The rest of the emperor after the victory in the Battle of Poltava is symbolized by the ancient Russian helmet crowned with a laurel wreath and the round shield, which rests peacefully on the hero's sword. A high-relief image of a sleeping lion is placed in the lower part of the granite pedestal. The inscription on the pedestal says: "Peter I rested here after his exploits on June 27, 1709."

The monument to the Swedish soldiers who died during the Battle of Poltava was opened in 1909 at the initiative of the Russian public in recognition of the bravery and courage of the soldiers of the army of Charles XII.

A memorial cross on a granite pyramid was installed at the place where the right flank of the Swedish army was located in the second stage of the battle. The height of the monument is about 9 meters. The inscription on the bronze plaque reads: "Eternal memory of the brave Swedish soldiers who died in the battle near Poltava on June 27, 1709."

According to various estimates, the losses of the Swedish army in the Battle of Poltava ranged from 6,000 to 7,000 people. Most of the dead were hastily buried in trenches and ravines.

The monument to the Swedes from the Russians is located right next to the highway at the entrance to Poltava from the Okhtyrka side.

The monument of Cossack glory in Poltava was opened in 1994. Dedicated to the Ukrainian Cossacks who died during the Battle of Poltava.

The authors of the project are sculptor Volodymyr Bilous, artist Viktor Baturin.

A huge Cossack cross with the laconic inscription "To Ukrainian fallen Cossacks" is placed on a massive granite base. At the foot of the symbolic mound - two bunchuks.

The "Monument to Colonel Kelin and the Valiant Defenders of Poltava" was erected in 1909 on the site of the Masurian Gate of the Poltava Fortress in memory of the city's defense on the eve of the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

For 3 months, the fortress withstood the siege of the Swedish army of Charles XII before the approach of the main forces of the Russian Peter I. The defense was led by the commandant of the Poltava fortress, Colonel Oleksiy Kelin, who received the rank of major general for this.

The monument to the defenders of Poltava by the sculptor-animalist Artemiy Ober was erected for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. The monument is a granite obelisk on a pedestal on which a bronze figure of a lion is located. Previously, the obelisk was crowned with an imperial double-headed eagle.

A monument to Hetman of Ukraine Ivan Mazepa was erected in Poltava in 2016 in front of the Assumption Cathedral, built at his expense.

This is the first full-length monument to Mazepa (busts were previously installed in Mazepintsy and Chernihiv). The 3.2-meter-high bronze sculpture was made by the sculptor Mykola Bilyk back in 2009, but the opening of the monument was preceded by a long public debate about its expediency, since Russian and Soviet propaganda for a long time formed a negative image of the hetman, who sought to remove Ukraine from the political influence of Muscovy.

A key episode of the Northern War of 1709 is connected with Poltava, when the troops of the Moscow Tsar Peter I defeated the army of the Swedish King Charles XII and his ally Ivan Mazepa. This event is immortalized by many monuments in the city, but almost all of them are dedicated to Russians and Swedes.

Funds for the installation of a monument to the Ukrainian hetman were collected by the public.

The monument to plumbers in Kremenchuk was created at the expense of employees of the local water utility. It is designed to perpetuate the difficult work of locksmiths and plumbers.

The monument was installed at the entrance to the utility company "Kremenchukvodokanal" on the occasion of the company's 95th anniversary.

The sculpture depicts two workers twisting the valve of a water supply.

The memorial sign to the Poltava halushka, installed next to the observation deck on Ivanova Hill, is considered one of the symbols of modern Poltava.

The authors of the monument are the artist Anatoliy Chornoshchokov and the sculptor Mykola Tsys. The opening of the monument in 2006 was dedicated to the birthday of the writer Mykola Hohol, who praised halushka in his works.

Initially, the monument was erected near the Dormition Cathedral, but at the request of believers, it was later moved closer to the Lileya restaurant.

This place is popular with newlyweds and guests of the city. Every year in the first decade of June, the Poltava Halushka Festival is held near the monument.

The monument "To Swedes from Swedes" near Poltava was erected in 1909 near the Poltava battlefield.

The 6 m high monolithic granite monument was delivered from Sweden. According to the legend, the Russian authorities put forward a demand - there should be no bas-reliefs, sculptures or any other decorations on the monument. The Swedes fulfilled the condition, but every year on the day of the Battle of Poltava early in the morning, when the first rays of the rising sun fall on the granite, the silhouette of a grieving woman appears on it.

On two sides of the monument there are inscriptions in Swedish and Russian: "In memory of the Swedes who died here in 1709, it was built by compatriots in 1909."