Attractions of Alchevsk district

The Merheleva Ridge (literally "Marlstone Ridge", "Marl Ridge") is a geological monument and an archaeological site under study.

The complex of stone and earth buildings with an area of 1.3 square kilometers is located 4 kilometers south of the small village of Stepanivka (Buhaivka settlement).

The Merheleva Ridge was discovered in 1976 by a group of Alchevsk schoolchildren led by Volodymyr Paramonov, the founder of the MIG archaeological club. On a large rocky plateau formed by weathered limestones and marls (hence the name of the ridge), there is a chain of burial mounds of the Bronze Age. Other ridge formations also look man-made.

According to one of the versions, some objects of the Merheleva Ridge ("roads", "walls", stone stelae) are of artificial origin and belong to an unknown civilization 5 thousand years old. According to another version, all objects, except for mounds, have a natural geological origin.

The most interesting object is the so-called "Second Wall of China", made of regular limestone stones, the nature of the formation of which is still not completely clear. Also interesting are the regularly shaped stone circles, which for some reason are called "Ukrainian pyramids". It is probably an ancient sanctuary.

The estate in Seleznivka is the former estate of the industrialist Kazymyr Mstsykhovsky, a Pole by origin.

The estate with a park was founded in 1840 by the landowner Hrafovsky. Mstsykhovsky reconstructed it in the Romanesque-Byzantine style according to the project of the architect Lev Rudnev.

Visitors are greeted by a Gothic gate. Nearby is a temple made of wild stone in a Moorish style unusual for this region.

After the revolution, a shelter for orphans was placed here (according to legend, it was looked after by the legendary father Makhno). Later, a rest house named after Voroshilov was opened on the territory (the hero of social work Oleksiy Stakhanov rested here), then a regional drug dispensary.

Currently, the buildings are in a state of emergency.

Excursions by appointment are conducted by representatives of the Charitable Foundation "Mstsykhovsky Manor".