Many writers wrote about the attractive power of nature in Svyatogorye. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov called Svyatogorye "Donetsk Switzerland" for its magical landscapes and excellent opportunities for restoring health. After visiting the Holy Mountains, many artists of the 19th century. left their creative work to their descendants. Among them are I. Repin, S. Vasilkovsky, A. Kiselev, Y. Fedders.

Heart national park- Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra, the history of which goes back centuries. One of the existing versions connects the origin of the monastery with Byzantine monks who fled from the persecution of the imperial power during the period of iconoclastic heresy.

Near the national park "Holy Mountains", there is a well-known source for a long time mineral waters and medicinal mud. Locals and they are constantly used by medical specialists for bathing and making applications.

Every year, the park is visited by thousands of tourists who come here for rest and treatment. Scientific and educational tourism also plays an important role.

In the Slavyansk region, on the high mountainous bank of the river. Seversky Donets, between the village. Bogorodichnoye and s. Tatyanovka, a ridge of chalk hills rises, known as the Holy Mountains. This is one of the most picturesque and famous tourist places Donbass. Here, a stratum of chalk is exposed by very steep slopes and picturesque rock outcrops of writing chalk. The outcrop is of great scientific and historical meaning, and is included in the register of Geological Monuments of Ukraine. In 1963, the Holy Mountains (then - the Artyom Mountains) were declared a natural monument, in 1975 - the State Landscape Reserve, in 1997 - the National Natural Park.

On a high 80-meter chalk cliff above the Donets, there is an old cave monastery. For the first time the name of this area was mentioned by the Austrian ambassador to the Moscow court Sigismund Herberstein, who twice made a trip to Muscovy (1517, 1526). In his "Notes on Moscow Affairs", published in the 16th century, Baron S. Herberstein notes that "... the soldiers whom the sovereign, according to custom, keeps there, on guard with the aim of reconnaissance and deterring Tatar raids ... were seen near the estuaries small Tanaida, four days' journey from Azov, near the place of Veliky Perevoz, near the Holy Mountains, some marble and stone statues and images. " Russian chronicles of the 16th century mark the role of the Holy Mountains as a sentry post on the southern outskirts of the Russian state. The first documentary evidence of the cave monastery in the Holy Mountain dates back to 1624.

The most ancient monument of the Svyatogorsk monastery is the chalk rock caves. The chalk rock cave complex consists of temples, cells, tombs, a refectory and utility rooms located at different levels of the rock and communication routes between them. The total volume of the caves is about 7 thousand m ³, the area is 2.5 thousand m ².

There is no exact data on the date of the foundation of the Svyatogorsk monastery, there are only a few hypotheses about its origin. Even the monks of the XVII century. they did not know by whom and when the monastery was established. The only thing that the monastic brethren knew was that the monastery was established “in stone mountain from ancient times ”, and that“ in that monastery, in the mountain, the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos was consecrated into the Kingdom of Blessed Memory of the Great Tsar Tsar and Great Prince Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia the Autocrat in 1634 ”.

One of the most popular hypotheses relates the beginning of the monastery to the middle of the 13th century, when, after the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Kievan Rus, part of the monks of the Kievo-Pechersk Lavra were forced to leave their home monastery and found a new refuge in the Svyatogorsk caves. Less known, but very popular is the hypothesis of the writer E. Markov about the emergence of a Christian hearth in the Holy Mountains as early as the 9th century, during the educational activities of Cyril and Methodius among the peoples of the Khazar Kaganate, which ruled this area.

The top of the chalk cliff with caves is crowned by the Nikolaev Church - a masterpiece of Ukrainian folk architecture of the 17th century. Its distinctive features are compositional unity with the cliff itself and the picturesque natural landscape... The temple is pillarless, one-nave, crowned with three different-sized chapters. The eastern (altar) part of the church is carved into the chalk rock - these are the remains of the ancient Assumption Church located on this site. After its destruction in the 17th century, a brick part of the church and a bell tower were added, and among the pilgrims a legend was born about the miraculous appearance of the Nicholas Church in one night and that it was built secretly behind a chalk wall, and at the end of construction the wall was brought down showing the people this temple. In 1851 the Nicholas Church was partially rebuilt, a new bell tower (western chapter) and a southern aisle were erected. At the expense of the merchant I. Izvekov, a new iconostasis was tripled. A service is occasionally held here, gathering a myriad of believers. The surviving drawing of a chalk rock with caves, made by Archimandrite Joel and dated 1679, also points to the Assumption Church on the site of the later Nikolaev Church.

The cave period of the existence of the Svyatogorsk monastery ends in the beginning. 80s XVII century In 1679 under construction wooden church St. the apostles Peter and Paul, and with her residential and household buildings under the rock. Archaeological excavations at the site of their construction, the presence of the remains of buildings and household items of the late 17th-18th centuries was confirmed.

Mount Tabor and the largest chalk outlier in the Northern Donbass - Monastyrskaya Rock. On the rock is the 17th century Nicholas Church. and Andreevskaya chapel of the XIX century.

The Svyatogorsk monastery was closed in 1922, which led to the disappearance of some architectural monuments of the 19th century. Other religious, residential and outbuildings were adapted for the Rest House, which received in the mid-1920s. XX century the name of the I All-Ukrainian Rest House named after Artyom. To commemorate this event, on top of the neighboring chalk mountain, known as Lysaya Gora, in 1927, a 22-meter monumental sculpture of a Bolshevik, revolutionary, founder of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic and head of the coal industry trade unions Artem (Sergeeva F.A.) ... The author of the monument is the famous sculptor Ivan Petrovich Kavaleridze. The sculpture is made in the avant-garde style - cubism, and since 2009 the monument has been included in the State Register of National Objects cultural heritage as part of the outstanding works of monumental art of Ukraine. Thanks to the monument and the total anti-religious policy during the years of the USSR, this place has another name - Mount Artem.

The pavilion is the burial vault of the Golitsyn princes at the entrance to the underground church of St. Anthony and Theodosius.

On the upper platform of the chalk rock in the 50s. XIX century. Andreevskaya chapel was built. This is a kind of covered gazebo made of coarse coarse sandstone, folded into massive pillars. Such an original construction technique has long been known and received the name "wild masonry". The idea of ​​building the chapel belonged to A.N. Muravyov, who visited the Holy Mountains in 1851. “The archimandrite showed me a chapel on the top of the cliff in the name of my angel, the First-Called Apostle, with his icon in the deepening of the cliff, as he promised me to arrange seven years before this. An icon lamp burned in front of the icon, and on the rock was written a large crucifix with those in front, which can be seen from afar from the opposite bank. "You see that we have kept our word to you," he said, and this place is known among us as the St. Andrew's Chapel. " (From a letter by A. N. Muravyov to St. Petersburg, 05/27/1858)

Subsequently, the Andreevskaya chapel received a second name - the Upper Pavilion of the Pilgrims, since numerous pilgrims surveyed the endless distances of Svyatogorye from here.

Cyril and Methodius stairs and a view of the Lysaya Mountain with the monument to Artem.

By the end of the 50s of the XIX century, the main church of the monastery - the Assumption Cathedral, built in 1708, barely fulfilled its function as the cathedral church of the famous monastery. It was already quite dilapidated and small in volume. The project of the new Assumption Cathedral was carried out by the Petersburg architect A.M. Gornostaev. The construction of the cathedral took nine years, from 1859 to 1868. Built in the Russian-Byzantine style, the cathedral became the centerpiece of everything architectural ensemble, delighting contemporaries with its monumentality and grandeur. In the interior, the temple is divided by four powerful columns into three naves. In the altar part, formed by three apses, three altarpieces are arranged. The main one is in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the right one is in the name of the Great Martyr Barbara and Martyr Tatyana, the left one is in the name of the attendants Dmitry of Rostov, Mitrofan of Voronezh and Tikhon Zadonsky. An eyewitness to the construction of the cathedral A. Kovalevsky left a detailed note about the construction of the temple: “The laying of the foundation began with large blocks of local wild stone, which broke in the gorges of the Holy Mountains in straight cubes and sank into the ditches; God sent Father German an experienced and conscientious masonry contractor, the peasant of the Vladimir province Yakov Sergeevich Eremin, who personally supervised all the work and carefully watched the conscientious execution of the masonry ... The capital collected by Archimandrite Arseny for the construction of the cathedral was far from sufficient to meet all the needs capital and very valuable construction, and despite the gratuitous building materials: wood, stone, brick and lime, which were partly obtained from the Potemkin's economy, partly broke and were manufactured in the monastery's own factories, this construction of pure money demanded over 100 thousand rubles.

Natalia Kogan, f oto the author

The Saints the mountains

Journal "Obvious and incredible", №3, 2010

The National Natural Park "Svyatye Gory" on the Seversky Donets keeps innumerable natural, spiritual and historical riches.

Quietly, softly over the Ukrainian,

A charming secret

July night lies

The sky went so deep

The stars are shining so high

And Donets shines in the darkness.

F. Tyutchev, "Holy Mountains"

Protected places

Over the surface of the Seversky Donets River, there are chalk hills up to 200 meters high, overgrown with relic forests. Cretaceous pine is of the greatest interest in the flora of Svyatogorye. This relic tree of the preglacial era is included in the Red Book. Another attraction is sumy, or skumpia. This handicraft with pink, like lumps of down, fruits has long been known as an ancient Russian leaf tanning agent called "Svyatogorsk leaf" and was used in the royal morocco factories. Svyatogorki oak forests have long been the subject of interest of scientists and foresters. Unfortunately, the main areas of oak forests were cut down in XVIII - XIX centuries, however, some of their growing areas have survived to this day: in the oak grove of the park, the main attraction is the six-hundred-year-old patriarch oak. On the chalk deposits of local mountains, rare endemic plants of the Ice Age and the last period have been preserved.

Another feature of the Svyatogorsk natural oasis of the steppe zone of the Donetsk basin is the richest concentration of cultural heritage monuments of almost all historical eras and various ethnocultural communities. Over the past hundred years, archaeological expeditions of scientific institutions and museums of Kiev, Kharkov, Donetsk have been working in the Svyatogorsk historical area. Their research focuses on parking lots and workshops. ancient man Stone Age, burial mounds and settlements of the copper-bronze age, Scythian-Sarmatian monuments, the first settlements of the Slavs, medieval settlements of the times of the Khazar Kaganate, Kievan Rus, the Golden Horde. Many archaeological finds are presented today in the expositions of the Svyatogorsk Historical Museum.

The picturesque nature of Svyatogorye, its antiquity, legendary history attracted and inspired many artists and writers to work. It was visited by G. Skovoroda, F. Tyutchev, A. Chekhov, I. Bunin, S. Sergeev-Tsensky, M. Gorky, I. Repin.

The history of the holy monastery

The lack of accurate evidence about the time of the founding of the Svyatogorsk monastery and the circumstances of the appearance of the first Svyatogorsk caves gave rise to many legends and hypotheses. According to the "Byzantine" version, the Svyatogorsk monastery was founded during the time of iconoclasm and the mission of St. Cyril and Methodius in Khazaria in VIII - IX centuries. According to another version, the founders of the monastery are believed to be the local steppe population of the "Severskaya branch" XI - XII centuries or a Kiev monk about. Nikon during his trip to Tmutarakan.

One of the most popular versions refers the beginning of the monastery to the middle XIII century, when, after the invasion of Batu into Russia, part of the monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery allegedly found their refuge in the chalk cliffs near the Donets River. Another legend says that in the middle Xv For centuries, the Athos monks, leaving the Holy Mountain in Athos under the onslaught of the Turks, moved up the Donets and, seduced by the beauty of Svyatogorye, founded a monastery here.

Written and archaeological sources provide quite realistic information about the time of the origin of the Svyatogorsk monastery. For the first time the name of this area was mentioned by the German ambassador to the Moscow court Sigismund Gerbenstein in 1526.

Russian chronicles Xvi centuries mark the role of the Holy Mountains as a sentry post on the southern borders of the Russian state. The first documentary evidence of the cave monastery in Holy Mountain dates back to 1620: it mentions Abbot Ephraim and 12 monks of the Holy Mountain. According to the Moscow acts, the Svyatogosrkaya Pustyn 'received annual aid in bread and money with the tsar's salary. In 1624, “by the decree of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, the Assumption Most Holy Theotokos Svyatogorsk monastery black priest Simeon with a barty, or whoever is smart in that monastery, another abbot will be given annual rye twelve-fourths in Belgorod, twelve-fourths of oats, ten rubles from tavern and customs revenues. "

The most ancient and unique monument of the Svyatogorsk monastery is the chalk rock caves. External danger from the south, primarily from the territory of the Crimean Khanate, determined the long-term presence and development of the monastery directly inside the chalk cliff. The caves carved into the rock by hand are a complex system of labyrinths connecting underground churches, cells, a refectory, and a necropolis. The developed infrastructure of the communal desert was formed during XVI - XVIII century and was a five-tiered complex of cave-type structures. Most of the abbots are known Xvii century, except for Abbot Ephraim and the black priest Simeon. In 1628-1631, the documents on behalf of the monastery were signed by the elders David and Alexander, in 1640 the monastery was headed by the black priest Cyril, and in 1651 - by Ignatius. The most famous among the abbots of the cave monastery was the first archimandrite Joel. During his reign, the first ground structures were built under the chalk cliff, and the gradual resettlement of monks to the "podol" - the coastal plateau of the river, began. Since then, the Svyatogorsk monastery began to turn into a unique architectural monument combining different styles and different eras.

Favorite present

In 1787, the Svyatogorsk Assumption Monastery was abolished according to the Manifesto of Catherine II on the secularization of church and monastery property with the transfer of its land holdings and subjects of the peasants to the treasury. It was in this year that the Empress's cortege followed the Holy Mountains on the road from Crimea to St. Petersburg. Catherine's travel program II , places of stops, meetings, events completely depended on Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky. In the monastery, the empress was expected and very much hoped for her visit. However, the cortege passed by. Apparently, the Highness Prince had already conceived a certain plan, the essence of which became clear later. There is a legend that the day before, when Potemkin was traveling from St. Petersburg to Crimea, he passed these places. When the prince saw the wonderful Svyatogorsk area, he ordered to stop on the road and admired the Holy Mountains from afar for a long time, inquired about them from the local official who accompanied him, wrote down the information received in a pocket book and drove on. And after a while, communicating with Catherine, as if casually noticed that he really liked the Svyatogorka grove. In "Russian antiquity" for 1876, the correspondence of the empress with her favorite was published, which contained information about the gift of the Svyatogorsk estate to the Most Serene Prince, dated October 1, 1790. But Potemkin did not have time to take advantage of the tsar's gift and realize his plans for the development of the Svyatogorsk estate, since he died soon after.

Heir to earthly paradise

Since His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky was not officially married and had no children, the inheritance of the "earthly paradise" turned into a separate complex story that lasted until the events of 1917 and which is simply unrealistic to understand without compiling a whole grove of family trees.

So, after the death of the prince, the Svyatogorsk estate was to be divided among themselves by the closest relatives - Potemkin's sisters Maria, Pelageya and Martha. But by the time the property was divided, the sisters and their husbands had already died and their children automatically became heirs. Such heirs were the children of Marfa Alexandrovna Engelhardt (nee Potemkina) and Vasily Andreevich Engelhardt: son Vasily and five daughters.

The family of Baron von Engelgart originates from Heinrich Engelgart, a member of the city council in Zurich in 1838. V Xv century Engelharts moved to Livonia, then to Courland and Poland. V Xvii century for military merit Polish king Vladislav IV granted Engelharts estates in Smolensk. At the end XVII - early XVIII centuries Engelharts pass into the service of the Russian throne.

So, after Grigory Potemkin, Vasily Vasilyevich Engelhardt became the owner of the estate, who by the time of receiving the inheritance was already in the rank of lieutenant general, had a reputation as a zealous owner, kept all his estates in order, which brought significant income. By a strange coincidence, V.V. Engelhardt was also not married and had no children of his own, but adopted two girls, Alexandra and Catherine, and three boys, Vasily, Andrei and Pavel, who were later granted the nobility and the Engelhardt surname and all the rights of heirs, but no one was the owners of the Svyatogorsk estate. of them did not.

Engelgart's Svyatogorsk estate became part of the Izyum district of the Slobodsko-Ukrainian province. The estate had 25 thousand acres of land and more than 4 thousand inhabitants. V.V. Engelgart in every possible way contributed to the establishment of peasant farms, the development of industrial trades and trade.

Pearl of Holy Mountain

After the death of V.V. Engelgart, the Svyatogorsk estate was to be divided between his sisters, and there were no less than five of them. But the younger sister became the owner of the estate, by that time already Princess Tatyana Vasilyeva Yusupova, who bought herself four plots of the sisters, which were to be inherited so that such a beautiful estate would not be divided and fragmented.

Tatiana was born on January 1, 1769, at the age of 12 she was taken to the court of Catherine II as a maid of honor. The Empress took an active part in arranging the personal life of the young maid of honor, so at the age of 16 she married Lieutenant-General Mikhail Sergeevich Potemkin, who tragically died 6 years later (drowned). From this marriage, T.V. Potemkina had a son, Alexander, and a daughter, Catherine. The empress still cares about the fate of the now widow, and in 1793 Tatyana Vasilievna, thanks to the royal matchmaking, marries a second time - to Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, but this marriage was unsuccessful, but for reasons different from the first: we can say that the spouses did not get along characters. The princess lived separately from her husband and had her own social circle, which was distinguished by a high intellectual level. She communicated with Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Derzhavin, Krylov. At the same time, the princess skillfully conducted business on her numerous estates, and was known as an expert in financial matters. With significant income from estates, she could satisfy her passion for rare specimens precious stones... Yusupova's collection included such famous stones as the Polar Star diamond, Aldebaran diamond, Philip's pearl II Spanish "Peregrine", earrings of Marie Antoinette, diamond and pearl diadem of Caroline Muret and others. With such an expensive hobby, the princess led a very modest lifestyle and was engaged in charity work. In the history of the Holy Mountains, Princess Yusupova is known for her refusal to resume the activities of the Svyatogorsk monastery in the second half of the 1830s. This happened only when her son, Alexander Mikhailovich Potemkin, became the owner of the estate, and Svyatogorye again became Potemkin.

Italian villa

We can say that Alexander Mikhailovich Potemkin was the only direct heir in the history of the inheritance of the Svyatogorsk estate. In 1841 he became the owner of these magnificent lands. By this time Potemkin was already a very famous figure in high society, the leader of the St. Petersburg provincial nobility. In his St. Petersburg house on Millionnaya Street, high society gathered, whose soul was his wife Tatyana Borisovna Potemkina, nee Princess Golitsyna. Count SD Sheremetyev, who knew the Potemkins closely, wrote in his memoirs: “The famous Potemkin house in the capital was at one time somehow open house, almost a hotel for everyone who only wore a cassock or had a reputation for a saint. Whoever has been in this house, who has not been given shelter in the countless rooms and nooks of this labyrinth, cheto only made in this house with the knowledge and without the knowledge of the mistress, Tatyana Borisovna, who is still like a mystery to me ... the owner of the house himself Aleksandr Mikhailovich Potemkin is a harmless old man who fussed about only one thing, so that he would not be disturbed and would not interfere with his countless habits. "

During the 1840-1860s, the Potemkins tried to visit the Svyatogorsk estate annually and spend the second half of August and September here. Memories of contemporaries about the stormy life of Svyatogorye, when the owner of these places was A.M. Potemkin, have been preserved. Here fairs were held, which from the heights of the Holy Mountains presented a wonderful picture: “In the wild, but majestic terrain, an endless mass of people in multi-colored old festive clothes fuss and swarm, like an anthill, from the very village of the Mother of God and the ferry across the river. Donets and up to the Holy Mountains ... peasants and various merchant people stood in hundreds of carts and carts, wherever they pleased ... The abundance of all kinds of rural products was such that it was not only possible to pass, but pass between them ... fruits and vegetables - even with a shovel , and from rural peasant products there was an abundance of linen, woolen, leather and wood products. " In addition to fairs, many landowners were attracted by the Holy Mountains with magnificent balls with dances and luxurious treats. These balls were organized here by the Svyatogorsk manager in specially built pavilions. As the historian D.I. Miller, landowners moved here from five counties, and hundreds of carriages and carriages stood around the pavilions until dawn.

It was thanks to Tatyana Borisovna Potemkina that the Svyatogorsk monastery was revived. Despite his employment in the capital, driven by the unquenchable desire of his wife to open the Svyatogorsk monastery as soon as possible, A.M. Potemkin allocated 10 thousand rubles and 300 acres of land for the restoration and maintenance of the ancient monastery. And on January 15, 1844, the Svyatogorsk monastery was resumed according to the report of the Holy Synod with the highest consent of Emperor Nicholas I , and on August 12 of the same yearthe official opening of the monastery took place. In addition, a magnificent house was built on the slope of the Holy Mountains near the monastery, in which not only the imperial family and distinguished guests stayed, but also many cultural figures, famous writers, poets, and artists. This is how Vasily Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote about the Holy Mountains: “Quite an Italian villa! She sheltered herself on the mountain and wrapped herself in a fragrant thicket, like a hermit running from the world ... From the upper balcony of the villa - everything is in full view, and white cliffs, and the monastery itself. The best item could not be chosen for the picture. The ledges of the mountains behind the ledges - and everything collapses into the Donets. The same distance as from the chalk cliffs, you can't look at it ... ". This is how a good friend of T.B. wrote about these places. Potemkina, religious leader and writer Andrei Nikolaevich Muravyov: “a picturesque dacha in a half-mountain, with extensive views of the entire Donets valley in the cloudless sky of Ukraine, reminded me of the Roman villas of Frascati, with their skylights on the wonderful desert of the eternal city; I was especially struck from the magnificent terrace by the unexpected sight of the monastery of Svyatogorsk and its chalk cliffs, carved by monastic cells, under the shadow of a century-old oak forest.

From A.M. Potemkin's estate passed to his grand-nephew, because he and his wife did not give birth to their own children, T.B. Potemkina died before her husband in 1861, and Potemkina's own sister and her children died before him.

Donetsk Switzerland

In 1861, Emperor Alexander visited the Svyatogorsk estate of the Potemkin II family. When the Emperor's wife went out to the open gallery of the Potemkin house and saw a view of the Holy Mountains above the Seversky Donets, she exclaimed: "This is my Switzerland!"

In 1872 Count Georgy Ivanovich Ribopier became the owner of the Potemkin estate. This is how a representative of an ancient Swiss family took possession of Ukrainian Switzerland. The genus of Count G.I. Ribopierre originated from the patrician cantor Vaad in Switzerland - one of the branches of the oldest noble family of Ribopierre in Alsace. The genus is known since XI - XII centuries. In Russia, a representative of this family, the great-grandfather of George Ribopierre, Jean Ribopier, appeared during the time of Catherine II with a letter of recommendation from Voltaire. A native of France, Jean (Ivan) Ribopierre was warmly received by the Voltairian empress and was promoted to adjutant to Prince G. Potemkin-Tavrichesky. Soon he married the maid of honor of the Empress Agrafena Alexandrovna Bibikova, from whose marriage a son, Alexander, was born. Alexander Ivanovich Ribopier in 1809 married Ekaterina Mikhailovna Potemkina, the sister of Alexander Mikhailovich Potemkin, who owned the Svyatogorsk estate in 1841-1872. From this marriage, the Ribopieri couple had four daughters and two sons - Mikhail and Ivan. The first died in childhood, and the second, having married Sophia Vasilievna Trubetskoy, had a son, George, who became the owner of the Svyatogorsk estate. By this time, Ribopiera already bore the title of count, granted on the day of the coronation of Emperor Alexander. II - August 26, 1856.

Georgy Ivanovich Ribopier was born on August 15, 1854 in Tsarskoe Selo. He spent his childhood in Italy and Switzerland. From the age of 12, George studied at the Florentine Gymnastics Society, and at the age of 14 he trained at the Galem circus and organized his own amateur circus. In 1870, Georgy returned to Russia and at the age of 16 entered the private boarding school of Sokolov, where he continued to get involved in sports. In 1873-1885 G. Ribopierre devoted himself to military service, after which he completely devoted himself to two hobbies that became his life's work - horse breeding and athletic sports. The count founded his own stud farms in St. Petersburg, Simbirsk province and in his Svyatogorsk estate. At the stud farms, the count built hippodromes, where purebred horse races were held. In 1896 G. I. Ribopier became the first president of the St. Petersburg Athletic Society. A year later, he held the First Russian Weightlifting Championship. In 1900, he became a member of the International Olympic Committee and ensured the participation of Russian athletes in the 1908 Olympic Games. In fact, Count Ribopierre stood at the origins of the Olympic movement in the Russian Empire.

And in the Svyatogorsk estate, the count carried out a serious reconstruction, during his time, the development of the territory on the left bank with hotels, summer cottages and restaurants was carried out, a narrow-gauge railway was laid with a length of 8 kilometers from Svyatogorsk station to the venue of fairs. The terminal station of the horse tram was opposite the monastery hotel.

Nevertheless, according to the testimony of contemporaries, the count did not often visit Svyatogorye, and the Countess Ribopierre occasionally visited the estate. “Ribopierre led an extremely secluded life, and no one except his closest friends ever visited him. One of the reasons for this is the count's marriage. He was married to a Hungarian woman ... she was a beautiful, but very flighty woman. The count married her when her daughter was born., The only heiress of his enormous fortune ... The count himself was very handsome, of medium height, with delicate features and beautiful, intelligent and kind brown eyes. He wore small sideburns, walked rather slowly, and lately was often ill. The reason for this was the impossible way of life that he led: the count turned day into night and back again. He went to bed very late, at about five in the morning, and got up at three or four days. " Count G.I. Ribopierre died in 1916 at the age of 73 after a cold and unsuccessful treatment. A year later, the Svyatogorsk estate was nationalized by the Soviet government. The Svyatogorsk monastery was again closed for many years.

Symbols of eras

The closure of the Svyatogorsk monastery in 1922 led to the disappearance of many architectural monuments of these places, including the Transfiguration Church, which crowned one of the chalk mountains above the Seversky Donets, and the manor house itself, the traces of the foundation of which today can hardly be found among thickets of grass and trees. Other cult, residential and outbuildings were adapted for the Rest House of the working masses, which received the symbolic name of the All-Ukrainian Rest House named after Artyom. In commemoration of this landmark event for the Soviet state, the famous sculptor I.P. Kavaleridze in 1927, a 22-meter monument to the Bolshevik Fyodor Andreevich Sergeev, nicknamed Artyom, was poured from reinforced concrete, which was erected on the top of one of the chalk mountains (by a happy coincidence, not on the site of the Transfiguration Church). The monumental sculpture, created in the style of Cubism, went through the war, becoming a monument to Soviet constructivism and a symbol of the Soviet era. During the Great Patriotic War, heavy battles took place here. The soldiers who died during the liberation of Svyatogorye from the Nazi invaders were buried at the monument to Artem, and a memorial complex was created, where the names of more than 2,000 soldiers and officers were immortalized.

The Svyatogorsk monastery resumed its activities 70 years after its closure - in 1992. In 2004, by the decision of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Holy Dormition Monastery received the status of a Lavra.

Abstract on the topic:

Holy mountains (national park)

Plan:

Introduction

• 1 Natural value
• 2 Historical meaning
• 3 Composition
Notes (edit)

Introduction

National Natural Park "Holy Mountains"- a national natural park located in the northern part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, in the Slavyansky (11957 hectares), Krasnolimansky (27665 hectares) and Artyomovsky districts. Created on February 13, 1997 by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 135/97. The park mainly stretches along the left bank of the Seversky Donets River with large ledges on the right bank.

1. Natural value

There are chalk mountains in the park, on which rare ancient plants have been preserved, for example, the chalk pine, preserved from the pre-glacial period.

In 2008, the chalk mountains (Holy Mountains) on the territory of the National Natural Park "Holy Mountains" were included in the Top-100 of the All-Ukrainian competition "Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine".

The total area of ​​the park is 40589 hectares, of which 11878 hectares are owned by the park.

Flora: The total number of plant species growing in the park is 943, of which 48 are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. The vegetation of the Seversky Donets river valley is protected: relict pine forests of chalk, relict and endemic plant groups on chalk exfoliation, ravine forests, steppes, meadow and bog vegetation, flooding. The flora includes 20 endemic species.

Fauna: 256 species of animals live on the territory of the park, 50 of them are included in the Red Book of Ukraine. The fauna includes 43 species of mammals, 194 - birds, 10 - reptiles, 9 - amphibians, 40 - fish.

2. Historical significance

Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra

Chalk ridge

The park has 129 archaeological sites (from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages) and 73 historical monuments. In 1980, on the territory of the former Svyato-Upensky monastery, the Svyatogorsk State Historical and Architectural Reserve was founded. The basis of the complex of monuments of the reserve is the Svyato-Uspenskaya Svyatogorsk Lavra (founded in the XIII-XVI centuries, received the status of a lavra in 2005), located on the rocky right bank of the Seversky Donets. To the complex historical monuments also includes the monumental sculpture of Artyom by I.P. Kavaleridze. Next to the monument is the Great Memorial Patriotic War... The Kamyshev's Oak also belongs to the reserve - an oak-monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union, guard lieutenant Vladimir Kamyshev. In 2011. the territory of the reserve has been added, for the purpose of restoration, the place where the so-called "Potemkin Dacha" was previously located

On the territory of the park, there are highways and railways, a number of settlements are located (including the city of Svyatogorsk). The town of Slavyansk adjoins the park in the south.

3. Composition

The following natural monuments and reserves are included in the Svyatye Gory National Natural Park:

In the Slavyansky district:

• "Mayatskaya Dacha" is the largest oak forest in the Donetsk region! A botanical natural monument of national importance.
• Poima-1 is a floodplain oak forest, a local forest reserve with an area of ​​590 hectares.
• Pine tract - pine plantations of artificial origin, more than 50 years old, a forest reserve of local importance with an area of ​​527 hectares.
• Natural monument "600-year-old oak". A little higher up the Lavra along the Donets river, on the left bank, there is a section of 200 - 300-year-old oak trees. Most of them reach a height of 25 m and a diameter of about 80 cm, and some trees grow up to one and a half meters in diameter. Here, on one of the edges, a 600-year-old oak grows, the oldest in eastern Ukraine. Its parameters: height - 29 meters, diameter - about 2 meters, trunk girth - 6.3 meters.
• Arboretum of Mayatsky forestry

In the Krasnolimansky district:

• Zakaznik "Lily of the Valley" - a forest in the floodplain of the Seversky Donets River, on which grows lily of the valley May, a botanical reserve of local importance with an area of ​​43 hectares.
• The Black Stallion Sanctuary is a place where black alder forests grow along the Chyorny Zherebets River, a general zoological reserve of local importance with an area of ​​223 hectares.
• "Chernetskoye" is a landscape reserve of local importance with an area of ​​197 hectares. On the territory there are artificial pine plantations and oak plantations of natural origin.
• Lake Chernetskoye is a hydrological natural monument of local importance.
• Marsh Martynenkovo ​​is an ornithological reserve of local importance.
• Podpisochnoe is a landscape reserve of local importance: around Lake Podpesochnoe there are pine and oak plantations of high quality. Area - 197 hectares.

In the city of Svyatogorsk:

• "Pine plantations" - a landscape reserve of local importance, pine plantations around Svyatogorsk, up to 120 years old. The area of ​​the reserve is 686 hectares. At the 19th session, the Donetsk Regional Council considered the issue of canceling the status of the reserve.
• natural monument "Poplar"

Notes (edit)

1. 7 Wonders of Ukraine - 7chudes.in.ua/selection6_17.htm (Ukrainian)
2. Source National Natural Park "Svyati Gori" - www.info.dn.ua/nature/sprava/st.shtml (Ukrainian)
3. 19th session of the Donetsk Regional Council - www.sovet.donbass.com/m1/ru/press_service/news/newsarchive/91281416

The national natural park "Svyatye Gory" was created in 1997 on the basis of landscape reserves of national importance "Mountains of Atrem" and "Svyatogorskiy". It became the first national natural park on the left bank of Ukraine. The park is located in the Slavyansky and Krasnolimansky districts of the Donetsk region on an area of ​​more than 40 thousand hectares. The basis of the complex of monuments of the reserve is founded in the 13th century. It rises on a mountain jut and makes an unforgettable impression with its appearance.

The park suffered significant damage in 2014 during the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

What to see in the park "Holy Mountains"

On the territory of the Svyatye Gory National Natural Park, there are about 130 archaeological sites (from the Paleolithic era to the Middle Ages) and 73 historical monuments. The park is spread over several settlements, in particular the cities of Svetogorsk and Slavyansk. The Svyatye Gory park combines rare landscape forms with ancient historical and religious monuments:

• A feature of the park is the chalk mountains, on which rare plants have survived, for example, the chalk pine, which grew in the pre-glacial period. In 2008, the chalk mountains in the park were included in the top 100 of the All-Ukrainian competition "Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine".
• The real pearl of the reserve are cave temples with a wooden Nikolayevskaya church, erected in the Ukrainian Baroque style in the 17th century on a chalk rock, from which the altar was made.
• Andreevskaya chapel.
• Church of the Intercession.
• Memorial burial area of ​​families of the 19th century known in the area - the Golitsyns, Kurakins, Ilovaisks.
• Big historical value have caves on the territory of the former monastery Arsenyevsky skete, as well as Mount Tabor, where the Transfiguration Church existed.

Excursion routes

In the National natural park"Holy Mountains" designed 4 tourist routes, there are guided tours along the marked ecological trail "Oak Grove" and an unmarked trail in attractive places.

• Eco trail "Oak Grove" - ​​a two-hour excursion, during which you can see an artificial Pine forest and ;
• Ecotourism route "Along the chalk (Holy) mountains" - a five-hour excursion, which has 3 thematic routes;
• Ecotourism route "From Mayatsky oak forests to the Holy Mountains" - bus route about 11 km long;
• Ecotourism route "To the Skete" Holy Place "starts from the bridge over the Seversky Donets and ends at the skete of St. Arseny. Lasts about 3 hours.