Rzhishchev

Rzhishchev is located at the mouth of the river Leglich on the right bank of the Kanevsky reservoir , 76 kilometers south of Kiev and 20 kilometers north-east of Kagarlyk , where the nearest railway station is located. Regular buses pass through the Rzhishchevsky bus station in the direction of the district and regional centers, Bila Tserkva , Maslovka, Berezovka and other settlements of the region.

The landscape around Rzhyshchiv differs in numerous ravines and hills, the main of which is Ivan-Gora - the location of the first fortress of Rzhishchev. Rising 65–70 meters above the Dnieper , it is bounded on three sides by a deep beam . The northern part of the mountain has repeatedly collapsed, with the result that most of its historical part was under water. In the second half of the 20th century, the situation was aggravated by the construction of the Kanev hydroelectric station . Also, as a result of the flooding of the reservoir opposite Rzhishchev, islands were formed, the most notable of which are the Lysaya Sandy Mountain and the highest point of the Gusintsy village that remained above the water, on which the restored old church of the flooded village rises.

For soil in the Rzhishchev region, loess deposits and freshwater loams are characteristic. They are easily destroyed by water, especially the banks of the Dnieper, prone to landslides. In order to solve this problem, forest stand is created by the retention of erosion, groundwater is discharged. Mineral resources are extracted from marl , clay, limestone and sand for the production of building materials. In the vicinity of the city there are three forests - Kruglik, Ripnitsa and Jantscha, with a predominance of pine, oak, aspen, alder, willow and shrubs. There are small animals such as foxes, hares, moles, ferrets and gophers, as well as various birds. Rzhishchev, in whose rivers catfish, pike, pikeperch, perch and bream are found, is a popular place among fishing enthusiasts.

The area on which modern Rzhishchev is located has been inhabited since ancient times. The first settlements in this area are referred by archaeologists to the epoch of Tripoli , approximately VI – III millennium BC ^[2] . In the arch of the first ancient Russian historical essays "The Tale of Bygone Years" this area is mentioned by the chronicler Nestor in the description of settlement in the 6th – 7th centuries on the right bank of the Dnieper of the field . The large settlement is first described in the Ipatiev Chronicle in 1151. The story of the struggle for the Kiev throne between the princes Izyaslav Mstislavich and Yuri Dolgoruky featured Ivan-Gorod, a fortress that stood on the eponymous mountain over the Dnieper and defended the approaches to Kiev and the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks . " Near the fortified settlement there was a small village Vzhishchev. Vzhische in Old Slavic meant a place of trade. It was probably this settlement that gave the city its modern name. However, there are also other versions. According to one of them, the Polish word Rzesza (crowd) formed the basis of the name. Another, simpler, connects the name of the city with the neigh of a horse.

In 1241 the fortress was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatar horde of Batu Khan. Despite the devastation, the inhabitants of Ivan-city did not leave these places and restored the settlement. From the middle of the 14th century, it was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . In 1506, the Polish king Sigismund I endowed the city with the expansion of Magdeburg Law by that time. Rzhishchev played an important role in the Dnieper defensive line, the fortress on Ivan Mountain was revived during the reign of Jan Casimir ^[3] . During the years of the liberation wars under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the city ​​was at the center of the events. At the end of December 1653, the first talks between the rebellious hetman and the Russian ambassador V. Buturlin on the conclusion of the military alliance of the Moscow kingdom and the Zaporozhye army and the joint defense of the lands controlled by them were held in the Rzhishchevsky Transfiguration Monastery .

In the Russian Empire since 1796, Rzhishchev was the center of the eponymous volost in the Kiev district of the Kiev province . According to the census of 1852, 1,585 people lived in the town, of which 806 were serfs. Among the free inhabitants, the majority were Jews. There were a wooden Orthodox church, a stone Catholic church, a synagogue, a hospital, a pharmacy, a free-practice doctor, 39 shops and three annual winter fairs. Most of the land belonged to the landowner Dyalinskaya. Rzhishchevskaya pier was one of the largest in the region. The bread brought from Kanevsky, Skvirsky, Tarashchansky, Zvenigorodsky, Lipovetsky and Umansky districts, salt from Akkermansky and Crimean lakes, iron and forest material were unloaded on it ^[3] . Industry was developed, six plants functioned: sugar, sawmill, two iron foundries and two brick ^[4] . By the end of the XIX century, the population of Rzhishchev exceeded 7000 people ^[5] .

From 1917 to 1920, Rzhishchev, like the whole Kyiv region, was first included in the Russian Republic , which was controlled by the Provisional Government , and then entered the Ukrainian People’s Republic , the RSFSR and the Ukrainian state at different stages of the civil war . In December 1920, Kiev Province and Rzhishchev were finally annexed to the Ukrainian SSR . In 1923, the town of Rzhishchev became a district center; on October 20, 1938, it received the status of an urban-type settlement.

At the first stage of the Great Patriotic War , heavy defensive battles were fought in right-bank Ukraine. In 1941, during the month, a division of motorized rifle troops of Colonel-General M. Kirponos was stationed near Rzhishchev. From the end of September 1943, after the capture of the Bukrin bridgehead by the Soviet army, Rzhishchev was involved as the right wing in the battles for the liberation of Kiev, in which the November Kiev offensive was decisive.

During the years of war and occupation, Rzhyshchev was seriously injured, most of the historic buildings were destroyed. In the 1950s, for the second time in its history, the city was practically rebuilt. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR on December 30, 1962 on the consolidation of rural areas within the Kiev region, the Rzhishchevsky district was incorporated into the Kagarlyk district. Industry developed, radiator, brick and butter factories worked ^[6] . In 1966, a vocational school was opened on the basis of the school of excellence.

In January 1989, the population size was9835 people ^[7] .

June 6, 1995 Rzhishchev received city status. There are three metallurgical enterprises, Kuzminetsky brick factory, industrial-pedagogical and construction technical schools, professional lyceum, liberal arts college.

As of January 1, 2013, the population was 7,532 people ^[8] .

Attractions

In the destroyed during the Great Patriotic War Rzhishchev few historical buildings have been preserved. The most significant of them is the Trinity Church, an architectural monument of national importance. The main attraction of Rzhyshchiv is the numerous archaeological finds of the Tripoli era. The Tripoli Park was organized in the center of the city, a ritual figure of a binocular shape was established, which also became a central element of the new coat of arms and the main symbol of Rzhishchev. In the self-proclaimed capital of Tripoli culture, the annual Tripoli Circle summer ethnic festival is held. It was first held in 2008 and was devoted to the element of water. The themes of the next three festivals were chosen earth, fire and air ^[9] .

Another object of scientific research is the site of ancient settlement on Ivan the Mount since Kievan Rus . The first excavations here were carried out by expeditions of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in the 1960s and 1980s. From the found fragments and foundations of the fortifications, it was established that the fortress was built taking into account all the achievements of the fortification technology of those times. Also found were weapons, household items, decorations, and fragments of ceramic tableware dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The finds made in a kilometer to the east, in the possible location of the unfortified village of Vzhishchev, have the same age. The settlement, much of which collapsed in the Dnieper in the middle of the XIX century ^[3] , continues to collapse. There are plans for the reconstruction of the fortress, the implementation of which will help preserve the landmark ^[2] .

As an important cultural and historical center, the city is included in the prominent places of the country, awarded with the Certificate of Honor of the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine .

Religion

The Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord revived in 1995 is one of the oldest in Ukraine. According to legend, it was founded by the Kiev-Pechersk elders Anthony and Theodosius , whose names also bear two springs in Rzhyshcheve. Another version was put forward by the patrons of the monastery by local landowners Voronichi. So in the diploma of 1649, which bestowed Balyki village on the monastery, it says that the first skete in these places was founded by the ancestors of Voronich and was in the possession of the Kiev-Cyril monastery. Destroyed by the "enemies of the cross", it was restored, as a result of which the Holy Transfiguration Monastery appeared in Rzhishchevsky. From the end of the 16th century, the monastery, which also owned the village of Yachniki, located on the opposite bank of the Dnieper, was the last refuge of elderly Zaporozhian soldiers (this right granted by the Polish king Stefan Batory , also two other monasteries of Kyiv region - in Vyshgorod and Trakhtemirov) were endowed. During the Russian-Turkish war, the monastery was ruined and in 1710 was assigned to the Metropolitan's house of the Kiev Sofia monastery . The empty lands were partially transferred to the Catholic monastery of Rzhishchev. In 1852, at the request of Metropolitan Philaret , the monastery was reformed into a female monastery and was restored by the efforts of its first abbess Julia Yakhontova. Already in 1854 a stone cold church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was built. Two years later, a second church was consecrated, wooden, warm, with thrones in the name of Great Martyrs Barbara and Catherine and St. Philaret the Most Gracious . In 1871, a third church, consecrated in honor of the Life-Giving Source, was built under the abbess cells. In the possession of the monastery were transferred farm Stoyachin under Tripoli and part of the village Stayki. In 1870, a women's school was opened at the monastery for the primary education of orphans, the main subject of which was pedagogy ^[5] . After the Civil War, the monastery was closed by the Soviet government . In its buildings were placed first an agricultural artel-commune, then a zootekhnikum of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, and from 1928 a building technical school, which is still there today. From the temple buildings are preserved only fragments.

In addition to the monastery in Rzhyshchiv, there was a wooden Orthodox church from the 17th century at the estate of the magnate family of Voronich. In 1853, on the initiative of the estate of Countess Dzalinskaya, construction of a new stone church in the style of classicism was begun. The Trinity Church, consecrated in 1860, was a four-altar, with one dome and a bell tower over the vestibule. In 1882 the number of its parishioners was 2847 people, the village of Berezovka was also assigned to the parish ^[5] . In the Soviet years, the building escaped destruction, original 19th century paintings were preserved.

The Polish Catholic monastery of the Trinitarian Order , founded in the middle of the 18th century, also functioned in Rzhyshchiv ^[5] . Since the end of the 16th century, the Trinitarian mission, which was in close proximity to Wild Paul Rzhyshcheve, carried out both military and diplomatic functions in defense against the attacks of the Crimean Tatars and the redemption of captured Christians. Currently, the monastery, whose central building was the Church of the Holy Trinity, is completely destroyed. However, there are cellars where Muslims who participated in the exchanges of prisoners were kept, and underground passages, the length of which, according to modern archeological research, reaches 3.5 kilometers.

Rzhischev's natives are writer Mikhail Shmushkevich, artist Valentin Zadorozhny, whose name is Rzhishchevsky Museum of Art, astronomer Robert Vogel , Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolay Dudka , demographer Jacob Ulitsky , poet Lina Kostenko . In honor of another famous countryman in Rzhyshchiv was named Admiral Petrenko Street. The city is also associated with the names of many significant historical figures. After the war of 1812, the future Decembrists Bestuzhev-Rumin , the brothers Sergey and Hippolytus Muravyovy-Apostles, Prince Trubetskoy visited the Rzhishchev estate of Dolgorukiy. Here, in the manor gardens, they worked on the constitution of the Southern Society of the Decembrists ^[10] . The heir to the estate, Princess Elena Pavlovna Dolgorukaya, lived for some time in it with her husband, the future Saratov Governor Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeyev ^[11] . Their grandchildren are statesman Sergei Yulievich Vitte and writer theosophist Elena Petrovna Blavatsky .

Hero of the Soviet Union Akaki Lukich Tereladze , who was killed in the vicinity of the city in 1943, is buried in Rzhyshchiv.

In Rzhyshcheve, the early years were spent by one of the founders of the “Young Guard” , posthumously Hero of the Soviet Union, Oleg Kosheva . Here Oleg saw the Dnieper and was very fond of these places, about which he wrote in his poem “I Rzhischev firmly loved ...”

• Portal Mista Rzhishchiv
• Rzhishchev industrial pedagogical college site
• Rzhishchevsky professional lyceum website
• Site Rzhishchevsky Construction College