Khortytsia Island in Zaporozhye is the largest on the Dnieper. There are many historical, cultural and architectural monuments here. Before the flooding of the territories, the last Dnieper threshold was located near the northern shore. According to legend, he died at the rapids Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. For centuries, Khortytsia was an important strategic site. The historical past of Khortytsia is determined by its location and numerous natural resources. The island is surrounded by rocks, rapids, and smaller islands.
History of Khortitsa
The first settlements appeared here in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras. For some time (from the 7th to the 3rd century BC) the island of Khortitsa belonged to the Scythians. This is evidenced by numerous finds and burial mounds. There was a large settlement, on the territory of which archaeologists found fragments of housing, a rampart and a defensive ditch.
Princely era
The first mention of Khortytsia dates back to the mid-10th century. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus calls it the island of St. George in a letter to his son Roman. In the 9th century, a trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks passed along the Dnieper. At Khortitsa, travelers stopped to rest.
Cossack era
The first Cossack fortifications appeared on the island of Malaya Khortytsia in 1556. They were built by Prince Dmitry “Bayda” Vishnevetsky, who also became the first hetman Zaporozhye Sich. The Cossacks are the brightest period in the history of Khortytsia. The island was fenced with a palisade, Cossack kurens (rooms for overnight and winter quarters) were located here, and the wooden Church of the Intercession stood tall - October 14 was considered the main holiday of the Cossacks. Women did not live on the island at all. The French cartographer Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan visited Khortytsia in the 1630s and created a map of Ukraine. In 1775, the Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated by the Russian Empress Catherine II.
History of the island after the Cossacks
In 1775, the island became the property of the Russian prince Grigory Potemkin. By his order, a luxurious garden was laid out in Khortitsa. However, in 1789 Potemkin transferred the island to the state. That same year, it was settled by a colony of German Mennonites. These people were engaged in growing timber and selling it. However, after a wave of poaching logging in 1876–1877, the colonists left Khortitsa. In 1927, the Dnieper hydroelectric power station was built near the island, which was blown up by NKVD workers in 1941 to stop the German advance. Huge wave demolished Ukrainian villages, not only did they drown in the Dnieper waters German soldiers, but also Red Army soldiers. It is estimated that between 20,000 and 180,000 people died during this operation. After the war, in 1944, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station began to be restored.
Khortytsia Island in facts and figures
- The area of the island is 23.59 square meters.
- It is known that there are many old oak trees on the island. However, unfortunately, not all of them have survived to this day (active felling took place during the 19th–20th centuries). Scientists suggest that oldest oak in Khortytsia it has been growing here for about 300 years.
- In the northern part of Khortitsa, the so-called “black stones” were found. The largest weighs approximately 600 kilograms, all of them are covered with unusual paintings.
- In 1958, the island of Khortitsa became a natural monument of local importance.
- created in 1965.
Attractions in Khortytsia
- In Khortytsia you should definitely visit, where the housing and outbuildings of the Cossacks, fortifications with cannons, smoking areas and much more have been restored, which will undoubtedly help you feel the atmosphere of those times. And the panoramas of the Cossack battles are executed to the smallest detail.
- In the south-eastern part of the island is located where they demonstrate wonderful equestrian performances, Cossack decorations, crafts, saber fights and much more.
- There are also remains of authentic fortifications, household items, coins, weapons, tools, as well as a sword, which is better known as the “Sword of Svyatoslav”.
- You can also see ancient ones on the island. Unfortunately, many of them were either looted or plowed up during agricultural work. On the basis of the best-preserved mounds they created.
- In the north of the island there is an ancient one. Archaeologists found it relatively recently - in 1992.
- On the territory of the island there is a place from where you can admire the powerful waters of the Dnieper.
Things to do on the island
On Khortytsia you can visit museums and learn more about the history of the island, the Cossacks, and examine important finds, for example, a Carolingian-type sword (10th century) discovered in 2011. They also offer to take part in Cossack fun - horse riding, battle reenactment, and the like. It is possible to rent a bicycle and raft along the Dnieper around the island. You can also visit some interesting excursion, buy souvenirs.
Where to stay in Khortytsia
There are several hotels on Khortitsa (“Khortitsa”,). In addition, there are recreational institutions here, which mainly belong to local enterprises: sanatorium-preventorium "Zaporizhstal", Zaporozhye Transformer Plant, "Dneprospetsstal", Zaporozhye national university, Zaporozhye Ferroalloy Plant, JSC "Ukrgrafit", recreation center "Dnepr". You can also stay in tents in a specially designated area.
How to get there
Khortytsia Island is located below the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station. You can get to it by minibuses No. 46, 15, 50, 93, trolleybus No. 3 (stop “Magazin Molodezhny”), as well as by train. Two bridges lead to the island - and Preobrazhensky.
Khortytsia (Zaporozhye, Ukraine) - description, history, location, reviews, photos and videos.
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The largest island on the Dnieper, an important historical and cultural reserve, a great place to relax - all this is about Khortitsa. Its picturesque landscape is cut by gullies and ravines, and its nature surprises with its diversity.
Most of the forests were grown by people quite recently, but not far from them lie kilometers of wild steppe expanses that have never been touched by the plow. The north of the island bristles with steep rocky cliffs, and in the south you will be greeted by a quiet kingdom of nature, where floodplains are hidden - forests growing directly from lakes covered with water lilies.
This oasis wildlife in the middle of Zaporozhye has also become home to more than two hundred species of animals, including rare ones. For example, the smallest bird in Europe, the yellow-headed kinglet, lives here.
Northern region
The lion's share of historical sites is located here, and the infrastructure is most developed. Many dispensaries and two hotels have been built - this part of the island is entangled with roads, so there is most of cultural events.
Not far from the Arched Bridge there is a whole museum and historical complex. First of all, this is the Museum of the History of the Cossacks, which has a fairly extensive exhibition. You can not only learn more about the Cossacks, but also buy souvenirs or guidebooks. Near the museum there is a rental point for bicycles, including those with child seats.
From Monday to Friday you can rent a bike by the hour or day, on weekends - only by the hour. You must provide identification and pay a deposit.
You can’t ignore the Zaporozhye Sich - a large complex reconstructing a 16th-century Cossack fortress. It consists of a fortification in the center and several houses where you can go and see how the Cossacks lived centuries ago. By the way, many scenes of the film “Taras Bulba” 2009 were filmed in the Zaporozhye Sich and its borders.
Between the fortifications and the museum rise cromlechs (ancient structures, often sacred meaning) Copper Age, their age is about 7 thousand years. And just south of the fortress there is a whole group of sanctuaries - from stone circles built thousands of years ago to relatively young wooden idols ancient Slavs.
At the other end of the island, the main tourist beach of Khortitsa stretches for almost a kilometer - a narrow but long strip of sand, sheltered from the wind by rocks. Above the coastline there is a small grove where you can relax.
Southern region
The south of the island is conducive to a relaxing pastime. Monument to the Easter egg-Pysanka and Museum of ancient burial mounds open air- that's all the attractions.
Almost in the center of Khortitsa there is an Arboretum, where many shrubs and trees of interesting species are planted.
Not far from the dispensary of the Engineering Academy there is a small cozy beach - a clean and calm area, from where you can see the city and the Preobrazhensky Bridge.
It is difficult to describe all the richness of nature in this region, but some places are worth highlighting. Try to find time to look at the famous Hanging Marshes, where sedge and reeds grow like a wall right out of the rocks, and also sit in the gazebo over the river, which is next to the ZTMC dispensary.
Practical information
GPS coordinates: longitude: 35°5′44.17″E (35.095602); latitude: 47°49′16.83″N (47.821343). Web site
Three bridges lead to the island - the Preobrazhensky bridges with different sides Dnieper and Arched Bridge. There are routes on Khortytsia itself public transport, but mainly in its northern half.
A visit to Khortitsa is free and available on any day of any time of the year. Entrance to the Zaporozhye Sich complex (museum and restored fortifications) will cost 24 UAH for adults and 12 UAH for children under 18 years of age. Prices on the page are as of August 2018.
It is open from April to October from 9:30 to 18:30 and from 9:30 to 16:00 from November to March. Monday is a day off.
Khortytsia Island is the largest island in Ukraine and is located in the middle of the city of Zaporozhye. Since ancient times, Khortitsa was a natural fortress and reliably protected the tribes who settled on it. There are plenty of traces of ancient settlers on the island: these are mounds and stone sculptures from Scythian times, which are represented by the “Scythian Camp” complex. Also present on the island pagan sanctuary.
In the 16th century, the Zaporozhye Sich was founded on the island of Khortytsia, which was a fortified camp of the Ukrainian Cossacks, and later became the center of the Cossack state.
In 1965, a State and later a National Historical and Cultural Reserve was created here. Today it has turned into the largest museum complex. Khortitsa Island will impress anyone with its picturesque rocks and granite shores. It is simply dotted with various lakes and ravines. Khortytsia is surrounded a large number of large and small islands and rocks that are included in the reserve.
In 2011, an ancient Russian sword of the Carolingian type was discovered on the Dnieper near the island of Khortitsa, which approximately dates back to the mid-10th century. Much earlier, when the Dnieper hydroelectric power station was being built at the beginning of the 20th century, similar finds were made in the form of 5 ancient Russian swords of the Carolingian type, but during the war they all disappeared.
The island has been visited quite often outstanding people. On one of the slopes of the island there is the Shevchenko trail; it acquired its name after the poet visited it. Was there in 1878 famous composer Lysenko N.V. In the spring of 1880, Repin I.E. visited the island, at that time he was working on sketches that were later used in the film “Cossacks”. Maxim Gorky also visited here.
On this moment There are many environmental, religious and sociocultural organizations operating on the island of Khortytsya.
lies famous island Khortytsia is on one of the main trade routes passing through Ukraine. Here in ancient times trade between the Slavs and the Greeks took place. There was a pagan sanctuary here, and the same sacred oak tree that Constantine Porphyrogenitus writes about stood right up until 1871 and dried up from old age - it was about two thousand years old! And somewhere here, on Khortitsa, surrounded by Pechenegs on the Black Rock, the legendary Prince Svyatoslav fell in battle...
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The island is located in the place where the Dnieper is divided into a zone of rapids and a zone of floodplains. Therefore, with ancient times it was a natural resting place for traders, warriors, and travelers who had overcome the dangerous zone of the Dnieper rapids. It often served as a refuge for princely squads.
For example, the chronicle says that in 1103, princes David Vseslavich, Mstislav Igorevich, Vyacheslav Yaropolchich and Yaropolk Vladimirovich “went on horseback and in boats, and came below the threshold and stash in Protolchekh and Khortychy Island.” Chronicle news is confirmed by archaeological finds.
IN X-XIV centuries there was a small Russian fortress on the island, known from chronicles under the name Protolche. Archaeologists find at the site of the settlement the remains of spacious “squad” dwellings, dugouts, and many various items X-XII and XIII-XIV centuries. The length of Khortytsia Island is about 12 kilometers, the width, on average, is 2.5 kilometers. The height of the coastal cliffs in some places reaches 30 meters. These rocks are cut with caves, there are a large number of them here. The most famous is the Serpent Cave. According to ancient legend, a “serpent” with twelve heads lived in it.
Khortitsa Island is literally stuffed with History. Evidence of it is found both under water and underground. In 1995, not far from the Generalka ravine, at a depth of 9.5 meters, the skeleton of a large oak dugout ship was discovered. According to archaeologists, these are the remains of a boat from times Kievan Rus. And on the northeastern coast of the island, several dugouts of the same era were discovered. Amphoras, ceramic fragments, arrowheads and much more were found. Cossack homeland
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But the most main legend Khortytsia is the Zaporizhian Sich and the treasures of the Zaporizhian Cossacks. It is assumed that the Sich originated here in 1552-1557, when Dmitry Vishnevetsky founded the first fortified town on Khortitsa. It's later Cossack towns spread to the right bank of the Dnieper and the southern half of the island. In 1577-1578, the leader of the Cossack detachment, Yakov Shah, set up his camp here. From here he raided the Turks and Tatars.
In 1617, Peter Konashevich-Sagaidachny built new fortifications here. Back in the 19th century, traces of ramparts, kurens and a church could be seen in the western part of the island. Gradually the Sich settled. In addition to Khortitsa, the surrounding small islands on the Dnieper, part of the lands on both sides of the Dnieper, including the Great Meadow, a huge area of steppe adjacent to the Dnieper in the former Alexandrovsky district (until 1921, Zaporozhye was Alexandrovsky) were also developed. Legends and myths about Cossack treasures.
A lot of treasures and valuables, weapons and money accumulated in the Zaporozhye Sich. It was mainly booty captured from the Turks and Tatars. And there is plenty of evidence of this. The Cossacks obtained some things in battle themselves, while others fell from the division of the general booty. Part of the wealth went to the formation of the “Military Treasures” - the treasury of the Zaporozhye army. The rest was shared by “companionship.”
Naturally, there were no banks with deposit safes and safe deposit boxes nearby. And when you go on your next hike, you can’t take all your valuables with you. The safest thing to do was to hide them. And they hid it.
In the 1630-1640s, the French military engineer Boplan, who was in Polish service, stayed in Ukraine. He wrote that “every Cossack has his own secret corner on the islands.” Returning with victory over the Turks, “they divide the spoils in Skarbnitsa and hide everything they receive under water, excluding things damaged by it.”
According to Beauplan, the Cossacks “hid under water not only the cannons they recapture from the Turks, but also money, which they take only when necessary.” If a Cossack returned from another campaign, he took what was hidden back. And if he died in battle, the treasure remained in the ground.
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In 1775, the Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated, and the Cossacks were forcibly resettled in the Kuban. Leaving Khortitsa, many Cossacks considered this a temporary phenomenon. Many Cossacks “had the idea that if “Darkness” (that is, Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky) dies, they will return back.”
When leaving, many Cossacks “took nothing with them, but hovaled the goods: some to the ground, some to the skeleton, and the Inchi to the Dnieper.” At the same time, according to legend, somewhere on Khortitsa or in its environs the “Military Treasure Box” of the Cossacks was hidden. Although there are versions that she was taken out.
Legends and myths about buried treasures are passed on from mouth to mouth. Oral wills and signs of buried treasures are passed down from generation to generation under great secrecy. Also in late XIX centuries, numerous witnesses were alive who remembered the signs of the Zaporozhye treasures from their parents. Here are some records of the stories of ancient grandfathers.
“On Khortyvsky Island, in Vyscha Golov, there was a stone as tall as a man, covered all the way down. Now it’s either mute or covered in moss—you can’t tell. With that stone there is a Zaporozhye treasure. I cast this stone twenty years ago, like a shepherd.”
“Next to the head of the Khortyvsky Island, above the Old Dnieper, there is the Lazne tract. There, on top of the rock, is a treasure. Prymita is like this: there is a stone, and on it the words: “There are some, whoever you see, you will be.” Thirty years ago the words were written down, but now the stone is covered with moss.”
The Sagaidachnoe tract is well known to treasure hunters. In it, somewhere “pid kaminnyamy”, “additional abyss”, Cossack “pennies” are buried, but “not everyone got a damn.” And here, indeed, gold and silver coins and products: both accidentally and purposefully.
A massive golden cross with a relief depiction of the crucifixion was accidentally found near Sovutina Rock in the 1900s. They knew about the finds, but kept quiet: as one 69-year-old treasure hunter admitted in his later years, “in my lifetime I found five pieces of gold without telling anyone.” The money and finds were slowly sold to the taverns.
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They say that Velikiy Lug was especially rich in Zaporozhye treasures. In the numerous ravines and “graves” of the Great Meadow, “old Midney and Sribni pennies” carried away by the spring waters were almost annually found. One of the rivers of the Great Meadow, flowing into the Dnieper, even bore the name Skarbnaya (that is, “Kladovaya” - from the Ukrainian “skarb” - “treasure, treasure”).
Legend says that near its mouth, “Bil Skarbnaya, de Stara Sich, there is Strilytsya, and in this Strilytsya the entire Cossack treasury is stored.” The fact that the Skarbnaya River was developed by the Cossacks is confirmed by real finds - even in the last century there were two sunken Zaporozhye seagulls were found.
There are also legends about the nearby islands and islets. Thus, there is a popular “balachka” that on Streletsky Island, shortly before the liquidation of the Sich, pennies were “buried” - gold, silver and weapons. A few decades later, some “did” appeared here on the island, who knew the signs of the treasure: “There was an oak tree standing opposite the island; On the oak tree there was a tovsta gilka, a kotra pointed to an island, where the treasure was located.”
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There is a legend about hidden treasures on Kantsersky Island: “At the mouth of Khortitsa, which flows into the Dnieper, there is Kantsersky Island, and on it there is a fortress. It's against big island Khortytsia. On that island, they say, there is a cave, and three barrels of gold are hidden in it. The entrance is closed with doors and blocked with stones and earth. There is a wooden cross in front of the entrance.” In 1846, some “did” from the Kherson region tried to find this treasure, but on the third day of the search he suddenly died. Either he was old, or... Since then, no one has tried to find the entrance to the mysterious cave.
One must think that these “dids”, who appeared on Khortytsia literally a few decades after the liquidation of the Sich, were Zaporozhye Cossacks who “stolen” their property or knew about the treasures hidden by their comrades. Each such appearance of treasure hunters on Khortitsa spurred interest in treasures and gave birth to something like a “gold rush”.
In 1789, a colony of German Mennonites was founded on the island, and the deserted Zaporozhye lands began to be populated by peasants. But the legends are not dead. And the more vague the descriptions and hints were, the more intense the interest became. Numerous legends about mysterious Zaporozhye treasures are still alive and circulating among the local population.
“At the head of the Khortytsia island, near Kichkas, there is a small grave, all surrounded by fireplaces,” says one of the legends. - About thirty years ago, there, dark night, the treasure was often shown: a Cossack with a sword jumped out onto the grave, and it was covered with fire! The Cossack is golden, and throw some mushrooms at it! That, it seems, is gold and pennies. The pennies are either taken or shown, but not to everyone.”
In Khortytsia and in general on the lands of the Zaporozhye Sich, they say, treasures “ask for themselves.” The entire land of the island is stuffed with antiques. In addition to skulls and bones, pistols, daggers, knives, sabers, guns, cannons, cannonballs, bullets, jugs, cauldrons, decanters, cast iron, bottles, damasks, rings, rings, buckles, monistas, coins, pipes were found at the site of the former Zaporozhye Sich .
One of the treasure hunters recalls: “Once I found a crooked dagger, a long gun and steel chain mail in the Bolshaya Verbovaya gully; everything was covered with rust... One day I found several coins in the Kutsoy beam; one of them was as heavy as 6 silver rubles together, others were like fish shells (scales), and others were the same as snouts now. It happened that other types of coins were found... Why, they just didn’t find them on Khortytsia! Previously, on Khortitsa you could find all sorts of things... Now a lot has been picked up by people, and a lot has been carried away by water.”
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Khortytsia and the Dnieper keep many secrets. In the last century, seventeen canoes and two large ships (apparently Cossack “seagulls”) were found near the island. On one of them there was a surviving cannon, and in the remains of another they found a saber with a silver-plated hilt.
Much has been washed away by the river over the past centuries. Under the influence of flood waters, the coastline of Khortitsa partially changed, and the small island of Dubovy was completely washed away.
In the vicinity of the Sich, along the banks of the Dnieper, many ancient Zaporozhye cemeteries were scattered. Many of them were gradually plowed open, occupied as vegetable gardens or used for other economic needs, and it often happened that in the middle of a vegetable garden or a peasant’s yard stood an ancient stone cross or tombstone.
Several such graves of the Cossacks were located in the village of Kapulivka on the Chertomlyk River. The famous Koshevoy ataman of the Zaporozhye army I. D. Sirko (died in 1680) was buried in one of them. After the death of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, Ivan Sirko was the Koshevoy ataman of the Cossacks for twenty years. It was he who signed the famous “Response to the Turkish Sultan.”
Archaeological research of Khortitsa is still underway. The bottom of the Dnieper in the vicinity of the island is also being studied. In 1995, during underwater archaeological work off Kantserovsky Island, a saber XVI - early XVII century, made in the Caucasus or Western Asia (possibly in Iran). However, most of Khortitsa still remains unexplored. There will be enough work here for many more generations.
