Attractions of Sumy district

The Holy Resurrection Cathedral is the main Orthodox church of Sumy, the oldest stone building in the city, a wonderful example of Ukrainian Baroque.

The cathedral was built at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries at the expense of the city's founder Herasym Kondratyev and his son Andriy Kondratyev. According to legend, Kondratyev's sister Mariya, the leader of the band of robbers, was buried in the wall of the temple during its construction.

The architecture of the two-story stone cathedral repeats the traditional forms of Ukrainian wooden temple architecture - it is similar to three-log Cossack churches. Judging by the thickness of the walls (up to 1.5 meters), the characteristic shape of the loophole windows and the location on the line of the former. city fortifications, the Resurrection Cathedral was part of the defense system of Sumy. An underground passage led to the river, which is now filled in.

In Soviet times, the department of decorative and applied arts of the art museum was located here. After 1991, the Resurrection Church was returned to the faithful, and now it is the cathedral of the Sumy Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Holy Trinity Cathedral in Sumy is one of the most beautiful churches in the city, similar to St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

It was built in 1901-1914 in the style of classicism with baroque elements according to the project of the architect Karl Sholts at the expense of the industrialist and philanthropist Pavlo Kharytonenko.

The interiors were decorated by the artist Mykhaylo Nesterov (the marble iconostasis has not been preserved). The project of the mosaic floor and the church fence was executed by the famous architect Oleksiy Shchusev. St. Petersburg artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin worked on the Trinity stained glass window.

Until recently, the Trinity Cathedral was used as a house of organ music. In 1996, it was returned to the believers, now it belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The one-bath stone church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin was built on the western outskirts of Lebedyn in the 18th century.

The exact date of construction is unknown, but archival documents show that in 1777 it was already under repair.

In 1875, the Intercession Church was rebuilt according to the project of architect Fedir Danylov.

During the Soviet era, the temple was closed and abandoned. Restoration is currently underway.

The first wooden temple was built in Nysy by the founder of the village Herasym Kondratyev back in 1678 in memory of his dead son Ivan.

The current brick church of John the Theologian was built by sugar factory Mykola Sukhanov in 1910.

During the Soviet rule, the church building was used as a vegetable warehouse.

Now the temple is active.

The building of the city administration (town hall) with a tall clock tower was built in Lebedyn at the beginning of the 20th century.

Made in the forms of rationalist modernism as an architectural dominant of the city center.

In Soviet times, a fire brigade was placed in the building, and the tower was converted into a fire hydrant.

The Lesya Ukrayinka People's Museum was opened in Kosivshchyna in 1971 for the 100th anniversary of the poet's birth.

Lesya Ukrayinka's stay in Sumy region is connected with her treatment for tuberculosis. In 1889, the mother brought Lesya to the Kosivshchyna to the folk healer Paraska Boрush. Here the poetess wrote her "Spring Songs".

Lesya Ukrayinka's museum room is located in the local secondary school named after the poetess. Among the 600 exhibits are things that belonged to Paraska Boрush: a pot, a thick-walled pot for medicine, a trough, a towel. Lesya Ukrayinka's first collection "On the Wings of Songs" published in 1904, etc., is presented.

Excursions are conducted by young tour guides.

Maydan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Sumy is the historical and administrative center of the city.

The city began from this place in the middle of the 17th century, when its founders, Colonel Herasym Kondratyev of the Sumy Slobid Cossack Regiment and Voivode Kyrylo Arsenyev, began to implement their plans for the construction and arrangement of the Sumy Fortress and its post.

In 1694, a wooden Mykolaiv church was built, which has not survived to this day. Already after the death of Colonel Kondratyev in 1702, the construction of the Resurrection Cathedral was completed, which is now the main decoration of the square. Mykolayivska and Voskresenska squares, formed around the churches, later merged into one.

For a long time, the square was called Petrivska because Tsar Peter I visited it on the eve of the Battle of Poltava. After the Second World War, the square was reconstructed, at that time it was named after Lenin. In 1991, it was renamed Maydan Nezalezhnosti.

The buildings are dominated by high-rise buildings of the regional council and the Sumy hotel.

The Michael's Virgin Land Nature Reserve is a unique area of virgin meadow steppe with an area of 202 hectares, which has never been touched by a plow.

Since 1741, these lands belonged to the Kapnist Counts, who bred Oryol trotters at their stud farm in Mykhailivka. Large areas of the steppe were set aside for pastures and therefore were never plowed.

In 1928, "Michael's Virgin Land" was declared a reserve, until recently it was part of the Ukrainian Steppe Nature Reserve (in 2009, it was allocated to a separate protected area). The territory of the reserve, surrounded by a protective afforestation, is a low hill that gradually descends to the surrounding streams. The total area of the reserve is 882.9 hectares.

More than 500 types of herbs grow here, 38 of which are protected (11 are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine). Since they bloom at different times, the steppe changes color 10-12 times during the summer.

Brown hares, foxes and small rodents live in the reserve.

Excursions to the "Michael's Virgin Land" are organized by the Lebedyn city museum of local lore.

A monument to the entrepreneur Ivan Kharytonenko stands on one of the central squares of Sumy.

A successful sugar factory and philanthropist, one of the richest people of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, Ivan Kharytonenko had a significant impact on the development of the city of Sumy. He and his descendants built hospitals, educational institutions, and other infrastructure facilities in the city.

In 1899, a monument to Ivan Kharytonenko by the sculptor Oleksandr Opekushin was erected on Pokrovska Square. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was destroyed by the Bolsheviks, but was restored in 1996.

The exposition of the local lore museum "Petro Chaykovsky and Ukraine" is located in the village of Nyzy in the manor house of the landowner Mykola Kondratyev, who was a guest of the outstanding composer Petro Chaykovsky every summer in 1871-1879.

Kondratyev was introduced to Chaykovsky by his friend Oleksiy Holitsyn from nearby Trostianets (there is also a Chaykovsky museum there). In Nysy, the composer worked on the operas "Cherevychky", "Oprychnyk", the Second and Third symphonies, created several piano pieces and romances. He dedicated the cycle of plays "Evening Dreams" to Kondratyev, "Salon Waltz" to his wife, "Little Waltz" to his daughter, and "Sentimental Waltz" to his governess.

The next owner of the manor, Dmytro Sukhanov, a sugar factory, demolished the wing where Chaykovsky lived during the reconstruction, but the main building was preserved.

In Soviet times, a sugar factory club was located here, then a high school. Since 1990, a part of the premises has housed a permanent exhibition-museum of Chaykovsky, recreating the atmosphere of the 19th century. The exposition dedicated to the composer is made up of the exhibits of the Sumy Regional Museum of Local Lore.

The building is in dire need of repair. Due to the lack of heating, the museum is open only in the summer.

Museum of History of Sumy State Pedagogical University named Anton Makarenko was founded in 1962 and is a subdivision of the department of social and cultural work of the SumSPU.

The museum has collected more than 8,000 exhibits that tell about the founding of the school in 1924, the periods of World War II, postwar reconstruction and development of education in the region to this day.

A separate exposition is dedicated to the creative heritage of the outstanding teacher, one of the founders of the system of child and adolescent education Anton Makarenko, who was a native of Sumy region.

The brick one-bath church of the Nativity of John the Baptist with a bell tower is located on the northeastern outskirts of Sumy, which has the historical name of the settlement of Luka.

The church is the main architectural landmark of Luka, it is well visible from the railway, from the Lypen hillfort and from the banks of the Psel River. The territory of the church is surrounded by a wall with two forged ornamental gates of the end of the 19th century.

In 1687, the Sumy colonel Herasym Kondratyev founded the John the Baptist monastery for girls in Luka, in which a wooden temple of the same name was built in 1691. The monastery was closed in 1787.

In its place, in 1837, a stone three-part church with a bell tower was built at the expense of the family of local nobles Lyntvarov as a parish church for Luka and the neighboring village of Baranivka. In 1907, two side altars were added to the church - the Holy Trinity and Saint John.

The House of Civil Meetings for Nobles in Sumy was built at the end of the 19th century.

On the first floor there was a music salon, a theater hall, and a restaurant. On the second floor there are smoking rooms and rooms for gambling.

After the Soviet-Ukrainian war, the House of Nobles' Assembly was turned into a philharmonic hall. The Sumy Regional Philharmonic Hall is famous for its acoustics. In 2008, major repairs were carried out and an organ was installed.

Oleksandrivska Male Gymnasium is the oldest educational institution in Sumy. An architectural monument of national importance.

Founded by philanthropist Pavlo Kharytonenko. The main building in the style of classicism was built in 1873. Later, a boarding house for 40 people was built for out-of-town students. Thanks to pointed towers, battlements, a pointed portal and the same windows, this building resembles a medieval castle. The hospital was built in the same style. Unusually beautiful stairs leading to the second floor of the main building and a two-light assembly hall.

Currently, it is the Sumy Classical Gymnasium, specializing in advanced study of the English language.

The Park of Culture and Recreation named after Ivan Kozhedub with an area of 58 hectares is located in the center of the city of Sumy.

There are many attractions in the park, exhibitions, festivals and other cultural events take place regularly.

The modern stadium "Yuvileyny" is located near the central entrance to the park. The city beach on the Psel River is located in the southeastern part of the park.