Attractions of Cherkasy region

The State Historical and Architectural Reserve "Old Uman" unites 68 objects of historical and cultural heritage in the central part of the city of Uman.

The administration and exhibition hall are located in the premises of the Basilian Monastery - the oldest building in the city. The monastery was built by the governor of Kyiv Frantsishek Saleziy Potocki in 1764-1784 for a Greek Catholic monastery with a Basilian school, which became the cradle of the poets of the "Ukrainian school" in Polish literature.

After the liquidation of the Polish state in 1832 and the confiscation of the estates of the owner of Uman, Count Potocki, the Basilian school was closed, and the monastery buildings were used for administrative purposes. In Soviet times, there was a military unit.

Since 2006, the former monastery complex has housed the administration of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve "Old Uman" with exhibition halls, which host temporary exhibitions.

The tourist route "Mysterious dungeons of the Basilian monastery" is organized in the underground premises.

Also in the reserve you can book city tours "Streets of old Uman", "Uman during the Second World War", "Uman and Hasids".

The extremely picturesque Buky Canyon in Cherkasy region is formed by the high rocky banks of the Hirsky Tykich river.

The river cut its channel in granite deposits, the age of which is about 2 billion years. The canyon is narrow (20-40 meters in places), deep (up to 20 meters), winding and long (about 1 kilometer). It starts from the artificial two-meter overturning of the former hydroelectric dam, which is called the Vyr waterfall.

You can admire the rocky outcrops of the banks, between which the river runs along the rapids, in the center of the village of Buky, from the bridge over Hirsky Tykich.

The ruins of a 19th-century water mill and a hydroelectric power station from 1929 have been preserved.

Downstream is the Vyr itself - a deep place in the river bed, drilled by eddies. Next, you can find the most interesting place, where high sharp rocks very picturesquely hang directly over the water, creating a landscape that is completely uncharacteristic for central Ukraine, similar to a fjord.

There are convenient picnic areas along the entire length of Buky Canyon (there are many people on warm weekends).

The romantic palace-castle of the Naryshkin-Shuvalov Counts in the town of Talne is one of the most interesting palaces of the Cherkasy region, an architectural monument of national significance at the beginning of the 20th century.

The manor in Talny was established back in 1725 by Count Frantsishek Saleziy Potocki, but it reached its greatest prosperity under Petro Shuvalov. It was he who in 1902-1907 built a two-story palace in the form of French hunting castles of the Renaissance era according to the project of the famous Danish architect Andreas Klemmensen. The coat of arms with a unicorn adorns the main facade of the building.

Shuvalov was married to Sofiya Naryshkina, daughter of Count Lev Naryshkin, who, in turn, received the estate as a dowry from his wife Olha Potoska, daughter of the famous Sofiya Potoska, in whose honor the Uman Park "Sofiyivka" was built. Tombstones from the graves of Sofiya, Petro and Pavlo Shuvalov have been preserved near the palace.

The palace is located in the middle of the English park "Talnivskyi" of the XVIII-XIX centuries, which is a monument of garden and park art of national importance. Separate buildings from the second half of the 19th century have been preserved on the territory of the manor: the foundations of the old palace, the basement of the old kitchen, a cellar, the gardener's and forester's houses, etc.

During Soviet times, the palace housed a museum of agriculture, as a large settlement of the Trypillia culture, which is considered the oldest agricultural culture in the world, was found on the territory of the city.

Since 2022, the palace and the park are under the management of the utility company "Talne Palace and Park Complex of the Shuvalovs". The palace has been undergoing long-term restoration for many years, and the creation of a museum is planned. Visits must be arranged with security.

The location with geographic coordinates of 49*01"39" north latitude and 31*28"58" east longitude was officially approved as the geographic center of Ukraine in 2005 by the decision of the State Committee of Natural Resources according to the results of research by the Research Institute of Geodesy and Cartography.

Before that, it was believed that the geographical center of Ukraine is located next to the urban-type village of Dobrovelichkivka, Kirovohrad Region, where a memorial sign was installed back in 1989. The point in Dobrovelychkivka was awarded another honorary title - the geometric center of Ukraine.

According to updated data, the center of Ukraine is located in the middle of a field to the east of Shpola, next to the village of Maryanivka. The location is 3 kilometers from the highway N-16 "Cherkasy - Uman", behind the railway tracks - a small memorial sign has been installed at this place.

Directly opposite the turn from the highway to Maryanivka, in 2012, the construction of the historical and tourist complex "Geographical Center of Ukraine" began. Previously, at the entrance to Shpola from the Smila side, a granite monument was installed with the outline of the territory of Ukraine, markings of Kyiv, Shpola and Maryanivka, and the inscription "Shpolyanshchyna - the geographical center of Ukraine".

The famous park "Sofiyivka" in Uman is a masterpiece of world-class garden and park art, an example of a landscape composition of water, land, architectural structures and sculptures. Founded in 1796 by Count Stanislav-Feliks Potocki and presented to his wife, the beautiful Greek Sofiya, on her birthday in 1802.

The park was built by the Belgian military engineer Lyudvih Mettsel in a romantic style using plots from Roman and Greek mythology. At that time, "Sofiyivka" included the Great waterfall with an iron bridge, the Amsterdam lock cut into the rock, the Grotto of the Lion (or Thunder), the Grotto of Venus with a waterfall, the Rybka basin, the Upper and Lower ponds, an underground river. Styx and others. Then appeared: the entrance gate (1850-1852 years); flora pavilion (1842-1844 years); the pink pavilion on Love Island (1850-1852) in the Renaissance style; Chinese gazebo (1841).

The originals of the park sculpture from the Sofiyivka Park are exhibited in the hotel-museum near the central (old) entrance. Opposite the bus station is a new entrance and a shop selling seedlings.

There is a large influx of people on weekends.

The Patriotic Museum of the Russian-Ukrainian War in Cherkasy was founded in 2018 by a serviceman of the 118th Terrodefense Brigade, volunteer Oleksiy Svyatenko. It is located on the territory of the motor vehicle enterprise.

The museum has collected hundreds of samples of weapons, ammunition and ammunition from the war zone from the beginning of the war in 2014 to the present day. In particular, you can see the tubes from the Javelin, NlAW and Fagot ATGMs, cartridges from the American Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, cartridges for mortars, tanks and guns, various small arms. Fragments of the Russian rocket from the Uragan MLRS, the remains of the Shahed drone shot down over Cherkasy, and samples of Russian military uniforms are also presented.

A separate part of the museum is dedicated to Dmytro Kotsyubaylo "Da Vinchi", who died in March 2023.

Near the entrance to the museum stands an evacuation vehicle, which was used by the fighters of the "Right Sector" military unit during the battles for the Donetsk airport in 2014 and in other hot spots.

The Church of Saint Anna in Talne was built in 1702 by the Potocki family, which owned the town in the 18th and 19th centuries.

During the Soviet rule, the church was closed, the building was used for household purposes.

In 1992, the shrine was returned to the Catholic community of the city, restored under the direction of the artist Kulahin.

The state historical and cultural reserve "Trakhtemyriv" was created in 1994 on the site of the ancient Cossack village of the same name.

It is located on a picturesque peninsula, formed by a steep bend of the Dnipro opposite Pereyaslav. Scythian and early Slavic settlements were discovered here. In princely times, the ancient Rus city of Zarub stood on this site.

In 1147, the Trakhtemyriv Monastery was mentioned, built on the site of the Zarub monastery destroyed by the Tatars. In 1576, a hospital for old and infirm Cossacks was created at the monastery. Two years later, the Polish king Stefan Batory, having established a registered Cossack army, bequeathed the Trakhtemyriv to the Cossacks.

The Trakhtemyriv fortress was built, which became the informal Cossack capital - hetmans were elected here, ambassadors were received, and supplies were stored here. It was also an outpost of popular uprisings on more than one occasion. In 1665, during the suppression of one of the uprisings, the city and the monastery were destroyed.

A Cossack cemetery has been preserved on the outskirts of the village of Trakhtemyriv, a cross has been erected on the site of the monastery in the Tserkovshchyna tract, the remains of the fortress have not been found.

Currently, most of the territory belongs to the private Agrarian and Ecological Association "Trakhtemyriv", which uses the protected lands as elite hunting grounds. A large castle-style hunting lodge (burned down in 2015) was built in a picturesque location next to a former pioneer camp. A tree in the shape of a trident grows near it, next to which there is a memorial sign.

Several houses have been preserved in the village, in one of which the family of a hermit nicknamed "Scyth" lives permanently.

The grave of the tzaddik Rabbi Nachman (Bratslavskyi) in Uman is one of the most revered Hasidic shrines, a place of annual mass pilgrimages.

Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the Breslov current of Hasidism (the orthodox branch of Judaism), tzaddik (righteous man), according to his will, was buried in the territory of the Jewish cemetery in Uman in 1810.

During the Second World War, the grave of Tzadik Nachman was destroyed, during Soviet times a residential neighborhood was built on the site of the cemetery. After 1991, Hasidim from all over the world started coming to this place regularly, the surrounding houses were partially or completely bought, and a temporary synagogue was built on the site of Nachman's grave in Uman. Later, the largest synagogue in Ukraine was built here for 7,000 people.

Every September, during the celebration of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), this area, filled with pilgrims, acquires a bright Middle Eastern flavor.

The Historical Museum of the Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi State Historical and Cultural Reserve is located on the territory of the Stanislav Ponyatovsky Palace in Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, and operates as a research department of the reserve.

More than 2,000 exhibits in six halls reveal the history of Korsun in the context of the history of all of Ukraine from ancient times to the present. Fragments of Trypillya pottery, items from Cimmerian and Scythian burials, Slavic ornaments, a Polish cannon, armor and weapons of Poles, Ukrainians and Moscow archers are presented.

Also on display are items from the Stanisław Poniatowski Palace.

The dioramas "Anti-serfdom uprising of 1855 in the Korsun region" and "Battle of Korsun in 1648" give a clear idea of the key historical events of the region.

Separate sections of the exposition tell about collectivization and the Holodomor, about the participation of Korsuns in the First and Second World Wars, the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921 and the Russian-Ukrainian War.

The palace and park complex in Korsun, on the islands in the middle of the Ros River, was founded in 1782 by Prince Stanislav Ponyatovsky as his own summer residence.

The Ponyatovsky Palace was built in 1787-1789 on the basis of the old Polish fortress of the Vyshnevetsky princes, who in turn were created on the site of the Ancient Rus Korsun settlement. The project of the palace in the neo-Gothic style was developed by architects Zhan-Anri Myunts and Yan Lindsey.

The new owner, Prince Pavlo Lopukhin, significantly changed its architecture in the middle of the 19th century, giving it features of Russian romanticism with elements of neo-Gothic and classicism. The last owners of the Korsun estate were the Lopukhin-Demidov princes.

After the Soviet-Ukrainian war, the manor was miraculously preserved and has survived almost unchanged to this day. The famous silhouette of the Ponyatovsky Palace is created by the keel-shaped kokoshniks, above which the belvedere towers rise. Nearby is a large three-story outbuilding (1782-1783), which was connected to the palace by the Order Gallery. The entrance gate in the form of French defensive architecture was built in the middle of the 19th century (there is a cafe in the basement). Other manor buildings have been preserved: the service building, the "Swiss house", the Orthodox chapel.

Most of Kotsyubynsky Island is now occupied by a luxurious landscape park (area of 100 hectares, 80 species of trees and shrubs) with bridges, gazebos, sculptures and a romantic grotto. It is especially beautiful in the spring, when the lilac is blooming.

In Soviet times, the exhibition of the museum of the history of the Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi battle was placed in the premises of the Ponyatovsky Palace. An exhibition of military equipment was on display in the square in front of the palace. In April 2022, at a meeting of the Scientific and Methodological Council of the Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi Reserve, a decision was made to dismantle the exposition of the museum of the history of the Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi Battle and change its name to the "Military Museum" with the creation of a new exposition in the Ponyatovsky Palace.

The new exposition presents the works of artists of different times and different directions, styles, and techniques. These are, in particular, the works of unknown Italian sculptors of the 18th century (at one time they decorated the palace), the Italian engraver Domeniko Kuneho, the Ukrainian artist Ivan Soshenko, the Italian sculptor Luyidzhi Yorini, the Hungarian artist Syhizmund Bubiks, a lithograph from the work of a Polish artist of Ukrainian origin, Yuliush Kossak, works local artist Herontiy Bondarenko and Ukrainian artists of the 20th-21st centuries Mykola Prokopenko, Borys Fedorenko, Serhiy Shyshko, Andriy Chebykin, Serhiy Dupliy, Oksana Tymkiv.

You can also see the palace projects of the palace and the palace ensemble, the originals of which are kept in the Cabinet of Drawings of the Library of the University of Warsaw; photos of the interiors of the palace from the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century; copies of drawings and lithographs of the 18th and 19th centuries, in particular, by Zhan-Anri Myunts, the Polish artist Napoleon Horda, Vanicek, the French lithographers Fransua-Zhozef Dyupresuar and Yevheniy Hyuho, the Polish artist Adolf Kozarsky.

Porcelain and ceramics from the collection of Canadian citizen Olena Berykul-Kryvoruchko, representing 20 countries of the world, is exhibited in a separate hall. Most products are from England, Japan, China, Italy, Germany, USA, France. A separate hall is also dedicated to sacred art, where, among other icons, the icon of the icon painter Hryhori Stetsenko, the father of the composer Kyrylo Stetsenko, and icons restored by the artist and icon painter Oksana Tymkiv will be presented.

The exposition include museum objects of everyday life, which characterize the era of the 18th - 19th centuries.

Recreation park "Oleksandriya" in Ivanky near Mankivka is called "Little Sofiyivka".

A park with sculptures, bridges and gazebos was created on the lake near the Ivankiv distillery in 2007 at the initiative of the director of the enterprise Oleksandr Velychko.

Newlyweds like to take pictures here.

The architectural and landscape ethnographic complex "Sovyn Yar" was opened in 2024 at the initiative of the rector of the Cherkasy National University named after Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, the former governor of the Cherkasy region, Oleksandr Cherevko, in his native village of Vodianyky in the Cherkasy region.

45 architectural objects, sculptural compositions and monuments tell about the history of the region, its legends and tales. Among them is the sign of the foundation of the village of Vodianyky "Trident", reconstruction of the 17th-century Cossack Ascension Church, a parish school with a bell tower, a complex of windmills, a sculptural composition "Seven Saints" and ancient Cossack crosses.

The basis of the complex is Kateryna's Park, named after the wife of the founder of the complex. Its architectural elements are dedicated to the themes of love and family: "Vodianyky pedigree" (sculptor Mykola Telizhenko), "Arch of Eternity", "Legends of Sovyn Yar", "Guardian Angel of Kateryna's Park", etc.

On the shores of the ponds there are recreation areas. Nearby is a recreation complex with a hotel and a restaurant.

The double-enthroned church of All Saints of the Cherkasy Land and the Nativity of John the Baptist began to be built in the village of Khutory on the outskirts of Cherkasy in 1998.

The height of the church with the cross is 54 meters. The architecture of the church resembles an ancient castle. The temple has secret passages and hidden cells, suitable for a monastic retreat and overnight accommodation for pilgrims.

The temple icon of John the Baptist was made in prisons, in a special church workshop.

Elements of crosses are visible in the architecture of the lower church and the ceiling structure, as it is dedicated to John the Baptist.

The entire architectural composition of the temple abounds with figured porticos, arches, patterned relief protrusions. The belfry has two bells that survived the Second World War and have traces of bullets. You can climb the spiral staircase to the bell tower and the observation deck, which offers views of the city of Cherkasy and its surroundings.

The parish of the Church of All Saints of the Land of Cherkasy and the Nativity of John the Baptist belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Military-Patriotic Center-Museum in Shampaniia was established in 2011 by brothers Oleh and Ruslan Boyko with the participation of the Ukrainian Union of Veterans of Afghanistan.

On the territory of the enterprise "Shampantrans" it is possible to get acquainted with the operating military equipment of the Soviet times: various modifications of armored personnel carriers, BRDM, BMP; BAZ 6944 rocket carrier and ATC-59 tractor; ZIL 157 and ZIL-131 trucks; army ATVs, motorcycles, etc.

Also presented are a variety of small arms (machine guns MG-34, "Maxim", KPVT, PTC; submachine guns "Thompson", MR-38, PPSH, PPS, AK-47 and their modifications, rifles, pistols, etc.) and military uniform different times.

Excursions are held in the fleet and at the weapons depot. It is possible to change into military uniforms of different armies and periods (for photos with weapons), as well as to shoot from small arms. Rental of military equipment.