Slovianka. Travelling through the villages of the Dnipropetrovsk region

Slovianka is one of the oldest villages in the Dnipropetrovsk region. It received its name in 1777, when, on the instruction of the governor of the Azov province, the settlement of the fertile lands on the bank of the Byk river began. Slovianka lies 125 kilometres from the regional centre. Before the Mezhova district was abolished, 14 km of asphalt road separated the village from the district centre. After the amalgamation of the communities, the residents of the Mezhova area have to cover more than 100 kilometres in 2 hours to reach the district centre of Synelnykove. There is no bus service between the settlements.

Slovianka, Dnipropetrovsk region

The railway station of the same name was opened in 1935 on the southern side of the village, on a single-track line.

Slovianka station. The Prydniprovska railway

Westwards to Petropavlivka station there are 17 kilometres of the steel highway of the Prydniprovska railway; south-eastwards to Pokrovsk station it is 39 kilometres.

Slovianka. The view west towards Petropavlivka station

Slovianka. The view to the south-east towards Pokrovsk station

The station building is put up in white brick; the windows, the cornice on the pediment and the arched entrance are finished in red brick.

 

Slovianka. The railway station building

The building houses technical services and a waiting room. The Pokrovsk-Lozova suburban trains stop at the station daily, and the Dnipro-Siding No. 5 train once a week.

 

Slovianka. The station building. The waiting room

A siding leads to the production base of Avtomahistral-Pivden, an enterprise that repairs motor roads, including the stretch of the M-04 route near Slovianka.

 

Slovianka. The production base of Avtomahistral-Pivden. Repair of the M-04 road

On the Donetsk-Dnipro road stands a ZIS-5 lorry with the inscription "To the victorious soldiers from the people of Mezhova". After being written off, this vehicle of the Second World War was sent to the Slovianka school, where pupils mastered the skills of the driver's trade on it. When a new vehicle arrived at the school, the veteran was placed on a pedestal.

 

Slovianka. The monument to the soldier-drivers

Since the day of its founding, grain growers have lived in the village. The village is surrounded by fields ploughed and sown with cereals, and next to them a threshing floor with a belt conveyor and hangars for storing the harvest have been built.

Slovianka. Agricultural enterprises

No use has been found for two abandoned water towers - one served to fill steam locomotives with water at the station, the other rises in a field. These sturdy structures have not yet lost their grandeur and serve as a refuge for pigeons.

 

Slovianka. The water towers

The central street is asphalted; it runs from south to north and divides the village into two parts. It is crossed by streets running parallel to one another; signs are put up at the crossroads, though not always with the new names. Surely the plates that misinform with their addresses could be changed in 5 years.

Slovianka. Street signs with the old names

On the main village street stand the village council, the shops, the pharmacy and the outpatient clinic.

Slovianka. The village council

Slovianka. A shop

The zemstvo hospital was founded in 1905 and built in 1909.

 

Slovianka. The outpatient clinic

Two medical blocks stand empty and are falling apart.

 

Slovianka. An abandoned medical block

The old chapel is part of Slovianka's cultural heritage. The roof of this house of prayer, put up at the beginning of the 20th century, has fallen in, but the walls are still sound. In the atheist years the religious building, standing next to the medical institution, was converted into a morgue.

 

Slovianka. The old chapel

In 1966 a sports hall was opened in the village. The reconstruction of the building after many years of standing idle has allowed the people of Slovianka to take up their favourite sports again.

 

Slovianka, the sports complex

The local FC Zoria trains at the football stadium, and mass events are held there. A wrought-iron fence surrounds the sports ground, and the entrance is designed like a fairy-tale gate.

 

Slovianka. The stadium

The village is built up with private single-storey houses; gardens and flower beds surround the well-made homesteads.

 

Slovianka. A private homestead on Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Street

There is a two-storey block of flats on Shevchenko Street.

 

Slovianka. A residential building on Shevchenko Street

Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Street is one of the main village streets and lies on the northern side of Slovianka. In the centre of the village the building of a former shop from the end of the 19th century has been converted into the church of St John the Theologian. The first church in the sloboda appeared in 1791. It is known that the stone church put up in 1880 was destroyed in the years of the struggle against God.

 

Slovianka. The church of St John the Theologian

One more old village building is occupied by the Orthodox community.

 

Slovianka. A church building

In the yard of the school built in 1974, a wrought-iron tree encourages the young people of Slovianka to gain knowledge.

 

Slovianka. The school

The smallest ones attend the kindergarten.

 

Slovianka. The kindergarten

In a two-storey building from the beginning of the 20th century flour is milled on Saturdays, and the tastiest bread is baked from it.

 

Slovianka. The mill

Millstones more than 100 years old lie on the ground.

 

Earlier the flour-milling complex belonged to the Radianska Ukraina collective farm.

 

To order, the local bakers bake all sorts of flour and confectionery products.

 

Slovianka. The bakery

The palace of culture has been at work since 1964.

Slovianka. The palace of culture

Next to it, as it should be, is a dance floor. I wonder what dances are performed on it?

 

Slovianka. The dance floor

In the park memorial signs have been put up in honour of the fighters for Soviet power, the liberating soldiers and the soldiers who were fellow villagers. 

Slovianka. The memorial sign to the fighters for Soviet power

Slovianka. The war memorial

647 names of countrymen who died on the fronts of the Second World War are immortalised on marble slabs.

Slovianka. The monument to the fellow-villager soldiers

A great many kurgans have survived in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and several of them lie within Slovianka. One of them served as a triangulation point, but the tower has already been cut down by metal scavengers.

 

Slovianka. The kurgans

The stone crosses, made of sandstone and limestone, can also be considered cultural heritage; on some of them the inscriptions are still visible. From of old Ukrainians had a respectful attitude towards those who had departed into eternity. Christian burials were treated with reverence. Stone gravestones could be afforded by well-off citizens; the poor had wooden crosses.

 

Slovianka. Stone crosses in the cemetery

On its northern and eastern sides Slovianka is skirted by the winding Byk river, a tributary of the Samara.

 

Slovianka. The Byk river

Those who wish to rest far from the industrial centres and enjoy the beauty of the natural landscapes of the Dnipro area can stay at the Perlyna Stepu homestead, which stands on the western edge of the village right by the river.

Slovianka. The Perlyna Stepu homestead and the museum of Ukrainian daily life

Coordinates of the village of Slovianka: 48°23'50"N 36°42'50