Attractions of Sumy region

The Lebedyn city art museum named after Borys Rudnev is located in an old building in the center of the city. This was the mansion of the surgeon and founder of the zemstvo hospital, Kostiantyn Zilbernyk, built at the beginning of the 20th century.

The beginning of the creation of the art museum in Lebedyn was laid in 1918 by Borys Rudnev, a technological engineer from Kharkiv. The exposition was created on the basis of the nationalized collections of local landowners, in particular from the Strohaniv estate in Khotin near Sumy.

Currently, there are about 2,000 rarities in the exposition. Among them are good collections of Ukrainian portraits of the 18th century, works of artists Dmytro Levytskyi, Vasyl Polenov, Serhiy Vasylkivskyi, Hryhoriy Myasoedov, Valentina Serova, the Krychevskyi family, etc.

The former house of the manager of the estates of Leopold Koenig in Trostianets was built in 1911 in the far part of the Neskuchne Park.

The two-story building of an asymmetrical composition with a tower in its eastern part is made in the Art Nouveau style. The head of forestry lived here with his family. During the Soviet rule, an agricultural school was opened in the building, and in 1923, the first forest research station in Ukraine.

Today it is the administrative building of the Krasnotrostyanetska Forest Research Station - a branch of the Institute of Forestry and Agromelioration.

The Manager's House has the status of an architectural monument of national importance.

During the Russian occupation of Trostianets in 2022, the House of the estate manager Leopold Koenig burned down. In particular, the fire destroyed the red oak wooden staircase and the library, which had more than 15,000 books and began to take shape during Koenig's time. The monument needs complete restoration.

A monument to the entrepreneur Leopold Koenig was erected in 2010 in Trostianets, across the street from the Trostianets chocolate factory "Mondelize" (formerly "Kraft Foods", "Ukraine").

At the end of the 19th century, Koenig opened a sugar refinery on the site of this enterprise. Koenig also built a parquet factory, a mill, and a distillery in Trostianets, contributing to the economic development of the city and the region.

Leopold Koenig Manor (Holitsyn Palace) in Trostianets is a neoclassical manor house with Baroque elements, built in 1762 by the Nadarzhynskyi brothers next to the Round Yard Manor.

Prince Vasyl Holitsyn owned it for almost half a century from 1832, and in 1881 the estate became the property of the sugar factory Leopold Koenig, who carried out the reconstruction. Now the palace houses the Trostianets Museum and Exhibition Center.

The building is decorated with rich stucco on the facade and sculptures in the niches. The palace is surrounded by a luxurious park with a lake, a gazebo and park sculptures. The grand oak staircase to the second floor, door portals with volutes, and a dance hall decorated with stucco and sculpture have been preserved in the interior. In the summer of 1864, the composer Petro Tchaikovsky lived and worked in this house while visiting Oleksiy Holitsyn, here he wrote the overture to the drama "The Thunderstorm" – his first symphonic work. During Soviet times, the palace housed a kindergarten, then the building was empty for a long time. Restoration was carried out in 2007-2009.

Currently, the ballroom and other central premises of the palace house a picture gallery and a small exhibition dedicated to Petro Tchaikovsky (a room-museum of Tchaikovsky is planned to be opened on the second floor). The Trostianets Museum of Local Lore operates in the right wing. In 2012, a chocolate museum was opened in the left wing, where the products of the Trostianets chocolate factory "Mondelize" (formerly "Kraft Foods", "Ukraine"), which is now produced mainly under the "Korona" brand, are presented. A coffee room is also open.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

During the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022, when Trostianets was under Russian occupation for a month, Leopold Koenig's estate was damaged. There was a partially destroyed room with a local history exposition. The museum needs restoration.

The Mammoth Monument in Kulishivka is the first such monument in the world. It is part of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve "Posulliia".

It was established in 1841 in honor of a paleontological find made in 1839 by the Ukrainian scientist-naturalist, professor of Kharkiv University, Ivan Kalynychenko. He unearthed a well-preserved skeleton of a mammoth discovered by local residents during excavations. The find was presented to the zoological office of Kharkiv University.

At the suggestion of Professor Kalynychenko and with the participation of the owner of the estate, Count Yuriy Holovkin, in 1841, a 3-meter cast-iron memorial was erected at the place where the bones were found.

The Kulishivka monument to the mammoth is now a landmark of the district and is even depicted on its coat of arms.

Park-monument of horticultural art "Trostianetsky" is located on the slopes of the hills of the picturesque tract "Neskuchne", where there are three lakes in the middle of a mixed pine-deciduous forest.

The landscape park was established at the beginning of the 19th century, when Trostianets belonged to Oleksandra Nadarzhynska, the granddaughter of the city's founder Timofiy Nadarzhynskyi. Formed on the basis of ancient timber and using the natural landscape, Neskuchne Park occupies an area of 256 hectares (400-year-old oaks have been preserved).

Near the back entrance to the park in 1911, a two-story art nouveau manager's house with a tower was built, which now houses a forest research station.

On the shore of the third lake in the depths of the park is the "Grote Nymph" (1809), built of large flat stones for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. According to legend, the grotto was the entrance to the dungeons located under the city. Under Prince Vasyl Holitsyn, the grotto was used for theatrical performances on the theme of ancient Greek myths, hence the name.

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 manor house of the Ohiyevsky landowners in Krolevets is famous for the fact that the poet Taras Shevchenko stayed there.

In 1859, he returned from Kyiv to St. Petersburg for the last time. After visiting his friends the Lazarevsky in the village of Hyrivka (now Shevchenko) in the Konotop district, he drove with them to Krolevets, where the Lazarevsky sister Hlafira Ohiyevska lived. Shevchenko spent the night here, then went to Hlukhiv.

The house of the Ohiyevsky was preserved in its original form. In 1964, a cast-iron memorial plaque was installed.

Currently, the Ohiyevsky manor houses the Museum of Krolevets Weaving, which exhibits traditional Krolevets towels, embroidered cloths, and looms.

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 manor house of the Putyvl princes Lvov in the village of Bochechky, Konotop district, is a unique monument of palace and park art of the high classicism era for the Sumy region, which has been well preserved to this day.

The estate was founded in 1745 (according to other sources - in 1783), when a landscape park was laid out on these lands that belonged to the Lvovs. Now it is a park-monument of local landscape art with an area of ​​almost 15 hectares. Linden, oak, maple, sedge and other plants grow in it.

The main element of the estate is a brick two-story palace in the style of classicism with elements of the neo-Renaissance. Most sources indicate the year 1866 as the time of its construction, although it is possible that an earlier building was reconstructed then. The estate was then owned by Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Lvov. Its last owner was Princess Anna Lvova.

The palace is rectangular in plan, with a massive semi-rotunda of the dance hall with a colonnade gallery, protruding on the park facade. The front facade is designed in classicist architectural forms. Initially, the layout of both floors was enfilade.

After the Bolshevik coup, the palace of Princess Lvova in Bochechky was confiscated, an agricultural technical school was placed in it, then a rural school. At the same time, the interior decor was completely lost, as well as the Corinthian capitals of the columns and pilasters of the park facade.

Now the palace houses the Bochechky secondary education institution of grades I-III. In 2010, the facade and roof of the estate were reconstructed. In 2012, the grand opening of the renovated landscape park took place: the alleys were illuminated, flowers were planted, and benches for relaxation were installed.

Unique in terms of architecture, the manor house "Round Yard" was built in Trostianets  in 1749 by Yosyp Nadarzhynskyi with brothers - sons of the royal clergyman Timofiy Nadarzhynskyi.

The building is made in the form of an oval fortress or castle. Initially, it was planned as a defense to protect against the Tatars. The "Round Yard" is surrounded by a hollow brick wall reinforced with buttresses, with one-story rooms inside the yard and four round three-tiered towers.

In the middle of the 19th century, the estate passed into the possession of Prince Oleksiy Holitsyn, who adapted the fortress "Round Yard" for a summer theater or circus. In the open area of the courtyard, three-tiered boxes for spectators were built, similar to ancient Roman amphitheatres. Artists lived in the towers. In the center was an arena where circus performances and performances by the troupe of the Holitsyn Fortress Theater took place.

During the years of Ukraine's independence, the "Round Yard" was restored, various cultural events are held. Adjacent to it is a park with the Holitsyn Palace (XIX century), an arboretum, lakes and wooden sculptures.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during the battles for Trostianets, Russian troops caused significant damage to the "Round Yard" building.

The spectacular Saint Michael's Church in Voronizh is a masterpiece of the late Ukrainian Baroque. It was built in 1781-1786 according to the project of the architect Ivan Hryhorovych-Barsky (according to another version - Rastavelli).

According to the plan, it is close to the Holy Intercession Church built by Hryhorovych-Barsky on Podil in Kyiv. A distinctive feature of the architecture is the combination of architectural techniques used in the construction of Orthodox and Catholic churches, which is practically not found in religious buildings of the Left Bank of Ukraine. Thematic high-reliefs depicting the apostles were used to decorate the exterior surface of the church.

The interiors were painted by the outstanding Ukrainian artist Mykola Murashko.

The ancient Cossack Saint Nicholas Church is the oldest architectural monument in Hlukhiv. It was built by master Matviy Yefimov in the Baroque style.

During the hetman times, Cossack councils were held on the square in front of the Saint Nicholas church, where various state issues were decided, and "elections" were held in the church itself - sumptuous ceremonies of consecration to hetmans.

Here is the grave of the politician and statesman of the Hetman region, Major General Mykola Khanenko.

The imposing Saint Nicholas Church in Lebedyn, which combines the Byzantine style with the Renaissance in its architectural image, is a vivid example of the possibilities of the so-called "brick style" common in the XIX-XX centuries in Ukraine.

Nicholas Church was built in 1890 according to the project of the architect Volodymyr Nemkin. The author decorated the walls of the temple with intricate cornices, arches and other complex elements.

The beautiful Transfiguration Church is located in the center of Okhtyrka.

A small temple in the Byzantine style was built according to the project of the architect Volodymyr Nemkin instead of the wooden Transfiguration Church, founded in the 18th century. The project of the new stone church was approved and adopted in 1904, and a year later the church was consecrated. The construction was carried out on the donation of the burgher Hryhoriy Chykalo.

Previously, a now lost belfry towered above the temple, on the second tier of which there was a bell weighing 5 tons. During the Soviet struggle against religion, the bell tower was dismantled, the church was closed. Until 1994, the premises were used as a gym. Currently, the Savior-Transfiguration Church belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Its dome is gilded, restoration work has been carried out inside, and an iconostasis has been installed.

On March 2, 2022, as a result of Russian shelling during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Church of the Transfiguration suffered significant damage.