Attractions of Nizhyn district

The historical and memorial museum-reserve of Panteleymon Kulish was founded in 1999 in the Motronivtsi hamlet, on the outskirts of the Olenivka village.

Ukrainian writer Panteleymon Kulish spent the last years of his life here, in the "Hannyna Pustyn" manor. He settled in Motronivtsi after the "Em decree" of 1876, according to which it was forbidden to publish any texts in the "Little Russian dialect", with the exception of artistic works and historical documents. Kulish's collection "Khutirska philosophy and poetry distant from the light" prepared here was banned by the censorship on the basis of this very decree.

On the territory of the farm, the manor of Kulish himself, as well as his wife and colleague Hanna Barvinok, was restored, monuments were erected, graves were arranged, a garden was planted and a pond was dug. The complex quite faithfully reflects village life.

The Holy Annunciation Monastery in Nizhyn was founded in 1702 by Metropolitan Stefan Yavorskyi, whose brother served at that time as abbot of the Saint Nicholas Cathedral.

The Annunciation Cathedral was built in 1716 according to the project of the Moscow architect Hrigory Ustinov in the Baroque style. Had a second name - Nazareth the Virgin. Fragments of paintings of the XVIII-XIX centuries have been preserved inside.

The complex also includes the Peter and Paul Church with a bell tower (1803), the abbot's house with a refectory and cells (1808), as well as 12 monastery shops.

In 1999, the complex was handed over to the UOC community of the Moscow Patriarchate, the men's monastery is in operation, but the restoration of the buildings is being carried out very slowly. Church shops are used as shops, hairdressers, etc.

The Assumption Church in Fastivtsi was founded in 1743.

Initially, the temple was built using elements and techniques of Russian professional architecture.

In 1863, the stone Church of the Assumption was rebuilt in the style of romanticism using elements of Rus architecture. This especially affected the architecture of the bell tower, which was completed.

The Holy Intercession Church in Baturyn is one of the churches of the hetman's capital, the confessional of Hetman Ivan Mazepa.

The first wooden church, built on this site in the 17th century, burned down during the Baturyn tragedy, arranged by the Russians.

The five-domed stone temple was rebuilt in 1789 in the Ukrainian Baroque style. Nearby was the building of the church and parish school.

The Holy Intercession Church complex was completely destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1936.

The revival of the church began in 2000 at the expense of the Ukrainian diaspora, and after 8 years the restored Intercession Church was consecrated.

The house-museum of the General Judge of the Zaporizhzhia Army Vasyl Kochubey in Baturyn is a rare example of civil architecture of the Ukrainian Baroque era.

This is the only building that has survived since the Baturyn Fortress after the destruction of the Hetman's capital by Moscow troops in November 1708.

The one-storey brick building of the General Court was built in the second half of the 17th century during the time of Hetman Demyan Mnohohrishny. He performed both administrative and housing functions.

From 1700 it was inhabited by Judge General Vasyl Kochubey and her family. His 16-year-old daughter Motrona (Motrya) was in love with her godfather, 58-year-old Hetman Ivan Mazepa, but the father was adamantly against their marriage. Kochubey and his associate Ivan Iskra tried to settle accounts with Mazepa by informing Tsar Peter I of Moscow about the hetman's secret negotiations with King Charles XII of Sweden. The tsarist government extradited the informers to Mazepa, and they were sentenced to death. After the execution of her father, Motrya went to the monastery. The monument, the Alley of Love and 500-year-old oaks in the manor park (there are the remains of the ramparts of the Baturyn fortress) remind of this dramatic story.

The house of Judge Kochubey has housed the Museum of History and Local Lore since 1975, which in 2006 became part of the National Historical and Cultural Reserve "Hetman's Capital". The exposition acquaints with the history of the house and the Kochubey family, and also deeply reveals the theme of Motrya’s and Mazepa's love.

The interiors of the investigation and pre-trial detention rooms with an exposition of instruments of torture are recreated in the basements.

Part of the exhibition is dedicated to the beekeeper, inventor of the hive Petro Prokopovych, who lived in Baturyn.

The Church of the Intercession was built in Nizhyn in 1757-1765 and has not been rebuilt since then.

The stone temple is made in a strict baroque style with almost no decor. In the interior you can see paintings of the end of the 18th century.

In the 19th century, an elegant two-tier bell tower in the Empire style was added to the western facade of the Intercession Church. It is decorated with skillfully executed four-column porticos and triangular pediments with a clear rhythm of dentils.

Today, the Intercession Church belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Kochubey estate in Tynytsia is an architectural monument of national importance.

It was founded by the descendants of the general judge Vasyl Kochubey, who owned the village in the 19th century. The center of the composition is the manor house of the Kochubeys, built in the 18th century. A beautiful thick pine alley leads to the house.

The palace building is one-story, stone, rectangular in plan, with a strictly symmetrical composition of facades. Further in the park is the treasury building with a second floor added, which changed the original appearance of the building.

The park in Tynytsia was founded at the same time as the Sokyryntsi park by the efforts of Hryhoriy Galagan in the first half of the 19th century. In general, a complex planning system of several park sites with alleys has been preserved. The architectural structure of the park is very interesting: four alleys - spruce, maple, chestnut and linden - converge in rays to the center.

Until 2006, there was a vocational school on the territory of the complex. At the moment, the buildings and the park are in a deplorable condition.

The church of Kostyantyn and Olena at the Greek (Trinity) cemetery of Nizhyn is one of three Greek churches in the city.

It was built in 1819-1820 (according to other sources - in the second half of the 18th century) in the Baroque style at the expense of wealthy Greek merchants, the Zosyma brothers, possibly their ancestral tomb. Under the altar walls of the church, one of the three legendary brothers of Zosyma is buried - Anastasiy, a nobleman and a knight of the Greek Commandery Order of the Savior. The brothers became famous not only for their wealth, but also for their vow of celibacy, which they swore to keep until the liberation of their homeland Greece from the Ottoman yoke.

Mykola Hohol described the consecration of the church of Kostyantyn and Olena at the Greek cemetery in the youth satire "Something about Nizhin, or The law is not written for fools."

Currently, the church of Kostyantyn and Olena in Nizhyn belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Kruty Heroes Memorial was opened in 2006 at the railway station "Kruty" (Pamyatne village near Kruty), where on January 29, 1918, an unequal battle took place between the 4,000-strong Bolshevik army of Mykhaylo Muravyov and several hundred Kyiv cadets and students who took up defense on the approaches to Kyiv.

The student group, formed from students of Saint Volodymyr Kyiv University, Ukrainian National University and Cyril and Methodius Gymnasium, was sent by the Central Council of the Ukrainian People's Republic to help the Bahamian garrison, which consisted of cadets of the cadet school. The battle lasted 8 hours. Ukrainian troops repelled several attacks by the Bolsheviks, but were forced to retreat, having previously dismantled the railway track.

There are no exact data on the number of dead on the Ukrainian side (historians give different figures - from several tens to three hundred). One reconnaissance platoon (about 30 men) was captured and executed by the Bolsheviks. The bodies of those shot were later buried at the Askold grave, history has preserved the names of only 18 of them.

In the course of military operations, the battle near Kruty was not of decisive importance, but the feat of Kyiv students is heroized as an example of patriotism and self-sacrifice of Ukrainian youth. Oleksandr Vertynskyi's song about the fallen cadets "I don't know why and who needs it..." and Pavlo Tychyna's poem about the thirty martyrs "They were buried at the Askold grave" became a symbol of the era.

The central element of the Kruty Heroes Memorial is a monumental stele in the form of a column of the Red Corps of Kyiv University, crowned with a trident.

The museum exposition is housed in old railway carriages collected from all over Ukraine.

Festive events take place on January 29 every year.

Memorial Museum of Mariya Zankovetska was opened in 1964 in the village of Zanky, in the estate of the Adasovsky family.

It was here in 1854 that the outstanding Ukrainian actress, representative of the luminaries of the Ukrainian theater, Mariya Zankovetska (Adasovska), the first People's Artist of Ukraine, was born. She spent her youth here and returned here many times as an adult.

In the house restored after the fire, where Mariya lived as a child, photos of members of the Adasovsky family and Zankovetska's personal belongings are presented: a casket, a mirror, a handbag, dishes, lace woven by her hands. Of particular interest are her stage costumes, as well as the grand piano presented to the actress by the composer Mykola Lysenko.

An ethnographic collection and an exhibition of medicinal herbs are presented in the adjacent building of the old school. The museum organizes a tea party upon the order of tourist groups.

A monument to Mariya Zankovetska has been installed in the courtyard of the museum.

The memorial to the heroes-defenders of Ukraine was opened in 2023 in the center of Nizhyn city, in the former square named after Hubina, next to the All Saints Cathedral.

The memorial complex in the form of a Cossack cross was built from Ukrainian granite according to the project of architect Zhanna Balanyuk and sculptor Serhiy Oleksienko.

In the center of the composition is a sculpture of the Hero of Ukraine Oleksandr Matsiyevskyi, who went to the Russian-Ukrainian war from Nizhyn and died on December 30, 2022 at the hands of the Russian invaders, boldly throwing into their eyes before being shot: "Glory to Ukraine!" His figure symbolizes the feat of all men and women who defended Ukraine against Russian aggression.

In front of the memorial, an interactive information stand has been installed with information about all citizens of Nizhyn who gave their lives defending Ukraine.

Nizhyn cucumbers, which made the city of Nizhyn famous, became popular during the reign of Empress Catherine II, who ordered to supply them to the imperial court, which was carried out until 1917.

In Soviet times, the products of the Nizhyn cannery also enjoyed constant popularity due to the special crunch and characteristic taste of local cucumbers, which is explained by the properties of the local soil and a special pickle, the recipe of which, according to legend, was brought to Nizhyn by the Greeks. Currently, Nizhyn pickles are exported to 70 countries around the world. 2

In 2005, a monument to the Nizhyn cucumber was erected in front of the central entrance to the Nizhyn Cannery. The vegetable sculpture is made of green Italian granite. He is depicted lying on a salting barrel standing in a cellar for preserving.

The museum complex of Nizhyn State University named after Mykola Hohol is located in the main university building, built in 1820 for the Nizhyn Gymnasium of Higher Sciences.

This university-type higher education institution was opened in Nizhyn on the initiative of Counts Oleksandr and Illia Bezborodko. Oleksandr Kushelev-Bezborodko, grandson of Illia Bezborodko, became the trustee. In 1821-1828 the writer Mykola Hohol studied here. Graduates of the gymnasium were also a writer-biker Yevhen Hrebinka, artist Andriy Horonovych, patron Vasyl Tarnovsky and others.

In 1909, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Hohol's birth, the Mykola Hohol Museum was founded at the then Nizhyn Historical and Philological Institute.

In addition, the museum complex of Nizhyn University includes the Museum of the History of Nizhyn University, the Museum of Soviet Life "Homo sovieticus", as well as a unique art gallery, in three halls of which are paintings of different eras.

The basis of the art exhibition is paintings of the Renaissance and classical European schools, which were donated to the school by its trustee Oleksandr Kushelev-Bezborodko in 1845 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary. Of particular value is one of the largest in the country collections of paintings by Ukrainian artist Serhiy Shyshko, which he personally donated to the school. 36 paintings represent different stages of creative growth and development of the artist.

The possibility of visiting the museum on weekends must be coordinated with the university administration in advance.

A monument to the famous Ukrainian painter Mykola Ge was erected in 1981 on the grave of the artist, who lived the last years of his life in Ivankivskyi farm (now the village of Shevchenka) near Fastivtsi.

Mykola Ge graduated from the 1st Kyiv gymnasium, studied at Kyiv and St. Petersburg universities, the Academy of Arts. He was one of the founders of the Association of Peredvishniks. In 1876, he moved to Ukraine, where he bought a small Ivankivskyi farm. A number of sketches of the Ukrainian peasantry and the nature of Ukraine belong to his brush.

Illya Repin, Lev Tolstoy, and Pavlo Tretyakov visited Mykola Ge's farm. Later, Mykhaylo Vrubel lived and worked on the farm (he was married to the artist's relative).

Mykola Ge died in Ivankivskyi in 1894, buried in the eastern part of the farm.

The monument was erected for the 150th anniversary of the birth of the artist and his wife, who is buried nearby. The current state of the monument raises serious concerns, because in the absence of care, it gradually decays.

The world's first monument to the outstanding writer Mykola Hohol was erected in Nizhyn in 1881.

It was here that the future writer received his education, graduating in 1828 from Prince Bezborodko's Gymnasium of Higher Sciences.

The author of the monument was the famous sculptor Parmen Zabila, who himself was from Nizhyn. It is believed that the sculptor immortalized his profile in the folds of Hohol's cloak on the section of the bust, leaving his autograph in this unusual way.