The Wooden Churches of Zakarpattia

Zakarpattia is called the land of wooden churches. In atheist times they were closed and fell into decline. Then they were ruthlessly used as warehouses and outbuildings. Many burned down. Some were attacked by seekers of treasure and valuables. In the Svaliava, Mukachevo, Vynohradiv, Tiachiv, Perechyn, Khust, Rakhiv, Velykyi Bereznyi, and Mizhhiria districts, unique examples of wooden folk architecture have survived. To acquaint people with the spiritual heritage of the Zakarpattia region, tourist routes have been drawn up with visits to the monuments of wooden sacral architecture.

Uzhhorod. The Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. The Church of the Holy Archangel Michael

Prosiana. The Kaolin Quarry 2020 and Other Sights

The rapid development of the mining industry brought with it the working of quarries, which after exploitation now stand abandoned, harming the surrounding environment, polluting water and air, and destroying the soil-and-vegetation layer.

Antonivske, Vesele, Bohdanivka. Along Village Roads

Farm labour and rural idyll do not appeal to every Ukrainian. To the rural backwoods a city dweller comes to the dacha or for fishing with barbecues. There are no supermarkets, no entertainment, a limited circle of communication. Today I shall see how the Ukrainian villages live in Mezhova district of Dnipropetrovsk region, having ridden the electric train for 2 halt points and walked about 14 kilometres on foot.

Antonivske. Halt point No. 18. The Avdiivka-Chaplyne suburban train

Pokrovsk. The Yuvileinyi Park and Its Metamorphoses

The Yuvileinyi Park in Pokrovsk is one of the largest parks in Donetsk region. Its territory covers 26.8 hectares.

 

Pokrovsk. The Yuvileinyi Park

The Vasiukova Mohyla. Dnipropetrovshchyna's High Point

Do you think the highest point of Dnipropetrovsk region is somewhere on the Dnipro cliffs? No, you guessed wrong. The location of the highest point of the Dnipropetrovshchyna has been determined in the steppe zone, to the southeast of the regional centre. It is separated from the Dnipro by 100 kilometres, and from the village of Prosiana in Pokrovsk district — by 2 kilometres.

What to See in Kropyvnytskyi, a Pearl in Ukraine's Heart

Kropyvnytskyi, with a population of 250 thousand, lies in the very centre of Ukraine, 300 kilometres from the capital, at the crossing of roads of European significance. In the regional centre there operate a railway station, an airport, two bus stations, more than a dozen higher-education institutions, museums, theatres, and parks, but the former Yelysavethrad can hardly be called a popular tourist mecca.

 

Kropyvnytskyi. The railway station

Novopidhorodne, Raipole. Among Fields, Steppe and Gullies

Novopidhorodne is the easternmost settlement of the Dnipropetrovsk region, located in the Mezhova district right by the border with the Donetsk region. Along the southern side of the village runs highway T-0406, connecting the two neighbouring regions, and the railway line Pokrovsk-Chaplyne. The "Donbas" stele with its slag heaps and a sun, the symbol of miners' towns — a headframe and the slogan of electoral mobilisation — are set up beside the railway at the entrance to the Donetsk region.

Yurivka, Shylivka, Myrne — from village to village

Kamianka, Yurivka, Shylivka, Hulive, Myrne, Vasylivka, Novooleksandrivka, Petrivske, Lyman — villages and hamlets of the Shylivka village council in the Dobropillia district of the Donetsk region. About Kamianka and the floodplain of the Byk river you can read here.

 

Novohrodivka. What Awaits the Mining Towns After Reform?

The government is preparing large-scale transformations of the mining industry. What awaits small mining towns, where apart from the mining enterprises there is nothing? Novohrodivka — a mining town in the Donetsk region. Located 6 kilometres from the town of Selydove, with which it is linked historically and economically. The absence of reforms in the coal industry, the inefficiency of the product-sales system and the lack of system in financing have a negative effect on the social situation of small towns and settlements. As a result of ineffective state policy, many enterprises of the mining industry are doomed to closure, and the mining towns to extinction.

Novohrodivka. Donetsk region. Mine No. 1-3 "Novohrodivska"

The 'Sukhareva Balka' Reserve. A Natural Monument

In 2013, with the aim of preserving the landscape and biological diversity in the Mezhova district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, the "Sukhareva Balka" landscape reserve was created.