Attractions of Sumy

The Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sumy was built according to the principle of Romanesque basilica churches and Gothic churches.

A small red brick building with a high gable roof faces the street. The end itself is decorated with a central portal and a round rose window above it. The pointed arch on the high pediment is supported by miniature angular pointed turrets. A clear rhythm of arrowed windows and pilasters is visible on the side facades.

In 1945-1953, the building housed a local history museum, in 1953-1972 - the sports hall of the pedagogical institute, in 1972-1994 - the school sports hall. In 1994, the church was returned to the Catholics.

Park named after Ivan Asmolov is a monument of garden and park art.

The park with an area of about 3 hectares is located across the street from the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Sumy. In the middle of the 19th century, Ivan Asmolov, a merchant of the 2nd guild, bought a block of land on Troyitska Street to build his residence. A park was laid out around the house, built according to the latest architectural fashion. Asmolov, a passionate traveler and breeder, was brought exotic plants from all over the world, which went well with the local ones.

Currently, about 100 rare species of coniferous and deciduous trees, about 30 varieties of lilac grow in the park. The Sumy regional specialized dispensary for radiation protection of the population is located on the territory of the park. Asmolov's manor house is one of its buildings.

A romantic palace with a watchtower and pointed windows decorates the former estate of Countess Paraskeva Shterych (Shterychova), born Donets-Zakharzhevska.

The Basy estate is located on the southern outskirts of Sumy (Zarechny district), on the banks of the Psel River. Countess Shterych inherited the estate in Basy from her father Mykhaylo Donets-Zakharzhevsky at the end of the 18th century. For the construction of the palace, she invited the famous Slobojan architect Oleksandr Palytsyn, who developed a project of an unusual in these parts asymmetrical building in the pseudo-Gothic style. The home church of the Ascension was provided for in the palace.

After the death of the countess, the estate passed into the possession of her brother Andriy Donets-Zakharzhevsky, then to his daughter, who sold it to the widow Hamaliy. In the 1890s, the palace was reconstructed in the English Neo-Gothic style according to the project of Karl Sholts. The last owners were Borys Zolotnytskyi and Samuyil Shteyner.

Currently, the sanatorium-prophylaxis of the Sumy State University is located on the territory of the Paraskeva Shterych manor.

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. 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 of the Holy Trinity Cathedral 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. artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin worked on the Trinity stained glass window.

Until recently, the Holy 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 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 Bolshevik coup of 1917, the House of the Nobility Assembly was converted 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.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

On April 13, 2025, the Russians launched a missile strike with two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles on the city center of Sumy, killing 35 people, including two children, and injuring 119 people.

As a result of the Russian missile strike, the building of the Regional Philharmonic was severely damaged. In addition, other cultural institutions and cultural heritage monuments of the city were destroyed, including: the Sumy Regional Local Lore Museum, the Sumy Regional Art Museum named after Nikanor Onatsky, the Regional Academic Theater for Children and Youth, the Shchepkin National Academic Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy, the Regional Scientific and Methodological Center for Culture and Arts, the Regional Library for Children, the workshop of the regional organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, and the Sukhanov-Sumovsky estate.

The Peter and Paul Cemetery Church in the style of classicism is located in the oldest city cemetery in Sumy, where many famous Sumy residents are buried.

The temple was built in 1843-1851 at the expense of the merchant Fedior Sapozhnikov. The one-domed stone church. The bell tower is connected to the temple by a short passage. Original interior decorations and oil paintings have been preserved.

Nearby are the graves of members of the Kharytonenko family of sugar growers with marble tombstones by the Italian master Aristid Kruazi, as well as the graves of the Sukhanov merchants.

The majestic Savior Transfiguration Cathedral on a pedestrian street in the very center of Sumy combines Renaissance, Baroque and Classicism elements in its image.

The Transfiguration Cathedral in Sumy was built in 1776-1788 on the site of a wooden church of the 17th century. The 56-meter baroque bell tower with English chimes was added later. The cathedral acquired its modern appearance after a major reconstruction, carried out in 1882-1892 according to the project of the authoritative Kharkiv architect Mykhaylo Lovtsov. Cast-iron figures of the apostles Peter and Paul, as well as two identical figures of Saint Volodymyr the Great, and figures of the four evangelists: Luke, Mark, John and Matthew, are installed in the corners of the dome.

In the interior - an iconostasis made of white marble and Ural malachite, paintings on biblical themes by Volodymyr Makovsky. The main shrines are miraculous icons of the Tikhvin Mother of God and the Korsun Mother of God.

The cathedral belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate. Festive services are broadcast outside.

The Sukhanov-Sumovsky estate is a beautiful two-story palace-type house in Sumy.

It was built in 1895 by Sumy businessman and philanthropist Mykola Sukhanov. Later, the manor became the property of the Sumovsky family. The manor house is located in the depth of the park behind a fence with a wrought-iron gate and figured bars.

A two-story residential building with rich architectural decorations was connected by an underground passage to an office building with an attic in the Neo-Renaissance style. On the border of the manor plot there is a long building of the farm building.

Currently, the Institute of Applied Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the services of the Academy of Banking, as well as one of the divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are located in various premises of the Sukhanov manor.

In the premises of the library of the banking academy, the exhibition "The Sukhanovs in Sumy" was opened, which tells about the life and charity of the Sukhanov family.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

On April 13, 2025, the Russians fired two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles at the city center of Sumy. As a result of the Russian missile strike, the architectural monument of the Sukhanov-Sumovsky estate, which is located between the sites of both strikes, suffered significant damage - in particular, the original wrought-iron fence from the late 19th century was destroyed, there are holes in the ceiling and walls, and windows were broken.

As a result of this Russian attack in Sumy, 35 civilians died, including two children. 117 people were injured, including 15 children.

A small gazebo made of carved wood, built according to the project of the architect Matviy Shchaveliyiv without a single nail, is considered a visiting card of the Sumy city.

According to legend, it was built by a burgher, Yosyp Lishchynsky, on the site of a well drilled during an unsuccessful search for oil.

The Sumy gazebo is the only wooden structure in the city that was not damaged at all during World War II.

Sumy Regional Art Museum named after Nikanor Onatsky is located in Sumy in the building of the former State Bank, built in the early XX century by Sumy architect Hustav Sholts.

The museum was established in 1920 on the basis of nationalized private art collections and the collection of Oskar Hansen, which was then in Sumy. The first director was the artist Nikanor Onatsky, a student of Illya Repin, whose works, in particular, are presented in the museum.

The most interesting are the landscapes of Italian artists of the XVII-XIX centuries, Dutch and Flemish painters, including the works of Rubens' students, French landscape painters of the XIX century.

Also presented are the works of famous artists-travelers: Shyshkin, Kuyindzhi, Levitan, Savrasov. The masterpieces of painting of the late XIX - early XX century include the works of Vasnetsov, Serov, Kotarbinskyi, Ayvazovskyi. 

The museum has a collection of works by the outstanding Ukrainian folk artist Mariya Prymachenko.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

On April 13, 2025, the Russians launched a missile strike with two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles on the city center of Sumy, killing 35 people, including two children, and injuring 119 people.

As a result of the Russian missile strike, the building of the Sumy Regional Art Museum named after Nikanor Onatsky was severely damaged. In addition, other cultural institutions and cultural heritage monuments of the city were destroyed, including: the Regional Museum of Local Lore, the Regional Academic Theater for Children and Youth, the Shchepkin National Academic Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy, the Regional Scientific and Methodological Center for Culture and Arts, the Regional Philharmonic, the Regional Library for Children, the workshop of the regional organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, and the Sukhanov-Sumovsky estate.

The Sumy Regional Museum of Local Lore is located in Sumy in the former building of the county zemstvo administration with a notable tower-like projection on the facade, which rises above the main building and ends with a dome.

There are four caryatids on the pylons of the second floor, which support the balcony. Oleksandr Kuprin and Volodymyr Korolenko visited the office in different years. In 1905, the printing office and editorial offices of the first Sumy newspapers were located here.

The Regional Museum of Local Lore in Sumy was founded in 1920. The museum`s exposition presents objects from archaeological excavations of early Slavic and ancient Rus monuments, rare materials from the history and nature of Sumy Region.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

On April 13, 2025, the Russians launched a missile strike with two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles on the city center of Sumy, killing 35 people, including two children, and injuring 119 people.

As a result of the Russian missile strike, the building of the Regional Museum of Local Lore  was severely damaged. In addition, other cultural institutions and cultural heritage monuments of the city were destroyed, including: the Sumy Regional Art Museum named after Nikanor Onatsky, the Regional Academic Theater for Children and Youth, the Shchepkin National Academic Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy, the Regional Scientific and Methodological Center for Culture and Arts, the Regional Philharmonic, the Regional Library for Children, the workshop of the regional organization of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, and the Sukhanov-Sumovsky estate.

The Ukrainian Academy of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine occupies a complex of historical buildings in the center of the city of Sumy.

The first educational building is located in Taras Shevchenko Square (Soborna Street), in the former premises of the First Female Gymnasium. It belongs to a large group of Neo-Gothic buildings of the 19th-20th centuries in the city.

The main building of the academy was built only a few years ago on the central Petropavlivska Street, on the site of the former estates of the descendants of the founder of Sumy Hryhoriy Kondratiev. Until 1917, one of the city's fire brigades was located here, then various institutions. All the architectural nuances of the historical building have been carefully preserved in the reconstructed building. Instead of a fire station, a tower with a clock was built, which notifies the city about various celebrations at the academy.

The fountain-monument "Sumka" (Bag), installed in 2008 on one of the central pedestrian streets of Sumy, symbolizes the legend of the founding of the city.

According to legend, in the summer of 1655, the first Cossack settlers from the town of Pruda in the Kyiv region, led by Otaman Kondratyev, found three hunting sums with coins at the place where a small river flowed into the Psel. The river was named Sumka, and the city founded here was called Sumy.

Sculptor Oleksiy Shevchenko recreated the legend in stone: a bag with money hangs over a well with water, from which water also flows. A new urban tradition has appeared - to wet the face, bags and wallets with "magical" water from the well.

The private antiquities museum "Odyssey Moorage" in Sumy was founded in 2015 by the Sumy photographer, local historian and collector Serhiy Hutsan. His collection began with a selection of old photos and cameras. Over time, personal archaeological finds from different eras, as well as antiquities purchased in antique shops in different countries of the world, were added to them.

In 2022, the official opening of the museum took place in the new premises – the former house of the famous Hryhorievy family from Sumy. The exposition is located in four rooms and in the attic. The first room presents a variety of unsystematic things that characterize the creative search of the collector. The second hall is dedicated to the history of Voskresenska street from Cossack times to the 20th century. In the third room, a typical interior of the beginning of the 20th century is reproduced and an exposition dedicated to the Hryhorievy family is presented. Artifacts transformed by artists into art objects are displayed in the fourth hall. The "Svitlytsya" exhibition space in the attic has a changing exhibition.

Visiting the museum "Odyssey Moorage" is possible by prior appointment accompanied by the author's tour of the owner (one-hour tour of the exposition or two-hour tour of the exposition and Voskresenska and Soborna streets).

The museum has a shop called "Herodotus-Shop", where you can purchase copies of historical jewelry from Sumy master Danylo Sorokin.