The Results of 2021: Travel and Toil Overcome All

Why should we take stock? Lately, we have all felt how plans collapse and forecasts fail to come true for certain reasons beyond our control. So we need to revise our schedules, our programme, and our approach to planning, and move towards realising our ideas. In the passing year of 2021, not all of our escapades came off, but we did not sit still, and discoveries, riddles, and achievements lay in wait at every step. A hike is a step out of your comfort zone, a sudden downpour, waiting for a delayed suburban train in a 17-degree frost, and even an electric shock from an accidental touch of an electric-fence wire. Every outing is always a sense of novelty and the conquest of a new summit — a chalk cliff in Bilokuzmynivka

 

Bilokuzmynivka, Donetsk region. Chalk cliffs

Sloviansk. The 'Pryozernyi' Ornithological Reserve

The "Pryozernyi" ornithological reserve is located in the north-eastern part of Sloviansk , near residential estates and busy motorways. The location of a natural ecosystem within the city limits entails problems such as spontaneous rubbish dumps on the territory, noise from enterprises, disturbance of living organisms, and pollution of the soil and water by domestic sewage.

Sloviansk. The "Pryozernyi" ornithological reserve

Slavkurort. Awaiting the Revival of an Old Resort

Sloviansk resort is one of the oldest mud-cure resorts in Ukraine. Sloviansk has been known for its mineral waters and therapeutic muds since 1827. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sloviansk mud was recognised as the best in Europe and won the Grand Prix at an international exhibition. In Soviet times this resort of national importance was the most financially prosperous trade-union health resort.

 

Sloviansk resort. Donetsk region. The closed "Yuvileinyi" sanatorium

Sloviansk. The Salt Lakes. Rest and Restore Your Strength

One of the most popular medicinal places in Ukraine, where people rest, restore their strength, and take the cure, can be considered the group of lakes in Sloviansk, Donetsk region. A priceless gift of nature — the only salt lakes of natural origin in Ukraine, located far from the sea's expanses, in the basin of the river Siverskyi Donets.

Ukrainian Architectural Modern (UAM). A National Style

Ukrainian Modern took shape on the traditions of progressive architecture with the use of historical architectural forms. The style was founded on the canons of folk building, the ritual character of religious structures and the achievements of European architecture. UAM developed on the territory of Ukraine during 1903-1941, and in those years about 500 remarkable structures were built — religious buildings, zemstvo schools and hospitals, and public buildings. Not all of the representatives of the national architectural heritage have survived to our days, but many of the monuments can be called true masterpieces of Ukrainian art.

The Vasyl Krychevskyi Poltava Museum of Local Lore (UAM)

Mosaic. A Vanishing Layer of Art. Hurry to See It!

The resonant destruction of a mosaic beloved by Lvivians on the demolished 'Okean' store makes one think about preserving examples of monumental art. Many mosaic pictures bear no communist symbols. Unique, spectacular frescoes are being ruined by spiritlessness and mismanagement.

Pavlohrad. Dnipropetrovsk region. Mosaic panel. Shevchenko Street, 120

Sloviansk. To Rise from the Ruins or to Keep Crumbling

Sloviansk — an industrial city, a railway hub, a resort — surprised me with the number of beautiful old buildings, both standing and already ruined beyond restoration.

Sloviansk. Donetsk region. The ruins of the fittings-and-insulator plant