Dark sights in Ukraine
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Tsarske Kurgan
One of Kerch’s most talked-about attractions that is actually out in the boondocks and require genuine interest and tenacity - Tsarske Kurgan is an empty 4th-century BC burial mound, thought to be the grave of a Bosporan king. Its exterior is typically Scythian but its symmetrical interior was built by Greeks. To get here, catch the hourly bus 4 to the stop ‘Muzey’, walk back past this obviously Soviet ‘Underground Museum of the Defence of the Adzhimushkai Quarries’, down the dirt track (vul Skifskaya) under the buzzing electricity pylons, and past the rubbish dump and savage baying dogs. Veer left before the rail tracks and follow the track around. Leave yourself …
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Tomb of Rabbi Nachman
Ever since the death of Rabbi Nachman (1772-1810), Jewish pilgrims have flocked to his graveside in Uman every Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) to pay homage to this 18th-century sage who founded the Breslov branch of Hassidism.
The rabbi was born in Medzhybizh, made his name in Bratslav (Breslov), near Vinnytsya, and died of tuberculosis in Uman at the young age of 38. On his deathbed, Nachman promised his followers that he would save and protect anyone who came to pray beside his tomb.
Today some 20,000 Jews answer his call at Rosh Hashanah, and at any time of year you'll find a handful of devout worshippers - both male and female - praying at his grave site.
To visit the …
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Jewish Cemetery
Levi Yitzhak’s mausoleum is in Berdychiv’s eerie, overgrown Jewish Cemetery. While the mausoleum itself has been looked after, several-hundred-odd boot-shaped tombstones lie hideously askew and virtually hidden by weeds, neglected almost to the point of disbelief. Many tombstones, etched with barely legible Hebrew inscriptions, lie flat on the ground. The graves predate the Nazis by at least several decades, but it was the Nazis who sealed the cemetery’s fate by leaving no Jews behind to care for it.
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Tomb of Ayvazovsky
Tomb of Ayvazovsky is next to the Sergiya Church. Painter Ayvazovsky spent most of his life in Feodosiya, but was of Armenian descent.
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Birgittine Monastery
The plain, 17th- century Birgittine Monastery was converted into a prison in 1846. Nowadays it is Lutsk's music academy.
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Former Jewish Cemetery
The Former Jewish Cemetery is a melancholic jumble of leaning, overgrown headstones.
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