Nothern Ukraine

Chernigov Region

Chernigov Region Located in northeastern Ukraine, on the border with Russia and Belarus. The region encompasses the Dnipro and Polissya Lowlands. The climate is temperate-continental. The principal river is the Desna, a tributary of the Dnipro. Area: 31,900 sq. km. Population: 1,390,000.

The main tourist destinations of the region are:

Chernigov - City and regional center on the right bank of the Desna River, approximately 150 km from Kiev, one of the oldest cities in Ukraine. Population: 300,000. Established at the end of the 7th cent. In the 9th cent, it was the capital of the Slavic Siverian tribes. In the late 9th cent, the city became part of Kyivan Rus'-Ukraine. First historical reference dates to 907. In 1024 the city became the capital of the Chemihiv Principality, and was destroyed in 1239 by the Tatars. In the 14th cent, the city was captured by Lithuanian princes who built a fortress in the city. In 1618 it passed from Lithuanian to Polish rule.

Main sights:

Dytynets Fortress - Located on the site of settlements dating to the beginning of the first millennium. From the 7th century, these early settlements grew into a succession of fortified towns. By the early 12th cent. Dytynets was a mighty fortress containing royal chambers and living quarters of the boyars. Twelve cast-iron cannons, dating to the 17th-18th cent, were stationed on the fortress ramparts. There are numerous well-preserved churches in the area. Today the Dytynets is called the M. Kotsyubynsky Central Park of Culture and Recreation.

Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi (Transfiguration) Cathedral (11 centuty) - One of the oldest churches of Kyivan-Rus Ukraine. Built by Prince Mstyslav Volodymyrovych Khorobry (the Brave). The prince, his wife Anastasiya, and his son Yevstafiy are buried in the cathedral. It is also the burial place of Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavych and, probably, Ihor Svyatoslavych, the hero of "The Tale of Ihor's Host." In 1239 the cathedral was partially damaged. It was reconstructed and renovated in the 17th-19th cent.

Also: Boryso-Hlybskyi Cathedral, Chorna Mohyla (Black grave) - burial site of Prince Chorny, the founder of Chernigov; Yeletsky Uspensky Monastery (11 century), Troyitsko-Illinsky Monastery (Holy Trinity and St. Elias) Monastery (1069 a.d.).

Village Baturin - Former capital of the Ukrainian Hermans. First mentioned in documents dating to 1625. In 1669-1708 and 1750-64, Baturyn was the residence of the Ukrainian Hetmans Danylo Mnohohrishny, Ivan Samoylovych, Ivan Mazepa, and Kyrylo Rozumovsky, the last Hetman of Ukraine. capital. Here you can find The Hetman Palace built in the Classical style by the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi based on sketches of Charles Cameron.

Village Kachanivka - In 1770 the village was owned by Governor-General P. Rumyantsev-Zadunaysky who initiated construction of a garden-palace complex. In the 18th cent, a palace in the pseudo-Gothic style was built by the architect K. Blank.

Novhorod-Siverskyi - From 1097 Novhorod-Siversky was the capital of the Chernihiv principality. Remains of dwellings dating to the late Paleolithic Age, Neolithic, and Bronze-age settlements have been unearthed in the area.

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Sumy Region

The region is the youngest in the country, it was established in 1939. It lies in the northern-eastern Ukraine and has the longest border with Russian Federation in comparison to other border regions. Its area is 23,800 sq.km (3.9% of the country), its population estimates 1,369 800 people (about 3% of all Ukrainian), 65% are urban and 35% rural. Ukrainians make about 85%, Russians make 14% and they live more densely in the Eastern part; Byelorussians, who make 1%, live in the Northern part. Other nationalities are in minority. About 500 differernt religious congregations that represent about 20 denominations are active on the territory of the region. The leading place is occupied by Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, than come numerous Evangelical Christian-Baptists.

Sumy region is located in the Dnieper lowland in the Polessia and the forest-steppe zones. It is mostly plain overgrown at many places with forests. It has many small rivers and lakes, the main rivers are the Desna and the Seim. The climate is temperate-continental with warm summer and mild winter. Often spring frosts are dangerous for the crops. Sumy land is rich in oil, natural gas, peat, high-quality quartzite, phosphorites, rock salt, potassium, gypsum, sulphur and chalk. Archaeological digs have revealed that the area, occupied now by Sumy region, was inhabited as far back as 15 thousand years ago. It was here that for the first time on the territory of the former USSR the bones of a Mammoth were found in 1839. During the time of Neolith there lived numerous tribes engaged in hunting and fishing. Available historical evidence enables one to say that in the first millennium B. C. this area was inhabited by tribes of different origin, mostly proto-Slavic and later Slavic. For some time the Scythians of the settled kind, not nomadic, tilled the land here, and later they were superseded by other tribes and finely by the Slavs. We even know the name of the tribe - the Severians (or Siverians).

Long process of social and economic development of the eastern Slavs caused the formation of feudal relations and establishment of one of the most powerful states of that time – Kievan Rus. In the late IX c. the land of Sumy (that is the area that now bears this name and about the origin of the name you can read in the “Tours and Excursion”) was incorporated into the Kievan Rus State, first of Pereiaslav and Chernigov Principalities, and in the mid-XII c. it was part of Novgorod-Seversky Principality. In spite of constant attacks of nomads, these lands were densely populated. On the territory of to-day’s region there have been discovered more than 80 Old Russian settlement and burial grounds.

The first half of the XII c. was characterized by internecine wars and clashes that allowed the Polovtsy nomadic tribes to take advantage of this situation and launched destructive attacks on the principalities. In 1239 the Tartar-Mongols started their plundering raids that didn’t stop for hundred years. When in the 1350-1360 the Lithuanian Principality conquered a major part of the present-day Sumy region, it was devastated and rare populated. According to the peace treaty of 1503, which ended the war with Lithuania, these lands were ceded to Moscow Principality. In the XVI-XVII cc. this territory was used by Moscow State as a defending shield in the South against the Tartars and the Turks. The towns Putivl and Lebedin stood on the border with Poland.

The beginning of the XVII c. opened a new page in the history of this land. Thousand of fugitives from the Right Bank Ukraine, suffering under the Polish domination and seeking for the refuge, flooded here to the free territories. Soon this land got the name of Slobodskaia Ukraine (free land, “Slobodian” or “Slobozhanschyna” in Ukr.). Russian government encouraged this process and helped to construct fortified Cossack settlements that strengthened the southern borders of Russia; cultural autonomy was promised to the Ukrainian population. In 1652 the first Cossack regiment was formed here. In a short period, les than 30 years, the former “Wild Field” was turned into a flourishing land.

In 1708-1709 this area was involved into the national tragedy. Part of the Ukrainian Cossacks supported Hetman Mazepa who sided the Swedish King Charles XII against the Russian Tsar Peter the Great expecting to get independence for Ukraine, and the other part was on the Tsar’s side. It resulted in numerous repressions, victims and tortures. After the Hetman’s capital Baturin was destroyed, Glukhov became a new capital. The end of the XVIII c. put an end to the relatively independent Cossack Hetmanate and its regimental system of administration. Russian Government generously presented the lands of present Sumy region to Russian and Ukrainian nobility.

Favourable geographical location, the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and the construction of the rail road urged the development of the industrial potential of the region, though for the next 50-60 years the agricultural segment prevailed in the region’s economy. The years of the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War till 1919 hindered this development. It should be mentioned that in comparison with big industrial regions in the Eastern and Central Ukraine the establishment of the Soviet power took here longer time, especially in the remote villages lost in the woods.

In 1932 the administrative reform was organized in Ukraine. The newly formed Chernigov, Poltava and Kharkov regions were transformed into very big units that faced difficulties in running the political and especially economic activity. That is why in 1939 a new “Sumy region” was organized by uniting 12 districts of Kharkov, 17 districts of Chernigov and 2 districts of Poltava regions. During the WWII the region was devastated by numerous battles and approximately 111,000 people were killed. Sumy region was a basic place of the partisan movement. Only on the north of the region 35 partisan camps were formed.

To-day Sumy Region has the highly developed diversified industrial complex. 40% of national volume of oil and 10% of natural gas are extracted here. The extraction of high-quality quartzite used for production of silicon and ferro-alloys is at high level. The machine-building complex of Sumy Region is specialized on production of hi-tech chemical and oil-extracting equipment, gas-compressor plants, pumps, industrial pipeline armature, technological equipment for processing industries of agroindustrial complex, facilities of automation and others. The enterprises of chemical and petrochemical industry make 10% of the regional industrial volume. Its enterprises produce mineral fertilizers, sulphur acid, mineral pigments, forage additives, chemical reagents, paint and varnish products, magnetic ribbon, film and photo materials, industrial rubber wares and others.

     The food is the leading industry of the region. For the last years the most direct foreign investments were attracted in this sphere. Dairy commodity producers of Sumy region are well known in Ukraine. Local beverages are also highly appraised.
     Sumy Region is the agrarian land. There are almost 1,500 agricultural enterprises in the regional agricultural complex. The agricultural segment plays an important role in the economy of the region in spite of the fact that there is not so much of arable land here. The region produces winter wheat and rye, food corn, sugar beets, rape, sunflower seeds, flax, hemps, potatoes. Local farmers are also engaged in cattle breeding, milk and meat production.
    Light industry is represented by shoe and clothes making factories. To-day their activity almost for 100% is ensured by the orders from foreign counties, especially from USA that provides them with technology and materials.

The most interesting tourist places are located in the central city of Sumy that can boast for some real architectural gems and museums. Its contemporary, small picturesque town Lebedin is a nice place to see and to learn more about the history. There are three towns which are much older than Sumy itself - Putivl, where one can learn about the times of Kievan Rus State and about the partisan movement during the WWII; old town of Romny is worth to visit too, and do not miss a trip to Glukhov that has become a historical-architectural reserve where one can get acquainted with the period of Hetmanate in the XVIII c. Only a few places of interest have been mentioned, but there is a lot more to discover in the land of Sumy. Come and see. You’ll take away with you very good memories.

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