Attractions of Poltava region

The Savior Church (Spaska Church) is one of the oldest churches in Poltava, an example of traditional Ukrainian architecture.

The exact date of foundation is unknown. The first mentions of the Savior chapel of the Transfiguration Church are found in the 17th century. The official date of construction is considered to be 1705, when Savior chapel was rebuilt at the expense of Colonel Ivan Iskra as an independent wooden temple on the site of the burned-down Transfiguration Church.

According to legend, after the victory over the Swedes on the field of the Battle of Poltava, Peter I, who was resting in the house of Colonel Kelin next to the temple, offered a prayer of thanks for saving the city here.

In 1845, a stone tent was built over the church, and two years later a small stone belfry was erected. In 1849, a monument to the resting place of Peter I was erected nearby.

The Savior-Transfiguration Monastery in Mhar is one of the most revered Orthodox shrines in Ukraine.

It was founded in 1619 by Metropolitan Isaya (Kopynsky) at the expense of Princess Rayina Mohylyanka Vyshnevetska, who owned Lubny in the 17th century. According to legend, angels indicated the place for the construction of the monastery to the princess.

In 1684-1692, on the site of the first wooden church, at the expense of hetmans Ivan Samoylovych and Ivan Mazepa, the stone Savior-Transfiguration Cathedral was built (architect Johann-Baptist Sauer).

The exterior of the temple combines the ancient Ukrainian style of the 11th-12th centuries with the Baroque-Renaissance architecture of Western Europe, with a lot of non-canonical decor.

The complex also includes a bell tower in the baroque style (1837-1844), the Annunciation warm church (now Saint Athanasius) in the pseudo-Byzantine style (XIX century), the abbot's and brotherhoods (18th century), the two-level church of Saint Athanasius (now Annunciation, 1891 year).

Patriarch Athanasius of Constantinople, who died during a visit to his beloved monastery, and other church figures are buried here. The monastery enjoyed the support of Ukrainian hetmans and Russian tsars, it was visited by Ivan Mazepa, Peter I, Taras Shevchenko, Oleksandr Pushkin and others.

In Soviet times, a disciplinary battalion was stationed here, warehouses were located, then a pioneer camp. Most of the frescoes were damaged (in memory of these events, the shot icon of Saint Oleksandra was preserved).

The Annunciation in Mhar was returned to the church in 1993, and restoration was carried out. Monks conduct tours.

In 1990, the "Holodomor-33" Memorial of People's Grief was built nearby on Hill Zazhura in the form of a large bell on a mound, which offers the best view of the monastery.

The Museum of Science in Poltava was opened in 2023 at the National University "Poltava Polytechnic named after Yuriy Kondratyuk" to the 205th anniversary of the establishment of the educational institution.

This is an interactive space where scientific discoveries made by mankind, inventions of Poltava Polytechnic scientists and the evolution of scientific progress are presented in an accessible and interesting form.

The basis of the exposition is made up of exhibits from the history of the Poltava Polytechnic - one of the most famous and oldest higher educational institutions of the Poltava region. It is located in the historical building of the Institute of Noble Girls - an architectural monument of the first half of the 19th century. The modern university was founded in 1930 as the Poltava Institute of Agricultural Construction.

The museum presents a model of the university building, models of mining machinery and oil production equipment.

15 exhibits from the mobile exposition of the Kyiv "Science Museum" are adapted both for children of primary school age and for adult visitors. By interacting with the exhibits and using the tips of the interpreters, visitors have the opportunity to learn about various laws and phenomena of physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, etc.

The palace in the romantic style was built in Khoroshky in 1848 by Prince Shcherbatov.

In Soviet times, the building housed a secondary school. In 1966, some episodes of the film comedy "Wedding in Malynivka" were filmed on the territory of the former Shcherbatov estate. In particular, wedding scenes were filmed in the interiors of the palace.

After the school got a new building, Shcherbatov's palace was abandoned for a long time and fell into disrepair. In 2006, it became private property - the palace was bought by a family from Poltava region. The territory around the palace was cleared of debris and a small repair of the right wing was carried out. The new owners gave the object a new name - "Ramaydan Manor", on its basis the implementation of the environmental project "TurboVulyk" is planned. Excursions are conducted.

The Shyshaky Museum of Local Lore was opened in 1967.

There are about 2,000 exhibits in 6 rooms: archival documents, archaeological finds, relics from the Second World War, etc. Permanent expositions tell about the nature of the region and the history of Shyshaky.

Among the most interesting exhibits: a copper cauldron from the Scythian period, a battle mace and ax of the 13th century, a saber of the 14th century, a Cossack pistol, a grain grinder, the first Shyshaky telephone, a radio receiver from the period of the Second World War.

The fair in the village of Velyki Sorochyntsi has been held regularly since the 19th century. The Sorochyntsi Fair (Sorochynsky Yarmarok) became famous thanks to the works of Mykola Hohol.

At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, the village fair was held five times a year. It was closed in the 20s of the 20th century, but revived in 1966. Currently, representatives of various manufacturing enterprises from all corners of Ukraine gather annually at the National Sorochyntsi Fair, offering their products to visitors. In recent years, a folklore and ethnographic section has been equipped, where souvenirs and handicrafts of the best masters of Ukraine are sold.

The fair takes place in the penultimate week of August every year. In the rest of the time, you can explore the field of the Sorochyntsi Fair with models of houses, windmills and other traditional wooden structures.

The ancient Storozhenko tower in Velyka Krucha is the only original building of the Storozhenko family manor, which lived in the village in the 19th century, that has survived.

During the Soviet era, the rest of the manor buildings were destroyed.

Now there is a camping site with a hotel and a restaurant on the territory of the manor. Storozhenka Tower is used as a banquet hall.

The Kotelva People's Museum of Sydir Kovpak was opened in 2007 for the 120th anniversary of the birth of the hero of the partisan movement in his homeland in Kotelva.

Sydir Kovpak became famous as the commander of the legendary partisan unit, which went through the entire Second World War from Putivl in Sumy Region to the Carpathians in western Ukraine.

The Kovpak Museum is located in the school where he once studied (now Kotelva Gymnasium No. 1 named after Sydir Kovpak). The first section of the museum "Kotelva region - homeland of Sydir Kovpak" tells about the history of the region. The second section presents the hero's personal belongings, including clothes and weapons.

Samples of weapons from the Second World War are kept here.

A monument to Taras Bulba, the hero of Mykola Hohol's work of the same name, was erected in Keleberda to mark the 200th anniversary of the writer's birth.

The bronze sculpture depicts the Zaporizhzhian chieftain Bulba sitting on a stone with a pipe in his mouth on a high rocky promontory and looking thoughtfully at the wide expanse of the Dnipro. A horse grazes next to him, and a Cossack cannon stands nearby.

The authors of the sculptural composition are artist Volodymyr Chepelyk and his son, sculptor Oleksiy Chepelyk.

Nearby is the Transfiguration Church (2005) and a monument to the soldiers who died during the crossing of the Dnipro in 1943.

The three-story building of the teachers' seminary in Velyki Sorochyntsi was erected in 1905.

It was the first educational institution that trained teachers in Poltava Region. The church functioned during the seminary. In 1922, the seminary was renamed Velyki Sorochyntsi Pedagogical Courses, then Pedagogical College, Pedagogical School.

Today it is Velyki Sorochyntsi sanatorium-boarding school. There is a museum of spirituality at the school.

The Trinity church was built in Vyshniaky at the expense of representatives of the Obolonsky Cossack family in 1794-1799.

The single-domed, cruciform church is made in the style of classicism.

According to legend, the Trinity Church used to be connected to the nearby Kotlyarevsky manor by an underground passage, which is now covered up.

The Poltava Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater named after Mykola Hohol is the main and oldest theater stage of the region.

The year of his birth is considered to be 1808, when the "Poltava Free Theater" was opened in the city, which was managed by Ivan Kotlyarevsky from 1818. In 1901, a new building was built for the Poltava theater - the Educational House.

After the Second World War, the damaged building was converted into a Kolos cinema, and in 1958, a new pompous building was built for the Hohol Drama Theater, designed by the architects Oleksiy Krylov and Oleh Malyshenko.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Hohol Theater was considered one of the best in Ukraine. His production of "Natalka Poltavka" with the participation of People's Artist of the USSR Ivan Kozlovsky was successfully staged in Moscow.

In 2006, a monument to the legendary Marusa Churai, nicknamed the monument to Ukrainian song, was erected in the square next to the theater.

The Museum of Ukrainian Wedding was opened in 2008 in the House of Culture of the village of Velyki Budyshcha near Dykanka.

The exhibition presents wedding dresses of different times, household items, embroidered shirts and towels.

In addition to a tour of the museum, there is an offer to perform a Ukrainian wedding ceremony.

The All-Ukrainian Museum of the Uniform History in Kremenchuk was founded by collector Roman Patsovsky in 2018 with the support of veteran organizations. Since 2020, the exhibition has been housed in the second building of the Kremenchuk Gymnasium No. 27.

The collection of the Uniform Museum includes about 4,000 uniforms of state structures operating on the territory of Ukraine in the 20th-11th centuries. Samples of clothing and equipment of the Soviet Army, Navy and Air Force of the USSR, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB, the SBU, border troops, the prosecutor's office, military educational institutions, the fiscal service, the customs service, the civil sea and river fleets, civil aviation, postal services, Ministry of Emergency Situations, forest protection, executive service, service of execution of punishments, railway transport.

Museum employees conduct thematic tours of the city of Kremenchuk.

A branch of the Uniform History Museum is the Kremenchuk Military History Museum, located in the same building.

Velyka Bahachka village museum of local lore is located in a one-story building in the center of Velyka Bahachka.

The exposition tells about the history of the region from ancient times to the present, in particular about the founding of the village in Cossack times and the participation of the Cossacks of the Bahachka Hundred in the wars of that time.

In front of the museum is a Soviet divisional cannon D-44 post-war production, and in the yard - a German cannon from the anti-tank self-propelled artillery Marder II.