Bakhmut. A tour of one of the oldest towns of Donetsk region on the eve of the war

Bakhmut, which in 2021 marked the 450th anniversary of its founding, is listed among the historic settlements of Ukraine. In a city with such epoch-spanning roots, tourists are frequent guests. At the sparkling wine factory off-site excursions are arranged regularly, with visits to the alabaster mines and a tasting of the sparkling drink, while spelunkers choose routes through the abandoned Ivanhrad gypsum adits. Connoisseurs of antiquity and of historic buildings will be surprised by the fact that Bakhmut boasts a far greater number of examples of civic architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries than other cities of the region.

 

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 60. The former Azov-Don Bank. 1902.

Bakhmut has a convenient trolleybus service that lets you move about the city quickly, but a walk on foot will let you better feel the character of this industrial centre in the north-east of Donetsk region.

 

Bakhmut. On the corner of Nezalezhnosti Street and Lermontova Street

Let us stroll through the historic centre of Bakhmut and get acquainted with some of its landmarks. You cannot quite say of Bakhmut that every single building is a monument, and yet the register of cultural heritage sites numbers around 50 objects.

Bakhmut. The School of Arts. 1902.

The railway station is the gateway and the calling card of the city. The station building of the Bakhmut I railway station retained its architectural station features and has the status of an industrial monument of architecture.

 

Bakhmut. The railway station of the Bakhmut I stop

The architectural image of the city is shaped by religious buildings, administrative and commercial premises, and educational institutions.

Bakhmut. Myru Street. The College of Transport Infrastructure. The former zemstvo council office. 1898.

Bakhmut. The Church of All Saints. 1873.

It is not always possible to preserve the authenticity of the buildings. A drastic restoration, the replacement of windows and doors, destroys a building's decorative elements.

Bakhmut. Myru Street. The School of Arts. The former Smolensky mansion

 

Bakhmut. Rizdviana Street, 14a

Bakhmut. 2nd Blahovishchenskyi Lane, 7

Bakhmut. Sadova Street, 149a

It is impossible to look without pain at the architectural dominant of Bakhmut, the Azov-Don Bank, built in 1902 in the neo-Renaissance style. The improvement of the building's appearance brought about the disappearance of the stucco moulding, the bas-reliefs, and the images of banking symbols.

 

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 60. The former Azov-Don Bank

The local history museum, one of the largest museums in the Donetsk region, is housed in the former mansion of the industrialist Franzuzov. The two-storey mansion, built in the Art Nouveau style in 1911, is undergoing a resuscitation of its façade.

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street. The local history museum in the process of restoration

Historic buildings must not be radically restored, nor should signboards and notices that harm the aesthetic perception of a monument be placed upon them.

 

Bakhmut. Sadova Street, 171. A building in the Art Nouveau style

On the building of the shopping centre, a former private school, it is impossible to make out the decorative elements, hidden from human eyes behind advertisements for gold and meat.

Bakhmut. Torhova Street, 6

The complex of the former zemstvo hospital has not lost its medical purpose, yet part of the façades of the medical wards has been disfigured with plastic panels.

 

Bakhmut. Myru Street, 10. The city hospital. The former zemstvo hospital

It is good that the cultural heritage sites of Bakhmut have been graced with information plaques indicating the date of construction and the former purpose.

 

Bakhmut. Myru Street, 58. A former merchant's house

Bakhmut. Myru Street, 15. The former girls' gymnasium. 1883.

In the building of the former synagogue of 1863, in the 1920s the sculptor Kavaleridze created his concrete brainchild, the 22-metre Comrade Artem. The building's new owners carried out its restoration meticulously, but could not do without a fly in the ointment, installing an air conditioner on the front side of a 19th-century house of prayer.

 

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 40. The former choral synagogue. 1863.

Beside the former Abramovich trading house at Nezalezhnosti Street, 75 (1912), bricks are crumbling from the ruined building, creating a hazardous situation and a sorry sight.

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 75. 1912.

A hopeless fate has befallen its contemporary, the former District Court on Sadova Street, 149. Since 2004 this building in the Art Nouveau style and with a rich history has stood empty in the very heart of Bakhmut.

 

Bakhmut. Sadova Street, 149

Many residential and public buildings have no protected status, yet they deserve attention and careful treatment on the part of the residents and of the bodies overseeing the preservation of the historical and architectural heritage.

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 22. The former Frantsuzov house

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 28

Bakhmut. Myru Street, 67. The former house of Stebelsky, the head doctor of the zemstvo hospital

Bakhmut. Pershyna Street, 17

Bakhmut. Bakhmutska Street, 17

Connoisseurs of the architecture of the 1930s-1950s will be able to see buildings in the Stalinist Empire style and other structures of the Soviet era.

 

Bakhmut. Nezalezhnosti Street, 58

Bakhmut. Svobody Street, 8. The 1930s

The centre of culture and leisure stands in the very heart of Bakhmut on today's Svobody Square. As far back as the 18th century, fairs were held on the former Market Square, and the People's House, which has stood on the square since 1902, expanding and being built up, turned into a magnificent building. On the clock tower there are chimes that count out the time to the accompaniment of a bell and the miners' song 'In the clear Donetsk sky'.

Bakhmut. The Yevhen Martynov Centre of Culture and Leisure. 1926.

The image of a miner with a jackhammer on the administrative building of 'Donetskheolohiia' is dedicated to the restoration of the coal mines of the Donbas.

Bakhmut. Sybirtseva Street, 17. Soviet neoclassicism

The entrance to the offices of the geological enterprise is adorned by a fragment of petrified araucaria and a monolith from the local quarries.

 

Bakhmut. A fragment of petrified araucaria from the quarry of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka

Bakhmut. A monolith from the quarry

The Monument to the Geologist was made in three copies; I came across a copy of it in Sviatohirsk, and the third twin brother must be in Makiivka, on the grounds of a geological survey expedition.

 

Bakhmut. The Monument to the Geologist

To get to know the city, the walk can be continued along the embankment of the Bakhmutka, the river to which the city owes its name, and a promenade down the alley of roses on Metalurhiv Boulevard, with a visit to the pysanka museum in the People's House.