Khortytsya ( former name- Velyka Khortitsa) - the largest island on the river, located in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine.
There are several versions of the origin of the name of the island. The main hypothesis is that the island was named after the Khortitsa River. This word, in turn, means "quick, fast", which, in relation to the river, can be interpreted as "quick", or " fast water».
Khortytsya Island is a part of the Ukrainian crystalline shield protruding onto the surface of the plain, which was formed in the Archean era. It is composed of hard crystalline rocks (granite, gneiss and migmatite), whose age is 2.6 billion years. In order to protect the unique place, Khortitsa and the islands adjacent to it were declared the Dnieper Rapids geological reserve.
The same rocks form the high cliffs on the northern and northwestern parts of the island. South part the islands are flooded. Beams stretch between the rocks and the flooded area, and each of them has its own name, history and is overgrown with legends, firmly entering the local folklore.
The appearance of the first people on the island of Khortytsya dates back to the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras. The remains of the settlements of the Bronze Age (III-II millennium BC) have been preserved. The Scythians inhabited these places from the 7th to the 3rd centuries. BC e., almost all of the 129 burial mounds found on the island belong to the Scythian civilization. Near the Sovutina beam in the V-III century BC. e. there was a settlement, on the site of which now you can see a protective rampart, a moat and residential buildings.
The island served as a good defense against attack, but the rapids prevented the development of navigation. Here was the longest land section of the waterway from the Varangians to the Greeks, where they had to drag heavy boats over a distance of several tens of kilometers.
Where the Dneproges dam is today, there was the narrowest place in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and the most convenient crossing was located. At the same time, it was the most robbery place: ambushes were set up for merchant caravans.
The first reliable written mention of the island of Khortytsya has been known since the time of Kievan Rus: the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905-959) mentioned the "island of St. George", which is below the Dnieper rapids.
In the X-XIV centuries. there was a Russian fortress on Khortitsa, known from the chronicles under the name Protolche. In 1103, Prince Svyato-Regiment Izyaslavovich (1050-1113) stopped at Khortitsa with his army, as reported in the Ipatiev Chronicle. In 1223, Russian princes gathered on Khortitsa before the battle with the Mongol-Tatars on the Kalka River.
Throughout the existence of the Zaporizhzhya Sich until 1775, Khortitsa remained an outpost covering the approaches to the Sich from the north. Russian troops began building shipyards here, which were subsequently abandoned due to the plague.
After the Russo-Turkish wars and the defeat of the Zaporizhian Sich, Khortytsya was given as a gift to Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky (1739-1791) from Empress Catherine II (1729-1796). The prince did not know what to do with the royal gift, and in 1789 he returned it to the state treasury of Russia. In order to develop the island, the treasury settled on it a colony of Mennonite Germans from near Danzig. They stayed on the island until 1916 and sold it to the city government.
During the Soviet period, the construction of the Dneproges began near the island in 1927, and subsequently bridges: before that, ferries had been used for centuries.
Since 1974, the island has been part of the Dnieper Rapids geological reserve, and since 2005, the Khortytsya National Reserve.
Khortitsa Island is located in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River, below the rapids. The island divides the channel of the Dnieper into two branches - the New Dnieper and the Old Dnieper. The river itself in the area of ​​the island is a short preserved section of the rapids of the river that existed before the construction of the Dnieper HPP dam upstream. Small islands have been preserved from the rapids. The relief of the island is sloping: rocks in the north, flooded part in the south.
Khortytsya Island is the venue for the all-Ukrainian Cossack festival "Pokrova on Khortytsia", where the Zaporizhzhya Sich was located in the old days, and now the Museum of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks is located.
The features of the relief and hydrological regime of the river determined the diversity of natural zones within a relatively small island: forb-feather grass steppes, oak and coniferous forests, floodplain meadows. For the same reason, the island flora differs significantly from the coastal flora.
In total, about 960 plant species were counted in Khortitsa, of which 560 are representatives of wild flora and 20 endemics (Dnieper ragwort, Savran onion, sleep-grass, iris, Dnieper cornflower). Rarely, but there are relict plants: water fern and chilim. Along the beams, sections of the bayrak forest (“bayrak” - ancient name beams) with a predominance of Tatar maple, oak, elm, black and silver poplar, pear. But most of the island is characterized by a young secondary and planted pine-maple forest. The specially created Khortitsky forestry takes care of the local flora.
The fauna of the island is no less diverse than the flora: over 30 species of animals, 120 species of birds, ten species of reptiles, five species of amphibians live in bayraks and in the floodplain forest in the south of the island. The bird is mainly waterfowl, nesting in coastal thickets (roose, teal, coot) and staying here for the winter: the water here is fast and does not freeze even in very coldy. Of the other species, the herring gull, heron, yellow heron, and black tern are common. There are also predators here: kestrel, black kite. The pheasant was artificially bred and took root.
The largest mammals are roe deer and wild boar, inhabiting sandbanks and swampy shores of lakes, where moose sometimes swim. There are also muskrat, fox, hare, white marten.
The permanent population is only a couple of thousand people living in nine villages, of which only three are officially recognized by the Zaporozhye administration, and the rest are squatters.
The island was chosen by rock climbers who train in the northern and northwestern parts of the island on 40-meter cliffs.
The big trouble of the island is the unimaginable amount of garbage left by tourists. It also causes frequent fires that destroy thickets where birds nest and fish spawn. Fires lead to the fact that animals and birds leave Khortitsa.
In order to protect the history and nature of the island, the historical and cultural complex "Zaporizhzhya Sich" was created. Theatrical performances and all-Ukrainian festivals are regularly held here. The most famous of them are the International Festival of Children's and Youth Creativity "Chords of Khortytsya", the International Festival of Author's Song "Singing Island", the All-Ukrainian Cossack Festival "Pokrova on Khortytsya", the International Festival of Cossack Martial Arts "Spas on Khortytsya", the Feast of Perun on Khortytsia. Folklore and ethnographic equestrian theater "Zaporizhzhya Cossacks" is located in the flooded part of the island of Khortytsya, whose activities are aimed at preserving and developing Cossack traditions.
The city closest to the island is one of the largest administrative, industrial and cultural centers south of Ukraine, a large river port. It received its name in 1921, taking into account the geographical position, as “located beyond the rapids”.

general information

Location: South-Eastern Ukraine.

Origin: tectonic.

Nearest cities: Zaporozhye - 766,000 people (2014).

Languages: Ukrainian, Russian.

Ethnic composition: Ukrainians (majority), Russians.

Religion: Orthodoxy.

Currency unit: hryvnia.

Major airport: international Airport the city of Zaporozhye.

Numbers

Area: 23.59 km2.

Length: about 12.5 km.

Width: 2.5 km.

Population: 2000 people (2011).
Population density: 84.78 people / km 2.

Climate and weather

Moderate continental.

January average temperature: -3°C.
July average temperature: +22.5°С.
Average annual rainfall: 500 mm.

Relative humidity: 70%.

Economy

Service sector: touristic.

Attractions

■ Natural: national reserve "Khortitsa", coastal rocks of Sovutina (Three Masts) and Chernaya, geological reserve "Dnieper rapids", deepening of the Cossack Miska (rock Sredny Pillar), beams (Sovutina, Ganovka, Kostina, Sich Gates, Lipovaya, Oleniy Rog (Wide ), Generalka, Velikaya, Naumova), Three Pillars (the islands of Divan, or the Armchair of Catherine (Catherine the Khreshchennik), Middle Pillar and Pohyly), islets (Kornetovsky, Rastebina, Malaya Khortitsa, Oak, Durnaya Rock, Skoptsev and Pereima lavas), Zmiev cave, lake Bolshaya and Malaya Domakha.
■ historical: a settlement of people of the Sredny Stog culture (Sredny Pillar, the end of the 4th millennium BC), Scythian burial mounds and a settlement with a protective rampart (Sovutin's beam, 5th-3rd centuries BC), earthen fortifications from the time of the Russian-Turkish wars (XVIII century).
■ Cultural: Museum of the History of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, the Scythian Stan complex (Zorova Mogila), recreational centers of large factories in Zaporozhye, the Institute of Mechanization of Animal Husbandry, the monument to Dmitry Vishnevetsky - Baida, the Tarasova trail, a monument in memory of the defeat of the Poles in 1649.
■ City of Zaporozhye: Malaya Khortitsa island, Zemstvo council building (1913-1915), Preobrazhensky bridges, Sotsgorod (1929-1937), avenue im. Lenin (length - 10.8 km), Holy Intercession Cathedral (UOC-MP), Cathedral of St. Andrew the First-Called (UOC-MP), Pro-Cathedral Cathedral of God the Merciful Father (2004), River port, equestrian theater "Zaporizhzhya Cossacks", Regional Museum of Local Lore, Museum of the History of Weapons, central park culture and recreation "Oak Grove", Zaporozhye Botanical Garden, Fountain of Life (Mayakovsky Square).
■ Engineering: DneproGES, bridges of Preobrazhensky.

Curious facts

■ Prior to the construction of the HPP, Khortytsya did not always remain an island. When the left branch of the Dnieper dried up in a particularly hot summer, the island could be reached on foot.
■ The Shevchenko (Tarasova) trail stretches along the slopes of the island of Khortytsya: the Ukrainian poet visited this place in August 1843.
■ Ekaterina's Divan Island, local legends associate with the name of the Russian Empress Catherine II, who allegedly stayed here during her trip to the Crimea in 1787. The resemblance of the rock to the furniture is obvious, but the Empress never stopped here.
■ In 2007, the island of Khortytsya was named one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine. Seven wonders of Ukraine - historical and cultural monuments of Ukraine, selected in the course of the all-Ukrainian competition: Kamenets Nature Reserve (Kamenets-Podolsky, Khmelnitsky region), Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Kiev), Sofiyivka Park (Uman, Cherkasy region), St. Sophia Kievskaya (Kiev ), Khersones (Sevastopol), Khortitsa, Khotyn fortress (Khotin, Chernivtsi region).
■ In Slavic poetry, sleep-grass, characteristic of the island of Khortytsya, is most often referred to as hypnotic because of its name, or it is a harbinger of spring and the awakening of nature.
■ One of the floating islands off the coast of Khortitsa is called Owl: for some reason, this hundred-meter-long island was chosen exclusively by owls.
■ On the island Sredniy Stolb there is a pit with a diameter of 2 m and a depth of up to 1.4 m, called the Cossack Miska. This is a natural depression, partially processed by man. Legends say that in this "bowl" the Cossacks cooked dumplings.
■ The Bad Rock Island got its name because it was chosen by the Cossacks as the place where the guilty were punished. Violators of the Cossack code were sent here barefoot: in summer, the rock warmed up so much that standing barefoot on it was a real torment. There is another version. In the XVIII century. there was a plague infirmary on the Bad Rock, and the Cossacks infectious diseases called stupid.
■ Kornetovsky Island got its name from German word"Kornelecht" - so the Mennonite Germans called the place where the grain was crushed.
■ There is a hypothesis that it was on Khortitsa that Prince Svyatoslav died in battle with the Pechenegs, returning with his squad from the Bulgarian campaign in the spring of 972.
■ During the time of Prince Potemkin, a garden was planted on Khortitsa, guarded by a retired corporal. Since then, the area has been named Kapralovo, and the barrows in the high point Khortytsy are called Potemkinsky.
■ Khortytsya Island is the third most visited tourist destination in Ukraine. In 2010, over 250 thousand people visited the reserve's tourist sites.
■ Until the second half of XIX That is, on the island of Khortytsya, a historical giant centuries-old oak grew, according to legend, it served as the assembly point of the Zaporizhzhya army. War councils were held under the oak tree.
By 1888, the oak dried up, leaving a stump six meters in circumference. There is a hypothesis that it was under this oak that the Cossacks wrote their famous letter Turkish sultan. The artist Ilya Repin, working on the painting "Cossacks", came to the island of Khortytsya. To this day, in the village of Verkhnyaya Khortitsa, a drying coeval of this oak has been preserved: crown diameter - 63 m, trunk circumference - 6.32 m, height - 36 m.
■ Bridges of Preobrazhensky - two two-tiered concrete bridges across the Dnieper, connecting the right and left banks of Zaporozhye across the island of Khortitsa. The author of the bridge project is engineer B.N. Preobrazhensky, the bridges were opened in 1952. The height of the bridges (about 54 m) is considered the highest in Ukraine. The Preobrazhensky Bridge (together with stone women) is depicted on the coin “National Reserve “Khortytsya” from the series “12 Wonders of Ukraine”. 23.59 km² Khortytsia at Wikimedia Commons

There are several versions of the origin of the name "Khortytsya". It is believed that the island (annalistic Khartich Island) got its name from the neighboring river Khortitsa, where the noun in "-itsa" is from Khort-< хъртъ, то есть «быстрый, скорый». Таким образом, «хортица» - это «быстрица», быстрая вода (гидроним «быстрица» не раз встречается в бассейнах Днепра , Днестра и др. рек Украины) .

Nature

Geology

Khortytsia Island is part of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield, which was formed during the Archean era. The age of granites, gneisses and migmatites that make up the Khortitsa rocks is 2.6 billion years (also called 2.85 billion years)).

Khortitsa cuts the channel of the Dnieper into two branches - the New and Old Dnieper. The water area of ​​the Dnieper in the area of ​​the island is a small, preserved section of the rapids of the river, which existed before the construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric dam upstream. Before about. Khortitsa rapids ended. The remaining small islands are reminiscent of the extremely difficult conditions sailing on the Dnieper.

Khortytsia has not always been an island. Often in the hot summer, spits were selected from the eastern side of the island along which it was possible to go to the island. There were, for example, 1575, 1708 and 1921, when the channel of the left branch of the Dnieper was almost dry.

Rocks in the north of the island

On the northern and northwestern parts of the island rise 40-50 meter cliffs. To the southeast, the height of the island gradually decreases, turning into a flooded, flooded part. Between the rocky and floating parts, the surface of the island is indented big amount picturesque beams.

Khortytsya and the islands adjacent to it have been declared the Dnieper Rapids geological reserve.

Vegetable world

There are various natural zones on the island: forb-feather grass steppes, oak and coniferous forests, floodplain meadows. Due to the special microclimatic conditions that have arisen due to the abundance of the sun, fresh water and dry air, the flora of the island is significantly different from the mainland.

Sleep grass.

In total, about 960 species of plants grow on Khortitsa, 560 of them are representatives of wild flora, 20 are endemic. Endemics are the Dnieper ragwort, Savran onion, sleep-grass, irises, Dnieper cornflower. In addition to endemics, there are also relict plants - water fern and chilim.

There are very few virgin areas where grasses grow on Khortitsa. These are the slopes of the beams of Shantseva, Bashmachka, Lipovaya, Gromushina, Naumova, Shirokaya, Kostina, Kornetovskaya, Muzychnaya, Sovutina, Molodnyaga and others. The remnants of the forest (bairach forests) grow in the beams, where the Tatar maple, oak, elm, black and silver poplar, pear prevail. Most of the island is covered with a young artificial forest of pine and maple, planted by the Khortitsky forestry. Once on the island of Khortytsya, oak forests grew like a “solid wall”. Novitsky By the beginning of the 21st century, there are about 10 centuries-old trees and several dozen oaks aged a hundred or a little more years in the reserve (the oldest of them are 300 years old), there is also a hundred-year-old wild pear. Basically, such trees grow in the beams and the flooded part of the island.

Beams, lakes, rocks and adjacent islands of Khortytsia

Khortytsya is dotted with gullies and lakes, it is surrounded by numerous large and small islands and rocks that are part of the protected area.

Islands

Three Pillars. Near the northern part of the island of Khortytsya rise the islands: Divan or Armchair of Catherine (Catherine the Khreschennik), Sredny Pillar and Pohyly, forming the island group Three Pillars.

Catherine's Sofa Island folk legend connects with the name of the Russian Empress Catherine II, who allegedly stayed here during her trip to the Crimea in 1787. The rock really looks like a sofa, but the empress never stopped on it.

Deepening "Cossack bowl" on the rock Middle Pillar.

On the Middle Pillar there is a deep pit (diameter 2 m, depth up to 1.4 m), which is called the “Cossack bowl”. recess is natural formation, only partially processed by humans. According to folk legends, “on sunny burning days, the Cossacks cooked dumplings in this bowl and fed each other with one and a half meter spoons through the bowl.” In 1927-1929. on the Middle Pillar, archaeologists discovered a settlement of people at the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. - Srednestog culture (by mistake, the name is given from the neighboring rocks of Stog).

The name of the third Pillar is Pohyly ( Russian inclined), formed from the shape of the rock.

The Polish writer G. Podberezovsky, traveling along the Dnieper in 1860, called the Three Pillars "Pillars of Hercules", linking them with the legend of Herodotus about the meeting of Hercules with the snake-footed goddess and the origin of the Scythians. Before mid-nineteenth Art. Three Pillars were connected to Khortitsa by a sandy spit overgrown with trees and bushes, which was washed away by floods.

Two Haystacks. On the left side of the Pillars there are stones - Two Stacks, which are a bit like stacks of straw. Now other names are more often used - Two Brothers or Twins.

Oak. On the north side of Khortitsa, in front of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, lies Oak Island, which is often called Sredny, Poplar, or Turtle (according to its shape).

rocks Bad And Medium(rock Sagaidachnogo) protrude between the tract Sagaidachnogo, located on the left bank of the Dnieper opposite Khortitsa and Khortitsa. According to folk legends, the Cossacks were punished on the Bad Rock. In the summer it got very warm and was so hot that it was impossible to stand on it barefoot. The guilty Cossack was brought to the rock at the hottest time, where he served his sentence. According to the pilots, this name was given to her due to the fact that she "landed in the middle of the Dnieper inopportunely, stupidly." In other legends, it is reported that on the rock of Evil, the army of Peter I executed the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks for cooperation with Mazepa and Charles XII (1709) - therefore the rock was nicknamed the Treasury or Evil. According to the 18th century retrenchment plan, there was a plague infirmary on Bad Rock. The Cossacks called all infectious diseases “bad”, that is, those that cannot be foreseen, unlike injuries and wounds. Therefore, such a name was probably attached to the rock.

On Middle rock in the 30s of the XIX century, you could see the original stone called "Cradle" ( Russian smoking pipe ), similar to a real pipe with a shank and a piercing. There was also a "lizhko" ( Russian bed) or "Sagaydak's chair" - probably a processed stone with a hollowed out recess for a person to lie down. In 1883, the stone was blown up by two residents of Aleksandrovsk (the name of Zaporozhye until 1921). On the Middle Rock, archaeologists found a Neolithic site with the remains of shards of dishes, retouched flint, bones of fish and animals. The rocks Durnaya and Srednyaya were significantly damaged during the construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric power station and the sluice.

Kornetovsky Island. In the bed of the Old Dnieper, near the southern part of the island, you can see the sandy island of Kornetovsky - a place of permanent refuge for fishermen. The Kornetovshchina tract (Kornelekht among the Mennonite Germans, a probable place where grain was crushed) stretched out on Khortitsa. The tract includes the Kornetovskaya and Korneichikha beams.

rocks Gavunivska and Karakayka, located behind the Generalka beam next to the long sandy coast, are named after the Cossacks Karakay and Gavun, who were engaged in fishing here. There is a tourist beach next to these rocks.

beams

More than two dozen large and small beams cut the banks of Khortitsa from the eastern and western sides. Almost all beams have their own names.

Balka Sich Gates on the island of Khortitsa.

From the Sovutina gully located on the northern tip of the island to the south along the channel of the Old Dnieper there are beams: Chavunova (Sechevye Gates), Muzychina, Naumova, Gromushina, Karakayka, Generalka, Shirokaya (Deer), Korneychikha, Kornetovskaya.

On the eastern side, along the channel of the New Dnieper, beams follow: Velikaya Molodnyaga, Ushvyvaya, Hannovka, Shantsevaya, Bashmachka, Kostina, Lipovaya, Kapralka (Korneeva).

Beams are original natural reservations of the island. Their slopes are covered with steppe forbs, and in the depressions you can find the remains of ravine-ravine forests.

There is a spring with the purest water in the Gromushin gully.

Story

First settlements on the island

Man appeared on the island as early as the Paleolithic and Mesolithic era, but the first significant explored settlements date back to the Bronze Age (III-II millennium BC), from which numerous burials, settlements and places of worship remained. From the 7th to the 3rd century BC. e. the island was inhabited by the Scythians. Most of the burial mounds found on the island, and there are 129 of them, belong to the Scythian civilization. Basically they are tombs. Near the Slavutina beam in the V-III century BC. e. there was a whole town. In its place, a protective rampart, a moat and residential buildings were found.

Below the island along the Dnieper, after the rapids, there was a waterway from the Varangians to the Greeks.

In order to get around the rapids, in places it was necessary to pull boats along the river bank. The empty section of the river from the present Dnepropetrovsk to Zaporozhye stretched for almost 75 km, the water level difference in this section was ~ 50 m. After the exhausting “drag”, travelers (merchants, warriors) rested on the island. The place where the Dnieper HPP dam is now located was the narrowest (~ 175 m) in the lower reaches of the Dnieper, therefore it was known in Tavria (from ancient Greek Ταῦρος - the old name of the steppe region of the Dnieper-Molochansky interfluve within the modern Zaporozhye and Kherson regions The Taurian steppes through the isthmus of the Sivash pass into the steppes of Taurida (Crimean Peninsula) crossing the Dnieper - Kichkas, through which one of the branches of the Muravsky Way passed - the path of the attack of the Crimean Tatars on Right-Bank Ukraine and the Commonwealth. In addition to the crossing, this place was convenient for ambushes, since people sailing from the Black Sea were forced to go ashore in front of the rapids. The Scythians, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, and later the Crimean Tatars, Turks, Slavs hunted here.

The first mention of the island of Khortytsya is known from the time of Kievan Rus. So, the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentions the "island of St. George" below the Dnieper rapids.

Khortytsya during the period of Kievan Rus

The island remembers Kievan princes Askold and Dir, Oleg, Igor and Princess Olga. There is an opinion that it was on Khortitsa that Prince Svyatoslav, who was returning with his squad from the Bulgarian campaign, died in battle with the Pechenegs. It happened in the spring of 972, near the Black Rock. During the construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric power station, ancient Russian swords of the 10th century were found on this territory, which is a weighty fact in support of this version.

In 1103, Prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavovich stopped on the island with his army. There is a record of this in the Ipatiev Chronicle:

And poidosha on horses and boats, and poidosha below the threshold and stasha in Protolchekh and in Khortichy Island ... ".

In 1223, Khortitsa was a gathering place for Russian princes, before the tragic battle with the Mongol-Tatars on the river. Kalka. The gathering place was not chosen by chance. At that time, in the coastal part of the island (on the shores of Osokorovoy Island) there was a military outpost of Russian wanderers who controlled the movement through the Protolchy ford. Archaeological research suggests that this outpost arose almost in the 5th-7th century AD. The roaming settlement disappeared during the annexation of the lands to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Zaporizhzhya Sich

I. E. Repin. "Zaporozhians".

Later this place was controlled by the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Sich.

Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739

On Khortitsa, several lines of earthen fortifications from the time of the Russian-Turkish wars of the 18th century, built by troops under the leadership of Field Marshal Minich, have been preserved. The camps of Russian troops stood in the northwestern part of the Island, in the beams - Gromushin, Musical and U Perevoz, see on the interactive map of the island.

In 1736, the Zaporizhzhya shipyard and fortress were founded on Bayda Island, in which 2 officers' and 8 soldiers' dugouts and 31 Cossack huts were built. A large number of ships that were built in Bryansk in 1736, when crossing the Dnieper rapids, received significant damage or sank. Therefore, the command of the Russian army decided to build a ship base beyond the rapids. According to archival reports, at the shipyard in the period 1738-1739. based around 400 ships different types. At this time, the famous naval commander Vice Admiral N. A. Senyavin visited Khortitsa.

In the possession of Potemkin

After the defeat of the Sich by the tsarist troops on June 5, 1775, Khortytsya, as a gift from Catherine II, went to Prince Potemkin. By order of G. A. Potemkin, a garden was laid on the island. They put an old corporal who lived nearby in a dugout to guard him. Since then, the area (tract) has been named Kapralovo, and the mounds that were located on the highest point of Khortitsa are Potemkinsky.

By order of Potemkin, a road was laid from north to south from the High Grave to the crossing near Naumova Balka, and it was called a postal road. They even said that Potemkin decided to connect his palace with bridges across the Dnieper. This is evidenced not only by archival materials, but also by the travel diaries of the academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, nature researcher Vasily Fedorovich Zuev, as well as a photocopy of the plan of the famous local historian V. G. Fomenko. The full title is “The Plan of the Garden on Khortitsky Island of His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin from the Testimony of One Different Building”, which shows a house, a carriage house and stables, a Turkish house, a Chinese temple, a temple of victory and even an Egyptian pyramid on a terrain cut by beams.

In 1789, Potemkin handed over Khortitsa to the state treasury.

Mennonites

The timber trade was one of the most profitable sources of income, which was what the colonists did. The colonists used the forest with the calculation - only for immediate economic needs. From reporting records former member Ivan Peters (b. 1796, d. 1881), presented to the Guardianship, we learn about the presence of forests on the island of Khortytsia in 1857. According to his calculation, there were 49,000 oak trees, 4,000 birch bark, 1,000 lindens, 4,500 pears, of which 2,000 are on the elevated surface of the island, 2,500 are mixed with other species. valuable species of forest, not touching the poplars, willows and willows, which grow here in abundance.

In 1876-77, mass poaching deforestation by the population of Aleksandrovsk and Voznesenka began. The guards posted by the provincial government along the banks of the river could not stop them. During these years, the forest was cut down along the eastern and western shores of the island. 1883-84 was another surge in poaching, when another 35 acres of forest were cut down in 3-4 weeks. Unable to protect the forest, in 1884 the Mennonites decided to sell the island's forest. In December 1916, the Germans, who lived on Khortitsa, sold the island to the Alexander city government for 772 thousand 350 rubles.

Cemeteries

At the end of the 19th century, there were “four cemeteries on the island: one along the Savutina gully on the southeast side, the second on the northwestern end of the island, along the steep slopes of the gray Dnieper, and the other two, the largest, on the western side near the gully of Kutsay and perevoz through the old Dnieper"

Notable people on Khortitsa

Khortytsya was often visited by prominent people. On the slopes of the island there is Shevchenko's path (the poet visited here in August 1843). In 1878, the composer N. V. Lysenko came to Khortitsa. In the spring of 1880, I. E. Repin visited the island, working on sketches that were used in the painting "Cossacks". In this creative expedition, I. Repin was accompanied by his student - young Valentin Serov. In 1891, Maxim Gorky visited Khortitsa, and a little later, the future Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin. As a child, the island was often visited by those who lived in Zaporozhye in 1981-86. writer Vyacheslav Bondarenko.

In 1927-1928, technical facilities were built on Khortitsa: a water supply system, a water pumping station, a ferry crossing was organized through the New Dnieper.

In February 1928, the construction of bridges began. The main architect of the project was M. Streletsky. The material for the masonry of bridges and granite for their cladding were supplied from quarries equipped on the island of Khortitsa. The bridges were commissioned on September 5, 1931.

Pioneer camp "Chaika" on the island of Khortytsya, 1985

In 1958, the first title was added to the name of the island - a natural monument. local importance. Since August 1963, by order of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, Khortytsya has been declared a natural monument of republican significance, and since September 1965, also a state historical and cultural reserve.

Khortytsya is part of the Dnieper Rapids geological reserve, founded in October 1974.

On November 9, 2005, by decision No. 5 of the 24th session of the Zaporozhye city council, the entire land of Khortytsya and the islands of Baida, Oak, Rozstebnoye, Three Stogs, rocks of the Middle and Twins, as well as the Tract of Vyrva (a total of 2359.34 ha) was transferred to the permanent use of the National Reserve "Khortytsya".

present tense

There are nine villages on the island, where almost two thousand people live. Of these, only three villages are on the balance of the city - the rest do not legally belong to anyone, dozens of hectares of the island are occupied by illegal buildings.

Alpinists train in the northern and northwestern parts of the island. Here, some rocks reach 40 meters in height.

The island is very littered, fires often occur here due to the fault of people. Tourists often leave garbage in places where recreation is prohibited: in the coastal zone or in the floodplain, where birds nest, fish spawn, there are beautiful inland lakes with white water lilies.

Ecologists sound the alarm: a large number of waste and fire causes serious harm to the ecology of the island. For example, animals and birds are leaving Khortitsa, and some species are disappearing altogether. Flora recovers very slowly in burnt soil

99% of the garbage is left by the so-called "savage vacationers". Since 2009, a project has been implemented for the disposal of solid household waste in National Reserve"Khortitsa". By the end of 2012, it is planned to create an infrastructure for separate waste collection on the island.

A large number of environmental, sociocultural, religious public organizations operate on the island of Khortytsya. Among them, we should highlight "Spas", "Russian Orthodox Circle", "Amulet".

Historical and cultural complex "Zaporizhzhya Sich"

Construction work on the construction of the historical and cultural complex "Zaporizhzhya Sich" began in November 2004 (laying took place on October 14, 2004). The general sponsor of its construction in 2005 was the Zaporizhstal plant. The cost of the complex amounted to about 13 million hryvnia, while the state did not participate in financing the construction of the Sich. On December 30, 2010, the first stage of the complex was put into operation. Theatrical performances and even all-Ukrainian festivals are held on the territory of the complex, residents of Zaporozhye and guests of the city are invited on excursions. In the near future, the exposition objects "House of the Kosh Ataman", "Military Chancellery", "Kuren" and "Temple of the Intercession" will function in the complex. Holy Mother of God”, where the interior will be recreated, objects that were typical for the times of the Cossacks. Khortytsya is in third place in Ukraine in terms of tourist attendance. In 2010, more than 250 thousand people visited the tourist sites of the reserve.

Literature

• Novitsky Ya.P. Khortytsya Island on the Dnieper, its nature, history, antiquities // Novitsky Yakiv. Create in 5 volumes / orderer Boyko A .. - Zaporizhzhya: Tandem-U, 2007. - T. 1. - 508 p. - ISBN 978-966-488-001-2
• Vilinov Yu. An island in the filigree of eras and paths. Khortitsky collage. - Zaporozhye: "Polygraph", 2003. - 206 p.
• Suprunenko V.P. Khortytsya Island. The mystery of geographical names: toponymy, nature, sights. - Zaporizhzhya: "Prosvita", 2006. - 48 p. - ISBN 966-653-180-1
• Zapovidna Khortytsya: Collection of works of spivrobitnikiv of the reserve. Issue 1. - Zaporizhzhya: Dike Pole, 2006. - 304 p.

see also

Gallery

Notes

1. I. M. Zheleznyak, A. P. Korepanova, L. T. Masenko, O. S. Strizhak. Etymological dictionary of literary geographical names of Pivdenny Rus. - Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian RSR. Institute of Education O.O. Potebni. - Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1985. - S. 172. - 256 p.
2. V. A. Glebovitskiĭ 2.2 The Ukrainian shield, fig. 2.28 // The early Precambrian of Russia. - CRC Press, 1997. - V. 2. - S. 82. - 261 p. - ISBN 9789057020117

The culmination of my trip to Zaporozhye as a historical region was a visit to Zaporozhye as a city. Even before my arrival, I heard that the beauties of Zaporozhye are very much underestimated, but I did not expect that so much.

It took me a day and a half to explore the city, and at the same time I didn’t manage to do everything. The story about Zaporozhye will consist of three parts: the island of Khortytsya, Sotsgorod and Old city. And we will start, of course, from the island of Khortytsya - one of the most beautiful places in Eastern Ukraine.

Khortytsya is the most big Island on the Dnieper. Its length is 12 kilometers, width is 2-4 kilometers. The shores of the island are high and rocky, and from above the approaches to it were blocked by a threshold - the last of the nine great Dnieper rapids, the "cascade" of which began at the present Dnepropetrovsk (hence the name Zaporozhye). To the left and below from Khortitsa there were impassable floodplains, and the narrow and fast Old Dnieper on the right was well shot through. Thus, Khortitsa was a natural fortress, and as such was used by many peoples.

Now on the threshold stands DneproGES - a legend of Soviet industrialization. They say that the inhabitants of the villages on the rapids are not happy about its construction, not only because of the flooding, but also because for centuries the most profitable profession here was pilotage.

But the rocks of Khortitsa are still impregnable. This island went down in history primarily thanks to the Zaporizhzhya Sich - the "capital" of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. The first fortifications here were laid by the Cherkasy and Kanev prince Vyshnevetsky (Buyda) in 1553. Initially, the fortifications were located on the small island of Malaya Khortitsa, but then they were moved to the "main" island.
The "golden age" of the Ukrainian Cossacks was associated with Khortytsya, which ended in 1775 with the defeat of the Zaporozhian Sich.

Modern Khortytsya is very a nice place. Unusual nature, which seems virgin (and in the protected floodplains it is), amazing views of Zaporozhye with its factories, a wild combination of industry and nature, and numerous extremely spectacular "reconstructions" add up here to a unique picture.

We entered the island via the northern bridge and headed south along the coast. Almost everything interesting in Khortitsa is located off the banks of the Dnieper, the hinterland is occupied by forests of amazing fantasy appearance. And from the coast, besides, very interesting views open up.

DneproGES is one of the brightest elements of the Khortitsa landscape. Once in its place there was a threshold in the entire width of the Dnieper, reliably protecting the island from the north. In 1932, the threshold was blocked by a hydroelectric power station - it was the first hydroelectric power station of this scale in the USSR, and in some way all three great Soviet cascades - the Dnieper, Volga-Kama and Angara-Yenisei - are its "descendants".

The length of the DneproHES is more than 700 meters, the height is more than 60 meters, and the water drop is approximately the same. Its smooth bend is very beautiful... During the war, the DneproGES was blown up during the retreat, and after the war it was recreated.

In front of the dam there are characteristic rocks, which probably crashed a lot of ships over 1500 years ...
The most high part Khortytsy - the so-called Black Rock. According to legend, it was at this place that Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich died in 972 in a fight with the Pechenegs - the father of Vladimir the Red Sun and one of the greatest Russian rulers of the pagan period, whom the Byzantines and Bulgarians were afraid of.

According to a legend (perhaps modern), this menhir stands in the same place:

To the water from here - 50-70 meters, which means - a great view. The Dnieper HPP and the center of Zaporozhye, hidden by greenery, behind which rise the giant pipes of the industrial zone, are in full view.

The industrial zone is a real attraction of Zaporozhye. Faced with the statement that this is the largest industrial zone former USSR on the occupied area - about 5x5 kilometers. But I will tell about the industrial zone another time, in the part devoted to Sotsgorod, which is visible at its foot.

The last shots were taken not even from the Black Rock itself, but from this hill or barrow.

The title frame was also taken from it - the recreated Zaporizhzhya Sich is perfectly visible. At the foot of the mound is the grave of Peter Kalnishevsky. By at least This is written on the memorial stone:

However, again, I doubt the reliability. Peter Kalnishevsky is the last ataman of the Cossacks. He was born in 1691, became a chieftain only in 1765, successfully fought against the Turks, and after the defeat of the Zaporizhzhya Sich was exiled to Solovki, where he spent 15 years in prison, going out into the air only 3 times a year. Kalnishevsky was released by order of Alexander the First, but he could no longer leave Solovki and died there at the age of 112. In general, it is hard to believe in this: to be born before the accession of Peter the Great, and to die in the era of Napoleon ... And it is all the more incomprehensible how the grave of the last ataman could be here when he died near the Arctic Circle.

In general, Khortytsya is a special place. There are a lot of reconstructions here, but the reconstructions are so convincing that one wants to believe in legends, but it’s not very good to check the information and state the facts boringly ... Khortytsya is an island of legends, not history.

And here is another view of the DneproHES from the very bank of the Dnieper:

At night, the DneproGES is very beautifully illuminated - but I didn’t have enough strength to wait for darkness. However, Zaporozhye at night is a separate topic, and it is worth returning here for some spectacles that are impossible during the day. But about this - separately

A couple more views across the Dnieper. For example, the Soviet Palace of Pioneers:

Or a residential complex, nicknamed the Drunk House for its shape.

And we go to the Zaporizhzhya Sich, more precisely, its reconstruction.

Here it is necessary to say a little about the Zaporizhian Cossacks. The ancestors of the Cossacks were "free people" who for centuries fled from state oppression to the Wild Field: fugitive peasants, rebels, criminals ... In Russian chronicles, the first mention of the Cossacks dates back to 1444, in Polish chronicles - to 1493, when the governor Bogdan Glinsky nicknamed Mamai captured the Turkish fortress Ochakov. For those times when Ottoman Empire was in its prime - an unheard-of feat. Cossack Mamai is considered the "reference point" of the Cossacks.

In the 16th century, almost simultaneously, the first Cossack "troops" were formed on the Dnieper, Don and Yaik. In fact, these "troops" were military states. The possessions of the Cossacks (they are Ponyzovtsy) were called "kosh" (that is, "nomad"), and the cities were called "sich", that is, the most correct translation, "prison". The Zaporozhian Sich was one of several Sichs in the Cossack kosh.
In general, the historical structure of the Zaporizhzhya Army is very interesting topic, and you can’t cram it into one post. It would be easier to link to Wikipedia.

In 1775, the Zaporozhian Sich was destroyed by Potemkin. There were many reasons for this: both the fact that, once in the rear after the fall of Crimea, the Cossacks began to quickly turn into robbers, and the personal ambitions of Potemkin, who strove for undivided power over Novorossia ... One way or another, in 1775, the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks were expelled across the Danube , where they founded the Transdanubian Sich, and in 1792 the Cossacks returned to Russia, and are still known as the Kuban Cossacks.

The current Sich is a reconstruction built several years ago. I don't know how reliable - but extremely convincing! As already mentioned, Khortitsa is an island of legends, and I don’t want to think that all this is not a ladle.

Extremely atmospheric!

Even the Pokrovsky Cathedral was recreated - the first church of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, built in 1576 and standing for 200 years. The Cossacks were distinguished by exceptional religiosity, they did not allow any non-believers into the Sich. And although in 1775 their cathedral was burned down, and in 1792, when Golovaty founded the first village of the Kuban, a new church was also built there - also Pokrovskaya.

To me, the reconstruction of the Zaporozhian Sich seems to be the most successful example of the reconstruction of a wooden fortress that I have seen. Someone thought of avoiding even the most common mistake - calibrated logs! And it was necessary to recreate something similar.

Three masts are power transmission towers, thrown across the Dnieper. Their size is outrageous - compare with the trees at the foot!
Often we went down into the forest, which here is very beautiful, quite a fantasy look:

Somewhere in this forest there is a reconstruction of the temple, but we stumbled almost by accident on a recreated Bronze Age sanctuary in a secret clearing - it reminded Karelian "Babylons":

Then we went down to the banks of the Dnieper, and there I rested and soaked my feet in the water: after all, before arriving in Zaporozhye, I managed to bypass Dneprodzerzhinsk and Petrikovka. Nature here, with all the pollution, is very rich in life - we constantly saw some kind of toads, snakes, birds in the water and on coastal rocks.

From here it is not far to the Preobrazhensky Bridge:

Two bridges across the arms of the Dnieper were built by the engineer Preobrazhensky in the 1950s, and are distinguished by their unique design and architecture. These bridges are considered the highest in Ukraine - 53 meters above the water, and also two-tiered. According to them, auto- and railway cross Khortitsa from west to east.

On this bridge, already at dusk, we went to the city.

The second time I went to Khortitsa in the evening of the second day, taking a taxi. Indeed, in addition to the northern, rocky part, there is also the southern, more even, with fields and floodplains. It also has several reconstructions - the Scythian camp, the Horse Theater (arena for folklore performances), the museum of Cossack ships ... The latter were very far away, we did not have time to go there, and it’s not close to the Scythian camp - 4 kilometers, and not everyone knows the way taxi driver (although it is easy to find the signs).

This is a monument not to the Ivano-Frankivsk "egg throwers", but to the Ukrainian pysanka, that is easter egg. A little further checkpoint and paid entry.

The Scythian camp is only a partial reconstruction: there used to be a large Scythian settlement on Khortitsa, and some of the mounds and megaliths here are genuine. The other part is reconstructions, and it is not so easy to distinguish one from the other.

On the edge of the Scythian camp was located Lapidarium, that is, a museum of megaliths:

In addition to Scythian women, old millstones and troughs, Cossack crosses of the 16th-17th centuries are also interesting here, for which the director of Khortytsia at one time almost got on trial, as he took them out of the cemeteries of the Zaporozhye region without permission. And behind the lapidarium, a secluded path leads to Polovchanka - a very charming "stone woman" of an unusual appearance.

A strange design and a charming smile distinguish this Polovtsy woman from other "stone women". Polovchanka seemed to me nothing more than the soul of Zaporozhye.

In the far part of the Scythian camp there was a vezha - that is, a Cossack watch tower.

Climbing it is only along a vertical ladder, and this is quite scary, since there are no security measures at all. However, as they told me, in the end it helps - drunk people are afraid to climb this ladder, and sober ones climb there only if they know how.

The Scythian camp is clearly visible from the vezha:

Khortytsya is really an island of legends. Its landscape is too surreal, its reconstructions are too spectacular. The words "reliability", "authenticity", "and historical value" sound strange here. But Khortitsa cannot be called a "Disneyland". Something like nothing else, a place of immersion not even in History, but in Legend.

Behind the Dnieper is Zaporozhye itself, an industrial giant with a population of 800 thousand people, but at the same time a very beautiful and unusual city.

Directly about Zaporozhye, I will have two parts dedicated to its two historical centers.

Address: Ukraine, Zaporozhye, r. Dnieper
Coordinates: 47°49"12.6"N 35°05"45.8"E

Khortitsa is an extraordinarily beautiful picturesque island, which is surrounded on both sides by the wide and mighty Dnieper River. Its amazing view and rich history attracts the attention of travelers from different parts of the world.

View of the island Khortytsya

The island has been repeatedly glorified by local historians, poets, historians and artists who have visited it. Among them are the composer Lysenko, Repin, Maxim Gorky, Ivan Bunin and others.

History of the island

The history of the island is very rich and, according to archaeological evidence, it begins from the Paleolithic era. There are also early Slavic monuments here: the remains of settlements of various tribes. In the period between the 15th and 16th centuries, the island became the center of the formation of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, and then the base of the Sich, who defended the southern borders from the Turkish-Tatar aggression. During Russian-Turkish war N. A. Senyavin, a well-known naval commander, arrives on the island, under whose leadership the shipyard was built. In June 1789, after the defeat of the Sich, the island was presented to Prince Potemkin by Catherine II, after which it passed into the possession of the Mennonite Germans. The island in 1916 was sold to the Aleksandrovskaya city government for more than 700 thousand rubles.

Historical and cultural complex "Zaporizhzhya Sich" on the island of Khortytsya

Since 1927, after the construction of the Dneproges began, thousands of people began to come to the island to become participants and witnesses of this significant historical event. In 1965, the State Historical and Cultural Reserve was created on the island, which is currently a large museum complex.

Nature and attractions of the island

Khortytsya is a large island located on the Dnieper. The island has an amazing landscape diversity. Here there is a steppe, and steep coastal cliffs, and floodplain meadows, and gullies, and lakes, and oak and coniferous forests. That is why the flora and fauna of the island is very rich. Flora higher plants The island now has more than 1000 species, of which about fifteen percent are endemic plants.

View of the Dnieper HPP from the island of Khortitsa

In the period from the 18th to the 19th centuries, the forests on the island were gradually destroyed. Cities, fortresses, fortifications were built, as a result of which the forest was cut down. Even before 1884, the once glorious forest of the island of Khortytsya was almost completely cut down. The Museum of the History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks is the main attraction of the island. Here you can explore the permanent exhibition and visit various exhibitions.

The museum displays various archaeological finds Eneolithic and Bronze Ages. These are both tools of labor and dishes of people living on Khortitsa in ancient times. You can also see various weapons and women's jewelry found in burial mounds of nomadic Scythian tribes. Of course, the main theme of museum exhibits concerns the history of the emergence and formation of the Ukrainian Cossacks. The expositions tell about the military campaigns of the Cossacks, about the culture of the Zaporozhian Sich and its economic activity.

One of the beaches on the island

In 2004, on the coast of the island, the construction of the historical architectural complex "Zaporizhzhya Sich" began, which will look like a fortified Cossack settlement with a church, a house of a kosh ataman, a Sich school, and an office. Buildings will be erected according to historical documents and with the participation of historians. On the territory of the island there is an equestrian theater called "Cossack Camp". Here are expositions on the theme of the features of Cossack life. This is a whole folklore and ethnographic complex.

The performances of the theater tell about the customs of the Cossacks, the features of their military, household and economic activities. Spectators can enjoy spectacular Cossack games and dances with elements of trick riding and acrobatics on horseback. Around the island there are rocks and small islands, which are part of the reserve. In the north of the territory of the reserve, "Three Pillars" rise: the Divan rock, the Oblique rock and the Middle Pillar.

Place of death Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich on the island of Khortytsya

Divan Rock is considered to be the Armchair of Catherine, since according to legend, the Russian Empress Catherine II rested here on this rock, sailing along the Dnieper in 1787. There are several beams on the territory of the island, among them the most famous are Lipovaya beam and Kostina beam. Near the island of Khortytsya there is a small island Rozstebin, whose name is associated with the Cossack Rozsteba, and another name for the island is Verbka, since its territory is completely covered with sedge and willow. On the territory of the reserve, there is another Baida island, where the old shipyard was located, namely in the riverbed of the Dnieper. A large number of interesting finds have been discovered on this island, many of them date back to the Bronze Age, as well as to the period of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Here were found coins made of gold, copper, silver, Cossack axes, guns and sabers, as well as arrowheads. Thus, the Khortytsya reserve is the most unique place in Ukraine, which is becoming increasingly popular.

One of the sanctuaries on the island of Khortytsya

In 2007 he was declared one of the

Khortytsia Island on the map

Complex "Zaporizhzhya Sich" on Khortitsa

Complex "Zaporizhzhya Sich" on Khortitsa Bridge named after Preobrazhensky across Khortitsa Idols of Khortytsia Island

Khortytsya, island

Khortitsa is the largest island on the Dnieper, located near the city of Zaporozhye below the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant, a unique natural and historical complex. Elongated from the northwest to the southeast, the length is 12.5 km, the average width is 2.5 km. In 2007 he was named one of the "Seven Wonders of Ukraine". Khortytsya is a historical and cultural reserve, part of the geological reserve "Dnieper thresholds".

There is an opinion that the name Khortitsa came from the name of the ancient deity of the Eastern Slavs Khors, who personified the sun. Some researchers deduce the name of the island from the Turkic-Polovtsian word "orta", which means middle (in this case- located between the two channels of the Dnieper). In the people, the name Khortytsya is associated with Ukrainian word"hort" (greyhound dog): in the outline of the island you can see the silhouette of a greyhound. Local historians also say "Bolshaya Khortitsa", meaning that next to this island is Malaya Khortitsa (in other words, Bayda Island).

The island cuts the waters of the Dnieper into two branches - the New and Old Dnieper. The Dnieper valley near Khortitsa is the only surviving section of the rapids part of the river. Khortitsa and the islands adjacent to it have been declared the Dnieper Rapids geological reserve.

Khortytsia has not always been an island. Often, especially in the hot summer season, spits approached the island from the eastern side of the island. Through them, it was possible to get to the island by land. On a relatively small area of ​​the island fit samples of almost all types of landscape, typical for the south of Ukraine.

There are various natural zones on the island: forb-feather grass steppes, oak and coniferous forests, floodplain meadows. In total, about 960 species of plants grow on Khortitsa. The remnants of the forest (bairaki) grow in the beams, where the Tatar maple, oak, elm, black and silver poplar, and pear prevail. Most of the island is covered with a young artificial forest of pine and maple. In total, the reserve has about 10 centuries-old trees and several dozen oaks of a hundred and a little more years (the oldest of them are 300 years old), there is also a hundred-year-old wild pear. The famous Zaporozhye oak (located outside the island of Khortytsya), according to historians and biologists, is a little over five hundred years old.

Bayraks in the south of the island are home to over 30 species of animals, 120 species of birds, ten species of reptiles, five species of amphibians. The most numerous among birds are waterfowl (kryzhny, teal, flats). And one of the floating islands can rightly be called Owl. Muskrats, foxes, hares, martens have found shelter on the island, sometimes moose swim.

Khortitsa is surrounded by numerous large and small islands and rocks that are part of the protected area, and the island itself is dotted with gullies and lakes.

Story

According to archaeological research, this island has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era. In particular, there are also early Slavic monuments here: the remains of settlements, burial grounds of the tribes of the Chernyakhov culture and the Ants. The island was visited by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. On the island, Herodotus recorded the legend of the ancestor of the Scythians, the son of Hercules and Tabiti, the snake goddess.

In 1223, Khortitsa was a gathering place for Russian princes before the battle with the Tatar-Mongols on the Kalka River. And at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries, this island - a reliable shelter for those who fled from feudal and national oppression - became one of the centers for the formation of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, and then a springboard for the Sich in protecting the southern borders from Turkish-Tatar aggression. In 1648, Cossack army for the liberation war of the Ukrainian people.

After the defeat of the Sich by the tsarist troops on June 5, 1775, Khortytsya, as a gift from Catherine II, went to Prince Potemkin. In 1789, Potemkin handed over the island to the treasury, and a year later new owners came into the possession of Khortitsa - the Mennonite Germans.

By colonizing the Sich places, the queen hoped to eradicate the freedom-loving spirit of Zaporozhye. Her calculations were justified: the colonists barbarously destroyed centuries-old oak forests, linden groves, thickets of wild pears. The timber trade was one of the most profitable items of income. In December 1916, the Germans, who lived on Khortitsa, sold the island to the Alexander city government for 772 thousand 350 rubles.

Khortytsya was often visited by prominent people. On its slopes there is a path of the great Kobzar, who visited here in August 1843. In 1878, the composer N.V. Lysenko, in 1880 - I.E. Repin with young Valentin Serov. In 1891, Maxim Gorky visited Khortitsa, and Ivan Bunin a little later...

But the ancient Khortytsia never knew such a pilgrimage as it began in 1927. People from all over the country came here to become witnesses and participants of a great historical event: right opposite the northern cliffs of the island, the construction of the Dneproges began ... A new history of Khortitsa began ... All these and subsequent events will be reflected in the expositions of the museum complex under construction on Khortitsa .