Sivershchyna Travel Guide

Sorry, this entry is only available in Russian.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Russian.

On the left bank of the Desna-river at the place where its tributary the Oster-river inflows into it there is a small town that bears the same name – Oster. Now the town is aside from the modern highways but initially it lay on the main road that led from Kyiv to the northern lands of Rus. With the lapse of time the road has shifted slightly to the east. And Oster turned out to be out of circulation, although located only 15 km away from the road.

On the outskirts of modern town there is a surrounded with rampart hill which is the site of ancient settlement on the bank of slowly flowing Oster-river. That is the place where stood Old Rus fortress on the Oster-river. The rise of the settlement dates back to 1098. Annals mention: «That year Volodymyr Monomakh laid the Town (Gradets) on the Oster». The fortress was a part of Pereyaslav appanage principality which long remained the patrimony of Monomakh family. In 1136 the fortress was transmitted to the son of Volodymyr Monomakh, Duke of Suzdal Yuriy (Gurgiy). He is known in history as Yuriy Dolgorukiy (Long-handed), a founder of Moscow. Founded to play an important defensive role on the approaches to Kyiv the fortress soon earned the dashing glory. It turned into the springboard for attacks on Kyiv of challengers for Kyiv throne. The fortress was transmitting from one prince to another and was ruined several times. That is why the territory of ancient settlement is rather small. It was purely a military settlement. On the edge of the ancient settlement one can see the remains of temple (the Michael’s Church). It is the main tourist attraction of Oster as there are not many preserved monuments of the XI century in the world. And this is one of 19 architectural monuments in Ukraine dated the period of princely era.

In 1240, the fortress was destroyed by the Mongols, and the settlement shifted a little farther from the river. The place where the fortress was located became known as Old Oster and later – Stargorodok (Old Town). And new settlement, which arose in the early 14th century got the name of Oster.

Modern Oster is a small, provincial town on the banks of the Desna. But it preserves cultural heritage. There is a museum which is the oldest in Ukraine and large stone Resurrection Church (19 century).

Starting from the second half of the 17 th century Sedniv was the place where large landowners the Lyzogubs arranged their main manor. The members of this glorious Ukrainian Cossack family played a significant role in the history and culture of Ukraine.
In 1687 Hetman Ivan Mazepa, designated Jacob Lyzogub the Chernigov colonel. In 1689 Mazepa endowed him richly with lands near Chernigov, including Sednev for his participation in the Crimean campaign. Son of Jacob Lyzogub, Efim was the Chernihiv colonel as well. In 1690 he began the construction of ancestral estate in Sedniv. On the right high bank of the Snov river he managed to lay a large park, build wooden residential buildings, stone building and the Resurrection church as the family burial vault.

The following generations of the Lyzogubs were all the militaries. In the first half of the 19th century one of five brothers Lyzogubs Andrei Ivanovich (1804-1864) retired and settled for good in Sedniv at the age of twenty-five years. He was joined by his brother, Ilya Ivanovich (1787-1867) – a retired colonel, a participant of the war with Napoleon and Alexander Ivanovich (1790-1839) – major general. The old building proved to be rather small. The estate was expanded along the mountain over again. The brothers turned the family homestead in the picturesque architectural ensemble. They attached a tower in a pseudogothic style to the old Cossack stone building and on the flank of the hill above the Snov river there was placed a gazebo.
To unite old and new territories of the estate the old rampart of the ancient settlement of Snov was cut through and a small bridge was spanned over the moat.

Park of the new estate acquired the romantic features according to the fashion trends of that time. Scenic views and the rampart proved very handy. In the end of the rampart that is on a steep slope at the river, a typical for romantic parks mysterious grotto with an entrance was embedded right in the ground. It was once decorated with local river mussels like the “sea bed” . Circular hole was in the ceiling, and a small window that overlooked the Snov river. By efforts of Ilya Ivanovich there were installed fountains in the park. One of them, called “Getman”, spurted higher than the famous “Samson” in Peterhof.

In the mid of th 19th century in the middle of the park there was built an U-shaped the Lyzogubs’ large house in the style of late classicism in place of the old wooden one.
The manor house is a one-storey building that bears typical features of eclectic architecture. It has two projection in the facade on both sides and a semicircular oriel in the center of the fasade that is turned to the river and fine detail decoration. House is placed parallelly to the slope.

All the buildings in the estate seemed to stress the attractiveness of the landscapes that was greatly admired by the owners: the tower over the entrance to Cossack stone building, the grotto, the oriel and white-column rotunda are oriented to the east overlooking the river.
Unfortunately, the park is now neglected. The slopes are so overgrown that one can hardly see the scenery across the river. There are age-old chestnuts, oaks, maples, which remember many guests of the Lyzogubs.

And among them were artists L. Zhemchuzhnikov and A. Slastion, writers L. Glebov and B. Grinchenko. There is still a lime tree in the park in the shade of which Taras Shevchenko liked to have a rest during his visits to Sedniv.

The Lizogubs themselves were rather talented human beings. Thus Alexander Lyzogub is known as the Ukrainian composer, one of the founders of Ukrainian piano music. He was the author of nocturnes, mazurkas, ballads, and variations on the theme of Ukrainian folk songs.

Ilya Ivanovich was keen on music as well. Mykola Markevych characterized him as: “A wonderful musician, a pianist, cellist, singer and composer, a good painter, a person keen on hydraulics. He decorates Sedniv with parks and fountains and lives quietly, modestly, but as an aristocrat.” The younger brother of Andrei Ivanovich was fond of painting and painted a few icons for the iconostasis of the Resurrection church.

In November 2009 President of Ukraine issued the decree to establish State Historical and National Preserve “The Lyzogubs’ Estate” in Sedniv.