Attractions of Cherkasy district

The museum of the singer and composer Semen Hulak-Artemovsky in Horodyshche is located in an old one-story house in the center of the city.

Hulak-Artemovskyi was born in Horodyshche in 1813. He is known as one of the founders of Ukrainian classical music, the author of the first Ukrainian opera "Zaporozhets za Dunayem".

Shcherbyna House is the most luxurious mansion of pre-revolutionary Cherkasy, nicknamed the "Palace of Happiness" in Soviet times, because the city's civil registry office was located here.

Built in 1892 by entrepreneur Opanas Shcherbyna. It is distinguished by extraordinary lightness and elegance of architecture, rich decor.

For some time, the Zemska administration was housed here, in 1919 the premises were occupied by the district revokkom, then by the Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies. After the Second World War, the Cherkasy City Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Komsomol City Committee were located here.

Since 1970, the building has been used as a Palace of Marriages.

At the foot of Tarasova (Chernecha) Mountain in Kanev, in 2007, an avenue of 19 sculptures appeared, dedicated to the characters of Taras Shevchenko's works.

Sculptors from different parts of Ukraine worked for more than a month on their creation from blocks of sandstone and limestone. Initially, the monuments were planned to be built from the Dormition Cathedral to Chernechaya Hill - along the route of Kobzar's last journey. However, the sculptures were collected together, where at the foot of Tarasova Mountain they form a kind of sculpture park called "Shevchenko Alley".

Taras Hill (Tarasova Hora) in Kaniv is a national shrine of the Ukrainian people, a place of worship to the memory of the outstanding poet-prophet Taras Shevchenko. The poet's grave and the surrounding natural landscapes are protected by the Shevchenko National Reserve, founded in 1925.

The reserve is located on Chernecha Hill above the Dnipro, on the southeastern outskirts of Kaniv. According to legend, the mountain got its original name back in the 11th-12th centuries, when the Kaniv cave monastery existed on it. Later, the Cossack Intercession Monastery was founded here.

In the middle of the 19th century, after visiting these places, Taras Shevchenko wanted to buy a plot of land here to build a manor, but his plans were not destined to come true. After his death in St. Petersburg, Shevchenko was first buried at the Smolensk cemetery, however, at the request of the public, on May 10, 1861, the coffin with the poet's ashes was brought to Kaniv.

According to the will, he was buried on a high Dnipro cliff, which has since been called Taras Hill. A mound was placed on the grave and a monumental cast-iron cross monument was installed. In 1939, the largest monument to Shevchenko in Ukraine was erected on the grave. There are 342 steps leading to the monument from the foot of the mountain with the Lily fountain.

The first folk museum of the poet "Tarasova svitlytsia" was opened at the end of the 19th century in the former house of the overseer of the Shevchenko grave, Ivan Yadlovsky. After the construction of the new museum complex, "Tarasova Svitlytsa" was restored in its original form at another place, near Yadlovsky's grave.

In 1939, the literary and memorial museum of Taras Shevchenko was opened near Shevchenko's grave, built according to the project of the outstanding architect Vasyl Krychevskyi, who is considered the founder of Ukrainian architectural modernism. After a long restoration in 2003-2010, the museum has a modernized interactive exposition, which presents memorial items and etchings of Shevchenko, rare editions of his works, works of art on Shevchenko themes, etc.

To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Taras Shevchenko, the historic Cossack Church of Intercession of Holy Virgin has been recreated in the Monastirok tract on the slope of Taras Hill. The pavilion of the "Tarasova Hora" passenger pier, where ships from Kyiv sometimes arrive, was also renovated for the anniversary. There is a cafe on the pier, and there is a souvenir shop nearby. The main parking lot of the reserve for tourist buses is located at the foot of the stairs to Taras Hill. You can go directly to the mountain by car, where there is also a small parking lot.

The Shevchenko National Reserve also includes the Kaniv Historical Museum and the Kaniv Museum of Folk Decorative Art, which are located in the center of the city.

The hyperboloid water tower in Cherkasy is one of the few works of the outstanding engineer Volodymyr Shukhov that have survived in Ukraine.

The openwork steel Shukhov tower is located on the territory of the communal enterprise "Cherkasyvodokanal". It was built in 1913-1914 to provide drinking water to the city of Cherkasy, which the day before experienced a cholera epidemic.

The engineering structure of the hyperboloid type in the early modern style is one of the highest in Cherkasy. Initially, the construction of the Shukhov Tower was riveted, but after the reconstruction in 1949, some of the fasteners were replaced with welded ones. Restoration is planned.

The Smila Museum of Local Lore is located in the building of the branch of the St. Petersburg Loan Bank, built in 1909 in the style of provincial art nouveau.

The main funds of the museum include more than 3,500 storage units. The exposition presents cartographic materials of the 19th and 20th centuries; exhibits that tell about the family of the former owners of the city, Counts Bobrynsky; archaeological finds made in the Dnipro region.

Among the unique exhibits are a casket made by Italian jewelers of the 18th century, a padlock from the middle of the 19th century, etc.

The Museum of the History of the Village of Starosillia was established in 1960 in the premises of the local House of Culture as a museum of the Five Hundred Movement.

In 1985, a new museum exposition was created in the premises of the secondary school building. The authors of the exposition are artists of the Kyiv Art Fund Yuriy Shatilov and Andriy Skutin. In 1991, the museum was named "Museum of the History of the Village of Starosillia".

The museum exposition is located in four halls, which exhibit about 3,000 exhibits. The first hall houses an exposition that introduces archaeological finds in the village. The second hall is dedicated to the Five Hundred Movement and the Holodomor in Ukraine. The third hall tells about the village and its inhabitants during World War II. The fourth hall is about the post-war reconstruction of the village and the modern period.

A separate exposition is dedicated to the natives of the village, participants in the modern Russian-Ukrainian war.

Until 1923, the main building of the Cherkasy Polytechnic was a State Wine Storage, that is, a liquor and vodka factory.

Such Storage were massively created in the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as part of the "Wine Monopoly", introduced at the initiative of the Minister of Finance Serhiy Vitte in 1896.

The main building of the complex in the eclectic style was built in 1905 (according to other sources - in 1887). Initially, the facade was unequal in height: it had two- and three-story parts. The decor is made of facing brick. The ceramic floor covering with the stamp "Herenheym Society, Kharkiv", forged metal tanks in the basements, fragments of sewage and ventilation systems have been preserved.

Currently, it is one of the buildings of the Cherkasy Polytechnic College.

The Subotiv History Museum is located on the grounds of the ancestral estate of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi in Subotiv.

The estate was founded in 1616 by the hetman's father Mykhaylo Khmelnytskyi (Khmil). After the death of his father, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi inherited the estate and built his fortified residence here with a defensive rampart, a fortress tower, and the Illinska Church, which also played the role of a fortification element of the fortress.

In 1648, during the absence of the owner, the Subotiv manor was seized by Danylo Chaplinskyi, the sub-mayor of Chyhyryn, who constipated Khmelnytskyi's young son to death and took possession of his bride Motrona (Helena) by force, which became the impetus for the uprising of the Cossacks under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.

Ruling the Cossack state from Chyhyryn, Khmelnytsky often lived in Subotov. A few years after the death of the hetman, the estate was destroyed by the Poles, the fortress was destroyed. The foundation of the fortress tower, above which the pavilion was erected, has been preserved. The wooden watchtower and the entrance gate of the manor have been reconstructed.

The museum complex also includes two estates of the late 19th and early 20th centuries "Ukrainian House", one of which reproduces the interior of a potter's workshop. A Cossack cannon is installed on the castle grounds.

The manor of the Yakhnenko-Symyrenko family on the Platon farm in Mliiv was founded in the middle of the 19th century by the entrepreneur Platon Symyrenko, the son of the rich merchant Fedir Symyrenko, who was originally from Horodyshche.

Platon Symyrenko built a large sugar factory in Mliiv, on land leased from Count Mykhaylo Vorontsov, but later the enterprise was liquidated, its premises were used by the military.

At the end of the 19th century, the land of Platon hamlet was leased from Countess Balashova by the pomologist (fructologist) Levko Symyrenko to create the largest nursery in pre-revolutionary Russia, where the most valuable varieties of fruit and decorative plant species were collected. Here, the scientist discovered the famous Renet Symyrenko apple variety.

His son, Volodymyr Symyrenko, became the first director of the Mliiv horticultural research station during the Soviet regime. Currently, it is the Institute of Pomology named after Levko Symyrenko. A monument to the gardener was installed in front of the main building of the institute (1926).

A small one-story house built by Platon Symyrenko in 1855 has been preserved among the old manor buildings - it houses the memorial museum of the Symyrenko family.

From January 1, 1992, the Symyrenko Family Manor-Museum became a department of the Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore.

Taras Shevchenko Museum was opened in 2014 on the territory of the Nahanovsky inn in the village of Moshny, where Shevchenko lived for a few days after his release from arrest in 1859, during his third (and last) trip to Ukraine.

A residential building has been preserved from the inn, where the main exhibition of the museum was located. In 2013, before the opening of the museum, the building underwent major repairs, the roof was covered, and the concrete foundation was poured. But all the walls, thresholds, ceilings and the stove with a couch remained original. The layout of the house has also been preserved. In the rooms, original furniture of the 19th century, household utensils, embroidered towels, icons are displayed.

All buildings in the yard of the former inn are reproduced according to descriptions and drawings.

The Literary Memorial Museum of Taras Shevchenko in Kaniv was opened in 1939. Before that, on Taras Hill, there was a folk museum of the poet "Tarasova Svitlytsia", opened at the end of the 19th century in the former house of the overseer of the Shevchenko grave, Ivan Yadlovskyi.

The new museum was built during 1935-1937 according to the project of the outstanding architect Vasyl Krychevsky, who is considered the founder of Ukrainian architectural modernism. According to the initial plan, the laconic, outwardly classicist building was to be decorated with Ukrainian ornaments in the majolica technique. This idea was never implemented, but the interior decoration was impressive with a folk color: a bright stained glass window in the depth of the lobby, caissons with colored rosettes on the ceiling, ornamental paintings on the walls.

After the reconstruction of 2003-2010, the building acquired a modern minimalist look with elements of constructivism.

Today, the museum collection includes more than 20,000 objects. The main exposition presents individual memorial items of Taras Shevchenko (carved casket, spindle, psalter), originals of some of his drawings and etchings, rare editions of the poet's works, works of art on Shevchenko themes, etc.

In a separate hall, Kobzar's posthumous plaster mask is displayed surrounded by texts from the "Testament" in various languages of the world. The interactive map "The last journey of Taras Shevchenko through Ukraine" shows the route by which the coffin with Kobzar's ashes was taken from St. Petersburg to Kaniv.

The exhibition is equipped with multimedia information kiosks, and various audiovisual programs are available to visitors.

The Taras Shevchenko Station Wagon Museum was opened in Smila in 1976 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the station's opening. The wooden passenger car, built in 1935, houses exhibits from the Shevchenko Railway Junction Museum.

Most of the exhibits tell about the formation of Smila as a junction station of the railway, which was originally built as a highway for transporting sugar during the time of Count Bobrynsky.

The car museum is attached to another rare locomotive - the SU 216-32 steam locomotive, built in 1940.

The first Taras Shevchenko National Museum on Chernecha Hill in Kaniv "Tarasova Svitlytsia" appeared long before the creation of the Shevchenko National Reserve.

As early as 1884, at the same time as the arrangement of Shevchenko's grave was completed, a house was built next to it. In one half of it lived the first caretaker of the grave Ivan Yadlovsky, opened the first national museum of the poet with a book of reviews.

The house was dismantled in the 1930s, during the construction of a memorial on Tarasova Hill, but was restored in 1991. The museum exposition presents a copy of a portrait of Shevchenko donated to the museum by artist Illya Repin, a copy of a towel embroidered for the museum by Lesya Ukrayinka, an icon depicting Shevchenko in the image of a saint.

In the second half, the room of the guard of Shevchenko's grave with the original samovar of Ivan Yadlovsky on the table was restored.

"Three Wells" in Subotiv are wells preserved from the time of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, which supplied water to the Cossack hospital. They are located at the bottom of a deep gully on the southwestern edge of the village.

According to legend, three Cossacks dug a spring at the site, the waters of which healed them after being wounded by a local elder.

It is believed that the taste of water from each well is slightly different from the others.