Attractions of Poltava region

A monument to Hetman of Ukraine Ivan Mazepa was erected in Poltava in 2016 in front of the Assumption Cathedral, built at his expense.

This is the first full-length monument to Mazepa (busts were previously installed in Mazepintsy and Chernihiv). The 3.2-meter-high bronze sculpture was made by the sculptor Mykola Bilyk back in 2009, but the opening of the monument was preceded by a long public debate about its expediency, since Russian and Soviet propaganda for a long time formed a negative image of the hetman, who sought to remove Ukraine from the political influence of Muscovy.

A key episode of the Northern War of 1709 is connected with Poltava, when the troops of the Moscow Tsar Peter I defeated the army of the Swedish King Charles XII and his ally Ivan Mazepa. This event is immortalized by many monuments in the city, but almost all of them are dedicated to Russians and Swedes.

Funds for the installation of a monument to the Ukrainian hetman were collected by the public.

The monument to plumbers in Kremenchuk was created at the expense of employees of the local water utility. It is designed to perpetuate the difficult work of locksmiths and plumbers.

The monument was installed at the entrance to the utility company "Kremenchukvodokanal" on the occasion of the company's 95th anniversary.

The sculpture depicts two workers twisting the valve of a water supply.

The monument to Solokha in Poltava region is installed on the R-42 highway between Velyki Sorochyntsi and Opishnia, near the turn to the village of Stavkove. According to legend, the village was founded by the landowner Solokha, so until 1964 it was named Solokha.

The sculptural image of Solokha is based on the character from Mykola Hohol's story "The Night Before Christmas" and the Soviet film "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka". The aphorism of the Ukrainian writer Pavlo Zahrebelnyi is engraved on the pedestal: "An army can be defeated - a woman never!".

A recreation area is equipped next to the monument.

The monument "To Swedes from Swedes" near Poltava was erected in 1909 near the Poltava battlefield.

The 6 m high monolithic granite monument was delivered from Sweden. According to the legend, the Russian authorities put forward a demand - there should be no bas-reliefs, sculptures or any other decorations on the monument. The Swedes fulfilled the condition, but every year on the day of the Battle of Poltava early in the morning, when the first rays of the rising sun fall on the granite, the silhouette of a grieving woman appears on it.

On two sides of the monument there are inscriptions in Swedish and Russian: "In memory of the Swedes who died here in 1709, it was built by compatriots in 1909."

The Motoball Track near Vyshniaky is the home arena of the Niva Motoball club.

Matches of the Ukrainian motorball championship are played here. In 1995, 2007, 2009 matches of the European Championship were held.

The Khomutets Palace is the ancestral estate of the Cossack family of the Apostols, where the Decembrist meetings were held in the 1820s.

The wooden palace was built in Khomutets by the future Hetman of Ukraine Danylo Apostol in the 18th century. Later, the estate was inherited by the writer, historian and public figure Ivan Muravyov-Apostol. After settling in Khomutets, he replanned the park and added stone wings to the palace, connecting them to the main building with semicircular passages.

Ivan Muravyov-Apostol's sons Matviy, Serhiy and Ipolit, who were active participants in the Decembrist movement, held secret Decembrist meetings here with the participation of Pavlo Pestel, Mykhaylo Bestuzhev-Ryumin and others.

In Soviet times, the palace housed a veterinary and zootechnical school, and a room-museum of the Decembrists was opened.

Recently, the building is in an extremely neglected state and is collapsing. The stucco with the coats of arms of the former owners has been preserved.

In a regular landscape park with an area of 15 hectares, there is a trinity oak, planted by Ivan Muravyov-Apostol in honor of his three sons.

The Museum of Boiled Borscht and the Museum of Living Bread were opened in Opishnia on the basis of the green tourism estate "Lyalyna svitlytsya" during the ethno-festival "Living Bread" in 2020.

The owner of the estate, Olena Shcherban, prepares daily borscht for guests according to a new recipe, of which she knows at least 365. Among them are wedding, funeral, winter, summer, white, brown and many others.

In one of the houses of the ethnic estate there is a collection of pots from different regions, stags, as well as a traditional oven in which dishes are prepared. Ingredients added to borscht in different regions of Ukraine are also presented.

The local lore museum of Horishni Plavni has been operating since 2000. The exposition tells about the history of construction of the city of Horishni Plavni and the local mining and processing plant, as well as about the ancient history of the region.

Paleontological and archeological collections are exhibited. The ethnographic exposition "Ukrainian House" recreates the interior of a rural house. The lecture hall contains a mineralogical collection and an art gallery.

The "Shrine" exposition in the courtyard of the Museum of Local Lore presents a collection of "stone chests" - burial structures of archeological culture of the Eneolithic period, found during archeological excavations of local mounds, as well as anthropomorphic or amorphous gravestones and over-mound hewn slabs.

The Memorial Museum-Estate of the Hero of Ukraine, People's Artist of Ukraine Rayisa Kyrychenko was officially established in 2024. Previously, it operated on a non-profit basis. It bears the informal name Museum-Estate "Mother's Cherry-Tree" in honor of the popular Ukrainian song performed by the artist.

The museum is located in Rayisa Kyrychenko's native house in the village of Koreshchyna in the Poltava region. She was born here in 1943. She went to school in the neighboring village of Zemlianka, where she first started singing in the choir (a monument was erected in front of the school in 2008).

The house has preserved the atmosphere that existed here during the life of the People's Artist. Personal belongings and photographs are presented. It is possible to listen to recordings of Rayisa Kyrychenko's concerts.

The most valuable exhibit is the titular Ukrainian stage set of Berehynya, donated to the museum by Rayisa Kyrychenko's niece.

Also in the village you can visit the grave of Rayisa Kyrychenko, where she was buried, according to her will, next to her mother's grave in 2005.

The Museum-Estate of Green Tourism "Mykhailove Chudo" (Michael's Miracle) operates in the village of Trubaitsi in the Poltava region. It was opened in 2025 by the couple Yana and Mykhailo Voloshyns on the farm of their ancestors.

In the middle of the village courtyard there is a large hut under the reeds, built at the beginning of the 19th century. In ancient times it was a village korchma (tavern).

The ethnographic exposition in several museum rooms tells about the history of the village of Trubaitsi and the ancient life of its inhabitants. The tools of rural labor, old dishes, household items, embroidered towels, home icons, large chests in which girls put their dowries are presented.

There is a residential house nearby where you can rent rooms for relaxation. In the yard there are gazebos, swings and a small stage for holding various events.

The first Literary and Memorial Museum of Mykola Hohol in Ukraine was opened in Velyki Sorochyntsi in the restored house of the Sorochyntsi doctor Trokhimovskyi, where the future writer was born in 1809.

The museum was initiated by the artist Amvrosiy Buchma, who in 1929 took part in the filming of the film "Sorochynsky Fair".

During the Second World War the building was destroyed, reconstructed in 1951 without preserving the original layout. The interiors of the 19th century have been restored.

The exposition of the Mykola Hohol Literary and Memorial Museum includes the writer's personal belongings, the first editions of his books, documents, a portrait of Illya Repin's work, and others.

The monument to the writer Mykola Hohol in Poltava was erected in 1934, although it was created before the Bolshevik coup of 1917.

In 1913, the city public of Poltava began to collect funds for a monument to their outstanding compatriot, and 2 years later, the sculptor Leonid Posen handed over the sculpture made by him to the city. The sculptor depicted Hohol sitting in thought with a book in his hand.

The monument was planned to be erected on the square in front of the drama theater, but the First World War stood in the way of these plans. Under the Bolsheviks, they initially did not want to erect a monument for ideological reasons, since Hohol came from a noble family. Only in 1934, the monument took its current place on the boulevard part of Mykoly Hoholya Street.

The monument to Mykola Hohol in Velyki Sorochyntsi is one of the first monuments to the writer in Ukraine. It is also considered one of the best in the world.

The residents of Sorochyntsi decided to perpetuate the memory of a great compatriot in 1909, when they celebrated the centenary of his birth. The author of the monument project is St. Petersburg sculptor Illya Hintsburh.

The monument was inaugurated in 1911 near the house of doctor Mykhaylo Trochymovskyi, where Hohol was born in 1809. The bronze sculpture depicts a writer sitting in deep thought.

The Memorial Museum of Mykola Lysenko operates in his native village of Hrynky in Poltava region. It was here that the outstanding composer was born in 1842 in the family of a local landowner, Colonel Vitaliy Lysenko. Here his mother Olha Lysenko gave her son his first music lessons.

A small museum exhibition is located in one of the rooms of the Hrynky Village Council building with original stained glass windows.

The museum exhibition tells about the life and work of Mykola Lysenko. Documents, photographs, as well as some original personal belongings of the Lysenko family from their former house in Hrynky are presented.

The memorial museum-estate of potter Mykola Poshyvailo was opened in 2025 in his native house in Opishnia on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the master's birth. The institution is a department of the National Museum-Reserve of Ukrainian Pottery.

Mykola Poshyvailo was born in 1930 into an artistic family of potters Havrylo and Yavdokha Poshyvailo. He inherited from his parents the Opishnia pottery traditions and love for the craft. For many years he worked as a creative master at the "Artistic Ceramics" factory. He received the title of Honored Master of Folk Art of Ukraine, was a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, a member of the National Union of Masters of Folk Art of Ukraine, and a laureate of the All-Ukrainian Literary and Artistic Prize named after Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky. In his later years, he conducted master classes for visitors to the reserve.

A space of memory has been created in the house of Mykola Poshyvaylo, in which not only things, ceramics and archives are preserved, but also the spirit of creativity itself. A large collection of the master's original works is presented.