Attractions of Chernihiv district

Saint Anthony's Caves at the foot of the Boldyni Hills are the oldest shrine in Chernihiv, a unique monument of underground cult architecture of the 11th-19th centuries. It is part of the Trinity-Elijah Monastery and is part of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve "Ancient Chernihiv".

The first cave Christian temple and monastery in Chernihiv was founded by the monk Anthony of Kiev (Anthony of the Caves) in 1069, when he left the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra he founded and returned to his homeland.

Now the Elijah cave complex has several tiers of underground galleries, a chapel, cells and three underground three-part churches. The entrance to the caves is to the left of the Saint Elijah church of the 12th century. Through it you can get to the cave part with a total length of 315 meters with the underground temples of Saint Anthony, Saint Theodosius and Saint Nicholas Sviatosha.

Archaeological excavations continue in the Saint Anthony's Caves, but most of it is equipped for visiting, excursions are held here. Visitors are especially intrigued by the legend of the ghost of a monk, who supposedly sometimes appears at the end of one of the side corridors.

On the mountain above the monastery are the Slavic mounds Bezimennyi and Gulbyshche, as well as the grave of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky with a monument.

The Saint Elijah Church (Illinska Church) in Chernihiv is a unique monument of Old Rus sacral architecture, the only temple of the columnless type of the Ukrainian-Rus era. Located at the foot of Boldyna Mountain, it is the oldest part of the Trinity–Saint Elijah's Monastery and is part of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve "Ancient Chernihiv".

Most researchers attribute the construction of the Saint Elijah Church to the end of the 11th century, when it served as a baptismal font. It acquired modern features of Ukrainian Baroque as a result of the reconstructions of the 17th-18th centuries. The three-tiered bell tower next to it was erected in 1908-1910.

The main feature of the interior is the use of elements of the Byzantine cross-domed system with a column-free composition of the church, which is characteristic of wooden architecture. The ancient interior decor has been lost, but now the church houses a museum exhibition, which presents fragments of plaster with the remains of fresco painting, Old Rus ceramic glazed floor tiles, etc. You can also see the carved iconostasis of 1774 in the Rococo style, which has seven tiers and is 12 meters high.

To the left of the Saint Elijah is the entrance to the Saint Anthony's Caves.

The wooden Cossack Saint George Church was founded in Sedniv, probably in the pre-Mongol period.

It is located at the height of the Crown Castle tract, in the center of the ancient settlement of Snovsk. In its current form, this richly carved church was rebuilt without a single nail in 1745 and is considered one of the best works of Ukrainian folk architecture.

In this church, dedicated to George the Victorious, the Cossacks of the Sedniv Hundred of the Chernihiv Regiment sanctified their sabers before military campaigns.

At first, George's Church was single-domed. Two additional baths were added in the course of the restoration carried out after the fire.

There is a version that the initial filming of key episodes of the popular Soviet film "Viy" based on the novel of the same name by Mykola Hohol took place in the interior of  George's Church, but the working material was not liked by the management of "Mosfilm", and all interior scenes were later shot in Moscow, in specially constructed scenery. .

Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv is one of the oldest Christian churches in Ukraine, a unique example of ancient Rus architecture. Located in the center of the former Dytynets, it was the main architectural dominant of the medieval city.

It was built in 1033-1034 for Prince Mstyslav Khorobryi, becoming his tomb. Ihor Svyatoslavovych, the hero of "A word about Ihor's campaign", is buried here.

Fragments of ancient Rus frescoes, a wonderful iconostasis of the 18th century have been preserved in the interior of the Transfiguration Cathedral. Part of the collection of gold and silver church utensils of the Transfiguration Cathedral is kept in the Chernihiv Historical Museum.

Chernihiv Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral is included in the UNESCO list of cultural values.

Nearby is the archbishop's house (1780), which now houses the archive.

Since 1967, the Transfiguration Cathedral has been part of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve "Ancient Chernihiv".

The house in the pseudo-Gothic style was built at the end of the 19th century on the then northeastern outskirts of Chernihiv as a craft class of an orphanage.

In 1900-1901, it was rebuilt and expanded to accommodate the historical exposition of the famous patron Vasyl Tarnovsky, Jr., who bequeathed his unique collection of paintings and manuscripts to the city. In 1902, the Chernihiv Museum of Ukrainian Antiquities was opened in the renovated building. More than 700 items were dedicated to Taras Shevchenko.

Until 1979, the Tarnovsky House, as the building was nicknamed, housed the exposition of the Chernihiv Historical Museum, and since 1980, the regional library for youth has been located here.

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

On March 11, 2022, the building suffered significant damage as a result of an airstrike carried out by Russia. The Russian military aircraft dropped three high-explosive 500-kilogram bombs on the yard of the Tarnovsky House and the nearby stadium. The bomb that fell in the yard destroyed the wall of the Tarnovskyi House, the roof and the interior floors.

The Chernihiv Regional Universal Scientific Library named after Volodymyr Korolenko is located in the former building of the Noble and Peasant Land Bank in Chernihiv.

The building was built by the provincial engineer Dmytro Afanasyev according to the project of the architect Oleksandr Fon-Hohen. A two-story brick house in the Northern Art Nouveau style.

Since 1974, the Chernihiv Regional Universal Scientific Library has been housed in the former premises of the Noble Land Bank. About 30 different clubs operate on the territory of the library, literary evenings, exhibitions, presentations and conferences are constantly held.

On March 30, 2022, during the Russian-Ukrainian war, the building was heavily damaged as a result of shelling by Russian troops. The roof was broken, the windows were broken, cracks formed in the walls.

Yuryeva Bozhnytsia in Oster - the eastern part of the Saint Michael's Church, preserved from princely times. It is located on the remains of the settlement of the historic Horodets on Vostri.

The temple was probably founded by Prince Volodymyr Monomakh of Kyiv at the same time as the founding of the city in 1098. It was rebuilt in 1152 under Prince Yuriy Dolhoruky, thanks to which the popular name "Yuryeva Bozhnytsia" took root.

It suffered from Tatar raids, and in 1753 - from a lightning strike, at the beginning of the 19th century, most of the volume was dismantled due to its state of disrepair. Only the altar part - the apse and a fragment of the wall - has been preserved.

At the beginning of the 20th century, restoration and research works were carried out. An ancient fresco "Eucharist" was discovered on the wall, probably made by Kyiv masters in the 11th-12th centuries.

For almost three centuries, the Sedniv estate was the main residence of the Lyzohub noble family, which came from a Cossack sergeant in the time of Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

The first known member of the family was a simple Cossack Kindrat Lyzohub from Zolotonosha. His sons, Ivan and Yakiv, advanced from ordinary Cossacks to sergeants during the hetman's strife of the "Ruins" period. Yakiv became a colonel of Chernihiv and settled in Sedniv, and his descendants continued the arrangement of the estate he had begun.

The great reconstruction was carried out in the 19th century by brothers Andriy and Illya Lyzohub. They expanded the park and built a new manor house, and the old stone house (Lyzohub Kamyanytsya) was stylized as a small Gothic castle and converted for household needs. In their estate the brothers received the poet Taras Shevchenko, the biker Leonid Hlibov, the artist Lev Zhemchuzhnikov and other famous cultural figures of the time (monuments were erected).

In Soviet times, the manor house housed a high school (now - in a new house next door), and in another part of the manor was opened the House of Artists. Shevchenko's 600-year-old linden tree and Hlibov's romantic gazebo, in which the lyrical poem "Kruchyna" was written, have been preserved in the park.

In front of the entrance to the estate there is a monument to the former owners, art lovers and patrons Andriy and Illya Lyzohub.

The openwork building of the Chernihiv Collegium with a high bell tower is located on the territory of the Dytynets (Chernihiv Rampart). It was once part of the cathedral Saints Borys and Hlib Monastery - the residence of the Chernihiv archbishops.

The construction of the monastery refectory was probably started at the end of the 17th century by Archbishop Lazar Baranovich. In its current form, the building was erected in 1700-1702 by Archbishop Ioann Maksymovych with the support and funding of Hetman Ivan Mazepa, as evidenced by the board of the bell tower with the coat of arms of Mazepa, which is now exhibited in exhibition halls.

Later, the refectory began to be used as one of the premises of the Chernihiv Collegium - the first higher educational institution of the Left Bank of Ukraine, which operated from 1700 to 1786. Latin and other languages were taught here, as well as poetics, rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics, geography, and so on. The college trained church figures, civil servants, translators, writers, and physicians.

Now the Chernihiv Collegium houses a museum that covers the history of the school. The class of the college has been reconstructed, an exposition of icon painting has been exhibited, and the exhibition "Chernihiv and Chernihiv People 100 Years Ago" is open.

The administration of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve "Ancient Chernihiv" is also located here.

The Kozelets Museum of the History of Weaving of the Chernihiv Region was opened in 1988 in the premises of the Resurrection Church, in 2017 the museum finally got its own premises.

In the exposition, in addition to carpets, embroidered fabrics and towels, you can see photos of old Kozelets and a family tree of the Rozumovskys.

Saints Borys and Hlib Cathedral was built in Chernihiv in the 12th century on the foundation of an older stone building of the 11th century, and was rebuilt several times. Located in the center of the former Dytynets.

Saints Borys and Hlib Cathedral is a typical example of the Chernihiv architectural school of the 12th century. It is cross-domed, six-columned, crowned with one dome (height 25 meters). During the restoration in the middle of the 20th century, the building returned to its Old Rus forms.

The interior of Saints Borys and Hlib Cathedral has preserved ancient frescoes, an inlaid floor, and other decorative details.

During the restoration in the middle of the XX century the buildings returned to the old Rus forms. The interior of Saints Borys and Hlib Cathedral has preserved ancient frescoes, inlaid floor.

A museum of architecture has been opened in the church, which is part of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve "Ancient Chernihiv".

In 2012, a monument to the venerable Prince of Chernihiv and Kyiv, Ihor Olhovych, was erected next to the cathedral.

The administration of the reserve is located in the adjacent building of the Collegium (1672), which in the XVII century was part of the Saints Borys and Hlib Monastery - the residence of the Chernihiv metropolitans.

The Regional Landscape Park "Mizhrichynsky" is located in the Chernihiv region in the interfluve of the Dnieper and Desna rivers. It is the largest RLP in Ukraine - its area is over 102 thousand hectares.

The park protects various landscapes of Ukrainian Polissia: taiga forests, protected upland and lowland swamps, glacial sand dunes, the floodplain of the Desna River, etc. There are oaks that are about 500 years old. There are dozens of Red Book species of flora and fauna. Glacial relics deserve special attention - low birch, blueberry willow, various types of orchids. In the swamps you can find an interesting insectivorous plant - sundew.

The numerous inhabitants of the park are moose, roe deer, red deer, wild boar, hare, beaver, muskrat, raccoon dog. The pride and decoration of the park is the lynx, which has been living and breeding on the territory for a long time.

Ecological trails "Zhuravlyna", "Polissia", "Bondarivske Swamp", "Sokolynyi Meadow" and others have been laid through the park. They pass through pine-birch forests, wetlands, the Desna floodplain and introduce the local flora and fauna.

In the village of Otrokhy, which can be considered the informal capital of Mizhrichchia, there is the Mizhrichynska Pushcha Nature Center with the Polissya Forestry Museum, created by the famous ecologist Andriy Sahaidak. The center organizes excursions to the territory of the Mizhrichyn regional landscape park and provides other tourist services.

The oldest religious building in Liubech is an underground temple, excavated in the 11th century by monk Antoniy Pecherskyi.

The founder and first abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery was born in Liubech in 983. According to legend, from here he went to Palestine, received tonsure on Mount Athos, and, returning a few years later to Rus, began to found cave monasteries - in Bukovyna, Kyiv and Chernihiv region.

He went to Chernihiv after a conflict with the Kiev prince, and spent the last years of his life in his homeland - in Lyubech, where he founded his last cave monastery. Antoniy's Monastery existed until 1786, when it was closed by order of Empress Catherine II.

The Far Cave, located in the forest on the southern outskirts of the village, has been preserved in its original form.

Recently, the cave was discovered in the center of the village, next to the Pavlо Polubotko Kamyanytsya (excavations are underway).

The art space "Fabrychna, 12" was founded in Chernihiv in 2024 by Yevhen Filatov and the frontman of the ONUKA band Nata Zhyzhchenko in order to popularize and preserve, rethink and modernize the unique cultural heritage of the region.

The modern ethnographic music space was founded in the old family house of Nata Zhyzhchenko, built in 1904, which was carefully restored by her and Yevhen. The house preserved a unique workshop-laboratory, where the singer's grandfather, a famous master of folk instruments, musician and researcher of Ukrainian culture from Chernihiv, Honored People's Master of Ukraine and Moldova Oleksandr Shlonchyk, not only crafted, but also researched the history and technologies of creating musical instruments of different peoples.

The workshop-laboratory "Fabrychna, 12" combines educational, artistic and ethnographic components. Nata Zhyzhchenko plans to organize both virtual and offline events here, meetings with stars, artists, and lecturers on various topics. Other areas of the project include master classes in woodworking and pottery, as well as the preservation and restoration of folk instruments.

The small brick Assumption Church of the so-called diocesan architecture is the "youngest" in Sedniv. Located on a hill on the outskirts of the village.

The temple was built in 1860. Then throughout the Russian Empire old wooden churches were replaced by stone structures. The basis was "exemplary" (tested) projects, which diocesan architects adapted to a specific place. Decorative elements of Russian architecture of the XIV-XVI centuries were used to decorate these temples. Such is the Assumption Church in Sedniv.

On the western side there is a tented belfry. After World War II, it was the only functioning church in the entire district.