Attractions of Uman

The State Historical and Architectural Reserve "Old Uman" unites 68 objects of historical and cultural heritage in the central part of the city of Uman.

The administration and exhibition hall are located in the premises of the Basilian Monastery - the oldest building in the city. The monastery was built by the governor of Kyiv Frantsishek Saleziy Potocki in 1764-1784 for a Greek Catholic monastery with a Basilian school, which became the cradle of the poets of the "Ukrainian school" in Polish literature.

After the liquidation of the Polish state in 1832 and the confiscation of the estates of the owner of Uman, Count Potocki, the Basilian school was closed, and the monastery buildings were used for administrative purposes. In Soviet times, there was a military unit.

Since 2006, the former monastery complex has housed the administration of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve "Old Uman" with exhibition halls, which host temporary exhibitions.

The tourist route "Mysterious dungeons of the Basilian monastery" is organized in the underground premises.

Also in the reserve you can book city tours "Streets of old Uman", "Uman during the Second World War", "Uman and Hasids".

The famous park "Sofiyivka" in Uman is a masterpiece of world-class garden and park art, an example of a landscape composition of water, land, architectural structures and sculptures. Founded in 1796 by Count Stanislav-Feliks Potocki and presented to his wife, the beautiful Greek Sofiya, on her birthday in 1802.

The park was built by the Belgian military engineer Lyudvih Mettsel in a romantic style using plots from Roman and Greek mythology. At that time, "Sofiyivka" included the Great waterfall with an iron bridge, the Amsterdam lock cut into the rock, the Grotto of the Lion (or Thunder), the Grotto of Venus with a waterfall, the Rybka basin, the Upper and Lower ponds, an underground river. Styx and others. Then appeared: the entrance gate (1850-1852 years); flora pavilion (1842-1844 years); the pink pavilion on Love Island (1850-1852) in the Renaissance style; Chinese gazebo (1841).

The originals of the park sculpture from the Sofiyivka Park are exhibited in the hotel-museum near the central (old) entrance. Opposite the bus station is a new entrance and a shop selling seedlings.

There is a large influx of people on weekends.

The grave of the tzaddik Rabbi Nachman (Bratslavskyi) in Uman is one of the most revered Hasidic shrines, a place of annual mass pilgrimages.

Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the Breslov current of Hasidism (the orthodox branch of Judaism), tzaddik (righteous man), according to his will, was buried in the territory of the Jewish cemetery in Uman in 1810.

During the Second World War, the grave of Tzadik Nachman was destroyed, during Soviet times a residential neighborhood was built on the site of the cemetery. After 1991, Hasidim from all over the world started coming to this place regularly, the surrounding houses were partially or completely bought, and a temporary synagogue was built on the site of Nachman's grave in Uman. Later, the largest synagogue in Ukraine was built here for 7,000 people.

Every September, during the celebration of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), this area, filled with pilgrims, acquires a bright Middle Eastern flavor.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Uman was built on the initiative of Count Andriy Potocki on the site of the old wooden church of Saint Anthony.

During Soviet times, two towers with baths and crosses were removed. The premises were used for various purposes, and in 1977 an art gallery was opened in it.

There are two departments in the permanent exhibition: "Western European and Ukrainian art of the 19th - early 20th centuries (works of Western European artists Dzhuzeppe Betstsuoli, Zhan-Batist Hrez, Symon, Polish masters Stanislav Reykhan, Kazimir Mardzevych, Kryzhanovsky, the German artist Busch), as well as "Modern Ukrainian art".

Divine services are held every Sunday in the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The complex of Light and music fountain "Pearl of Love" was opened in 2017 in Taras Shevchenko Square in Uman.

Located both on land and on water, the Uman fountains are among the three largest in Ukraine. The complex includes the main bowl of the fountain on land with a light-music show and a show on the water screen, a light-dynamic floating fountain on the Ostashivsky Pond and three static fountains with light-dynamic illumination, the color of which does not repeat during the day.

The bowl of the main fountain has an area of 450 square meters, the water screen is almost 200 square meters. The height of the water jet of the floating fountain on the Ostashivsky pond is 19 meters, and the static one is 1.9 meters.

In light and music mode, the fountains work on weekdays from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and on weekends from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. From Friday to Sunday at 19:30 there is a light and music show on the water screen.

The impressive building of the Male gymnasium in Uman was built according to the project of the architect Vladyslav Horodetskyi. At one time it was a famous educational institution.

Currently, the building is occupied by the Uman Agricultural College.

Monument to Maksym Zaliznyak and Ivan Gonta, the leaders of the 1768 "Koliyivshchyna" Haydamaks uprising, was erected in 2015 on the site of the Uman fortress in the area of the "Megometer" plant.

In 1968, for the 200th anniversary of "Koliyivshchyna", a memorial stone was installed here, but the construction of the monument was delayed for almost half a century. The first sketch project of the equestrian monument, depicting the moment of the meeting of the two leaders of the Haydamaks near Uman, was developed by the Kyiv sculptor Ivan Honchar even then. In the final version, the bronze sculpture was made by the sculptor Ihor Zarichny.

The monument to Zaliznyak and Gonta was built on the initiative of the "Uman Cossacks" organization at the expense of the residents of Uman.

Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Uman is an architectural monument of the 19th century. It is located in the center of the city, on the territory of the former fortress.

It was built by the architect Tomash Etlinher with donations from the townspeople in honor of the victory over Napoleon on the site where a Catholic church once stood. In 1843, it acquired the status of a cathedral. In 1911, the interior of the cathedral was remodeled and decorated with ornaments and icons similar to the Kyiv Saint Volodymyr Cathedral (artist Vereshchak).

During the Soviet rule in the early 1930s, the Saint Nicholas Cathedral was closed, first it was transferred to the balance of the Megommeter plant for a club, then in 1977 it was transferred to the local history museum to create a museum of atheism. In the process of restoration work, all wall paintings were lost.

In 1989, the church was handed over to the UOC church community of the Moscow Patriarchate and consecrated in honor of Saint Nicholas.

The Ships Models Museum in Uman was opened in 2020 on the renovated embankment of the Ostashivskyi pond. During the opening, the museum received a certificate of record of Ukraine for the largest number of models of historical ships in one location.

Mykola Chystyk, a Uman master-enthusiast and deputy of the city council, makes the models himself. He has been interested in ship modeling since he was 18 years old.

Currently, 12 models of ships from different times are presented in the open-air exhibition. Among them are the Cossack seagull, "Titanic", "Black Pearl", Noah's Ark, "Flying Dutchman", Viking fighter and other models.

It is planned that in the future the collection of ships at Ostashivsk Pond will expand to 20 exhibits.

The complex of shopping premises (shopping rows) was built in 1780 according to the project of the architect Tepinger at the expense of the Potocki family.

The building was square in plan, made of brick, had a spacious courtyard with four entrances. Inside the courtyard there were more than 40 storerooms for the storage of goods by visiting merchants. The east and west wings of the shopping rows had two floors each and towers at each corner of the building. There were underground passages from the basements under the building. The main trade was conducted in the courtyard, in the center of which stone benches were built. This layout of houses for trade refers to the period of construction of courtyards-fortresses of the late 17th and early 18th centuries and is very rare.

In 1838, Fessinger completely rebuilt the building, adapting it to accommodate the city hall, county court, audience seats, treasury, as well as a prison. Later, the four corner towers and the second floors above the northern and southern passages were dismantled.

The building of shopping rows is still used for its intended purpose - it is part of the Uman city market.

The Uman Museum of Local Lore is located in the building of a former private hospital (1902).

The history of the foundation of the museum begins in 1906, when the Society of Antiquity Lovers was founded on the initiative of teacher and local historian Danylo Shcherbakivskyi. The official opening of the Historical Museum of the Uman Region took place in 1918.

The exhibits of three departments tell about the origin of life on Earth, geological structure, minerals, water system, soils, climate, flora and fauna. Samples of granites, kaolins, and lignite are presented to the attention of visitors; there are stuffed animals and birds listed in the "Red Book of Ukraine".

The historical department presents a model of the Uman fortress, samples of ancient weapons and armor.

In the 19th century, the Main School of Horticulture was transferred from Odesa to Uman, under whose control the Uman park "Sofiyivka" (Tsarytsyn Garden) ended up.

A two-story building in the style of classicism was built for him on the territory of the service part of the park. Since then, students have tended the park, using it to improve their knowledge of horticulture.

Currently, it is the Uman National University of Horticulture, which trains specialists from nine fields.

The university museum is open in building #7. In the exhibition, all historical periods of the development of the educational institution are presented step by step, starting from the time of its foundation in 1844 in Odesa.

"Uman Pit" is the name given to the place where in 1941 the Nazis established the "Stalag-349" transit camp, one of the first concentration camps on the territory of Ukraine.

From 50 to 70 thousand prisoners of war and civilians of Uman were kept in inhumane conditions at the bottom of the clay pit of the brick factory. Thousands of them died from wounds, diseases and hunger, thousands were shot.

"Uman Pit" existed until 1943, until the occupation was lifted. A monument to the dead has been installed at the mass grave.