Attractions of Donetsk region

The Museum of the History and Ethnography of the Greeks of the Azov region is located in the center of the village of Sartana (a suburb of Mariupol).

The museum has a very rich exposition about the culture and lifestyle of the Greeks from the time of their resettlement from the Crimea in 1778-1780, about the founding of new settlements by them, the development of local lands, and the development of the diaspora.

The exposition is located in 6 halls, on two floors.

Museum employees also pay a lot of attention to the cuisine of the Greeks of the Azov region, collect recipes and publish collections of them.

During the Russian occupation in 2002, the management of the museum went to collaborate with the enemy.

The Sviatohirsk State Historical and Architectural Reserve unites the complex of buildings of the Sviatohirsk Holy Assumption Lavra of the 17th-19th centuries - one of the three most important Orthodox shrines of Ukraine.

According to one version, it was founded in the chalk caves of Sviatohirya on the high bank of the Siversky Donets by Byzantine monks even before the baptism of Rus.

The first written mention of the "Sviati hory" (Holy Mountains) area dates back to 1526, and the monastery was officially founded in 1624, when Tsar Mykhaylo Fedorovych presented the brothers with the land of Sviatohirya and assigned a state salary. At first, monks settled in caves on chalk spurs. The entire mountain is permeated with a labyrinth of passages and cells, which are open to visitors today. The high mountain is crowned by the Saint Nicholas church of the 17th century with a chalk altar carved directly from the rock. At its foot is the Assumption Cathedral (1859-1861, architect Oleksiy Hornostaev), a hotel (1877), the abbot's house (1900), a refectory with the Intercession Church (1847-1851, architect Andriy Ton), the towers of the monastery walls. In the caves there are the underground churches of Anthony and Theodosius (XVII century), Nativity of John the Baptist (XIX century), cave chapel, two tombs, cells. The Lavra was visited by Hryhoriy Skovoroda, Anton Chekhov, and Illia Repin.

The monastery was closed twice, during the Soviet times a rest house was located here. In 1992, it was transferred to the UOC community of the Moscow Patriarchate, in 2004 the monastery was granted the status of a Lavra.

Sviatohirsky state historical and architectural reserve was created in 1980. The historical museum of the reserve is located in Hostinny Dvir (Guest yard). In five exhibition halls, objects of the material and spiritual culture of the tribes and peoples that inhabited Sviatohirya since the Stone Age, models of the architectural ensemble of the Sviatohirsk monastery in different periods of its history, archaeological finds and documents from the history of the monastery from the 17th century, are presented. memorial expositions. The thematic excursion "Sights and memorials of the Sviatohirsk Lavra" also includes a visit to the Upper Lavra with the Saint Nicholas Church, the All Saints Hermitage, the monument to Artem (Fedir Serheev), created in 1927 by the sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze.

Entrance to the territory of the Lavra is free, but visitors are asked to observe a strict dress code - upon entry, women can receive a headscarf and a skirt.

Russian-Ukrainian war

In 2022, during the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Lavra was hit several times by shelling and bombing by Russian troops. People who were hiding on the territory of the Lavra from shelling were injured. Almost all the buildings of the Lavra were damaged - the cell blocks, the dormitory building, the hermitage of John of Shanghai, the Cathedral of the Holy Martyrs, etc. Saint George's Hermitage was destroyed, the church in honor of the "Joy of All Sorrowful" icon of the Virgin Mary Hermitage was destroyed, the main church of the All Saints' Hermitage was burned down.

A monument to the insurance agent was erected in the center of Donetsk for the 10th anniversary of the ASKA insurance company.

The bronze sculpture of the "Derzhstrakh" agent, who is preparing to enter the office to the insured, depicts the popular movie hero Yuriy Detochkin from the movie "Beware of the car", embodied on the screen by the talented actor Inokentiy Smoktunovsky. According to the initiators of the installation of the monument, this film very well shows the specifics of the work of an insurance agent - daily, exhausting, but interesting and necessary for people.

The author of the monument is the sculptor Ihor Makohon.

A monument to the English industrialist John James Hughes, the founder of Yuzivka (now Donetsk), the creator of the Donetsk metallurgical industry, on which the economic power of Donbas is now based.

The monument was opened in 2001 in the heart of the student campus of the Donetsk National Technical University - a local technical educational institution, opposite the new building.

The author of the monument is the sculptor Oleksandr Skorykh. The sculptor decided to place the human-sized figure of John Hughes on a low pedestal, thereby emphasizing the human features of the founding father of the Donetsk industry. The monument was cast in the central repair and mechanical workshops.

Katerynivski hillocks (Granite Hills) is the popular name of a local natural monument.

Very unusual granite formations are located near the village of Katerynivka on both banks of the Kalchyk River (chronological Kalka). The oldest granites, polished over millions of years, have the appearance of frozen waves.

A very beautiful and majestic sight, which is impressive with its scale.

The reserve "Khomutivsky Steppe" is the largest part of the Ukrainian Steppe Reserve (1028 hectares), a preserved fragment of the Wild Field, as it was before the development of these lands.

The reserve was founded in 1926 to preserve and protect steppe vegetation. Today, the area of the reserve is 1,030.4 hectares, and 90 of them are a completely protected area, which has never been touched by a plow and which has not been grazed by cattle or mowed for 70 years.

The reserve is crossed by the Klymushevska, Brandtova, Chervona streams. On its territory, the plants of the group of plain multi-grass - typchakovo - kovilov steppe have been preserved and are protected. 604 species of flowering plants and ferns grow here - grasses, shrubs and trees. Including 19 - endemic, ie. spread over a very limited area.

59 species of mosses, 46 lichens and more than 270 mushrooms are also registered in the reserve. The feathered world of the Khomutivsky Steppe is represented by more than 80 species of birds.

The municipal cultural institution "Kostiantynivka City Museum of Local Lore" was founded in 1967.

The museum is located on the ground floor of a multi-storey residential building of the 1930s. It consists of seven exhibition and exhibition halls. The exposition is presented by the main sections: nature, ancient history, history of society and the city at its various stages, modernity. In the archeological collection: Polovtsian stone sculptures, tools and weapons of ancient times.

A special place is occupied by the collection of glassware of the XIX-XX centuries, when the glass industry began to develop in Kostiantynivka.

Exhibitions, thematic events and excursions are held.

The Kramatorsk City Council Art Museum is based on the art gallery opened in 1959.

Its funds were formed by enthusiasts led by the artist Ivan Parkhomenko. Artists from Kramatorsk, Donetsk and Kyiv donated their works to the museum. Now the museum's funds include more than 2,000 works of painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative and applied art.

In particular, the works of famous Ukrainian artists Mykola Hlushchenko, Kostyantyn Trokhymenko, Tetyana Yablonska and others are presented. The

Museum of the History of the City of Kramatorsk is located in the same building.

The Mariupol Museum of Local Lore is the oldest museum in the Donetsk region.

It was founded in 1920 in a three-story building in the historical part of the city of Mariupol, built at the beginning of the 20th century according to the project of the city architect Viktor Nilsen.

Before the large-scale Russian invasion of 2022, the museum's holdings included more than 53,000 exhibits. The exposition highlighted the nature and history of the southern part of the Donetsk region. In particular, a diorama of the Bilosaraiska Spit was presented. Documents and household objects illustrated the process of the founding of the city of Mariupol in 1778 as a district city of Pavlovsk, the settlement of the region by Greeks and representatives of other nations. The Section of the History of the Soviet Period demonstrated the transformation of Mariupol into an industrial center on various household items, models, and original exhibits. A collection of Polovtsian stone babas was presented in front of the entrance.

During the siege of Mariupol in the spring of 2022, the building of the Mariupol Local History Museum burned down. The occupiers took the surviving exhibits to Donetsk, their further fate is unknown.

The National Natural Park "Meotida" is located in the south of the Donetsk region, covering a two-kilometer coastal zone of the Sea of Azov for 150 kilometers.

The reserve was created in 2000. It received the name of the ancient country of the Meotids, a tribe of Meots who lived in the 1st millennium BC in the Azov region. The area of the park is 13 thousand hectares of territory and the same amount of water area.

The park "Meotida" includes the nature reserves of national importance "Bilosarayska Kosa" and "Pryazovsky Chapelnyk", the ornithological reserve of local importance "Kryvokosky estuary", natural monuments of local importance "Kryva Kosa" and "Pine crops", as well as the regional landscape park "Polovtsian Steppe".

More than 250 species of birds (including curly pelicans) and 47 species of mammals have been registered on the territory of the reserve, some of them are listed in the Red Book. The flora of the park has preserved the aboriginal features of the steppe vegetation, which includes 640 species, including more than 40 endemic ones.

In 2001, Meotida Park was accepted into the international organization "Federation of Europarks".

Excursions for children and adults, boat trips, bird watching and horseback riding are available. In particular, tourists can observe the life of unique birds in their natural environment from the 26-meter tower.

Russian armed aggression in the east of Ukraine led to serious environmental consequences, including in the territory of the Meotida National Nature Park, which was damaged during the hostilities. Some objects of the nature reserve fund of the reserve were damaged or destroyed by shelling.

An exact copy of the famous "Mertsalov Palm", which has become a symbol of Donbas (depicted on the coat of arms of Donetsk region), is located in Donetsk at the beginning of Pushkina Boulevard on the square in front of the Donetsk Regional State Administration building.

A filigree sculpture in the form of a palm tree 3.5 meters high, forged from a solid steel rail at the end of the 19th century by Donetsk blacksmith Oleksiy Mertsalov, was awarded the Grand Prix of the Paris International Industrial Exhibition in 1900. The original is kept in the Museum of the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg.

Numerous modern copies of the work of Donetsk blacksmith Serhiy Kaspruk have been installed in Kyiv, Lviv, Crimea, Moscow, Hanover, Ottawa.

In Donetsk, the first exact copy was installed in 1999 near the Expo-Donbas exhibition center. It was also made from a single rail without welding or joints by master Serhiy Kaspruk using his own technology instead of the lost Mertsalivka one.

Another copy, made in 2007 from Damascus steel, was installed on Pushkina Boulevard.

A monument to the KSP-32 tunneling combine was installed next to the Technical University of Donetsk.

Tunneling combines are complex mining machines designed for underground work in mining operations: rock destruction, loading on conveyors or trolleys, etc.

KSP-32 combines are manufactured at the Yasynuvata Machine-Building Plant. The inscription on the monument reads: "To the residents of the city of Donetsk from Yasynuvata machine builders."

A 22-meter statue of the famous revolutionary Artem (alias Fedir Serhyeyev) rises above the domes of the Holy Assumption Sviatohirsk Lavra on top of one of the chalk mountains above Siverskyi Donets.

The cubist monument was created in 1927 by the sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze. Most of the work on the construction of the 1,000-ton monument was carried out by hand: on the terrace of the monastery, parts were cast from reinforced concrete, which were lifted up the mountain by truck and installed in place with the help of an ordinary truck crane.

A new monumental complex to the heroes of the Second World War was built nearby.

Mount Karachun is a natural landmark of local importance. Translated from Turkic, "karachun" means "black death". There are many legends about the mountain.

Today, there is a large chalk quarry on Mount Karachun, and chalk tericones are produced nearby. From the mountain and the nearby chalk tericones, a wonderful view of Slovyansk and its surroundings opens up.

Until recently, on the feast of Ivan Kupala, fire dances were held on the mountain and flaming wheels were lowered from it.

Due to the strategic importance of Mount Karachun, its commanding height above the city of Slovyansk, and the location of the TV and radio transmission center on it, during the Russian-Ukrainian war, it became the object of a protracted military confrontation in April-July 2014. On the night of July 1, 2014, as a result of pro-Russian armed formations shelling Ukrainian positions on Mount Karachun, the TV tower was destroyed.

On December 5, 2016, a new TV tower was inaugurated on Mount Karachun.

The "Environment" museum of the history of Oleksandro-Kalynove village was created by local enthusiasts in 2011.

The museum complex is a miniature open-air museum consisting of an ethno-house, an exhibition hall and a courtyard. The ethno-house reproduces the interiors of a rural residence of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century.

The exhibition hall occupies the premises of the old school. There is an ethnographic collection (towels, embroidery, household items, tools), artifacts of the Soviet past, as well as an exhibition of items related to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

An open-air exposition has been opened in the yard, the central element of which is the ancient UD-2 tractor, which started the creation of the museum. Also in the yard you can see other old agricultural machines, stone millstones, crane well, etc.