Lozova. A three-hour tour of the second-largest town in the Kharkiv region

In Ukraine there are hundreds of towns not marked on the tourist map that deserve travellers' attention. Each of them is wonderful, with exceptional architecture and unique monuments of nature and history. Life here flows differently and one breathes more easily than in the regional centres. That is why the residents of the big cities more and more often choose, for a day-off outing, trips to neighbouring provincial towns with rare highlights. Lozova in the Kharkiv region, with its convenient transport links, its natural landscape and its compactness, is very well suited for inclusion in weekend routes.

In 3 hours I covered about 10 kilometres at an unhurried pace, and here is what I managed to see in the districts located in the southern half of the town.

 

Lozova. Kozatska Street

The dominant factor in the founding of Lozova is the construction of the railway in 1869 and the opening of the station in 1893.

 

All the infrastructure in the near-station settlement is bound up with the history of the great railway junction - the railway transport servicing enterprise, the transport workers' residential houses, the junction hospital, the railway park.

 

Lozova. The memorial sign beside the railway

Corner structures beside the railway service building

Lozova. The railway workers' residential houses on Kozatska Street

In the years of the Hitlerite occupation, the station was constantly in the zone of active combat operations, with considerable destruction and great loss of human life. In memory of the liberator-soldiers and the fallen fellow countrymen, many memorial signs with an exhibition of military equipment have been erected in the public gardens.

Lozova. 'Peremoha' (Victory) Park. MiG-21F-13

Lozova. The memorial sign to the soldiers of the Lozova area

Lozova. The T-34-85 monument on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard

Lozova. The Memorial of Glory

Lozova. 'Peremoha' Park

Immediately after the liberation of Lozova in September 1943, the population began to rebuild the workhorse station. The inscription on the water tower with the date '1944' attests to the period of reconstruction and the revival of the transport economy.

Lozova. The 1944 station water tower on Sevastopolskyi Boulevard

In big cities we call boulevards the central, busy thoroughfares with fountains and sculptures, with pedestrian movement along green avenues. In Lozova, Sevastopolskyi Boulevard, with its small little houses of the trackmen, winds in several branches between garages and non-residential technical buildings and presses up against the railway bed.

 

Lozova. Sevastopolskyi Boulevard, 1

In the neighbourhood of the steel highway, in an old building, until recently there was a college of culture and arts. The educational buildings are decorated with wonderful bas-reliefs bearing the symbols of Orthodox feasts, made by the college's students. Now commercial structures have occupied the buildings, and it is important that the wonderful examples of stucco moulding do not disappear under layers of siding and insulation.

 

Lozova. Pokrovska Street. The former educational building of the college of culture, with stucco moulding on the façade

The central street, named in honour of Taras Shevchenko, has all the characteristics of a boulevard. Public gardens, monuments, a pedestrian zone and the new art objects 'Bandura' and 'Grand Piano' are landmarks worth paying attention to.

 

Lozova. Taras Shevchenko Boulevard

On Shevchenko Boulevard are located a music school, the district house of culture, a supermarket and the local history museum with a rich ethnographic exposition and historical material.

 

Lozova. The district house of culture

Lozova. The local history museum

The wartime hardships and the godless times destroyed all the Orthodox churches in Lozova, genuine architectural monuments. In 2012, near the station and next to the Central Market, the construction of the four-altar Holy Smolensk Church with a 60-metre bell tower was completed. The church is visible from a distance of 8 kilometres, and the polyphony of its chimes is created by 9 bells.

Lozova. The Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God

In this industrial town, a multitude of parks and public gardens have been laid out and formed, where the townsfolk spend their free time with their families and workmates. 'Peremoha' Park was laid out in the 1970s by the workers of the forging-and-mechanical plant, residents of the new districts that were growing like mushrooms after rain.

Lozova. 'Peremoha' Park

Not every regional centre can boast of the presence of an arboretum, while in Lozova a green oasis appeared in the 1930s, and now this object of the nature reserve fund of the Kharkiv region numbers more than 60 species of trees and shrubs.

 

The natural landscape with its gullies and hillsides is used by motocross enthusiasts for competitions and racing runs.

 

Lozova. The motor track

Since 1977, the city palace of culture has served as a cultural oasis of Lozova. On the day of my visit, the Lozova audience was presented with a mystical theatrical performance with national colour, 'The Betrothed', performed by well-known actors from the capital. After the reconstruction, the square by the palace is abundant with flower beds and adorned with modern sculptures.

 

Lozova. The city palace of culture and the square beside it

The housing stock of this town of railway workers is represented by the private sector and multi-storey buildings. Among the private buildings there are genuine examples of the folk architecture of Slobozhanshchyna. A characteristic feature: on some houses, plaques indicating the surnames of the householders have survived.

 

Lozova. Private residential development

In the new districts, on the end walls of the nine-storey buildings, the architects left the date of the houses' construction.

 

Lozova. Peremohy Avenue. Residential buildings of 1978-1980

You can come to Lozova by suburban train from Poltava, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Pavlohrad, Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk. Next to the railway station is a bus station, from which buses depart on routes through the Kharkiv region.

Lozova. The railway station