About this tour

The Boldyn Mountains have always been the sacred centre of Chernihiv, its main "place of strength". Even in pre-Christian times, there was a pagan temple of the supreme Slavic god Perun and a unique barrow necropolis, which miraculously survived to our time. Nearby, in the Holy Lake, residents of Chernihiv received holy baptism. And already in the XI century the father of Russian monasticism, Reverend Antoniy Pecherskyi, "loved" the Boldyn Mountains, who founded an underground monastery here on the model of Mount Athos and the Kyiv-Pechersk monastery. It is with Antony Pecherskyi that the origin of the two is associated

with large Chernihiv monasteries - Troitsky Illinsky and Yeletsky Uspensky, which, together with the world-famous Anthony's Caves, form a kind of "Boldinohorsk Lavra" or "Chernihiv Athos". Therefore, it is not by chance that the Boldy mountains are called the "soul" of ancient Chernihiv.


The program includes the most prominent sights of the Boldyn Mountains:

- Anthony Caves

- Trinity Cathedral and bell tower

- Yeletsky Assumption Monastery

- "Black grave", "Gulbyshche", "Nameless" mounds

- Graves of O. Markovich, M. Kotsyubinsky, L. Hlibov


It is better to take a leisurely walk through the Boldyn Mountains to immerse yourself as deeply as possible in the spiritual world of our ancestors and feel the energy of the "place of power". During the excursion, the guide tells numerous legends and stories about the mysterious ghost of the Black Monk in the caves, the underground passage from the Antoniy Caves to Kyiv, and many interesting historical facts.


Price for 1-10 people, regardless of the number of participants. Walking tour.


The tour is conducted in Ukrainian and Russian, may be in other languages on the request.


*The originality of the text is completely preserved by the author of the tour (tour operator)

5 reasons to choose tour

1

To feel the special energy of holy places

2

To see the temples of the times of Kyivan Rus

3

To visit the unique Antoni caves

4

To bow down to miraculous icons and imperishable relics of saints

5

See the panorama of the city from a bird's eye view

Key landmarks

1

Mounds

A unique pagan and early Christian necropolis from the end of the 10th till the beginning of the 11th century has been preserved in the Boldy Mountains, which includes about 230 mounds - barrows. One of them - is the large mound "Gulbyshche" as early as the 19th-century archaeologists found the largest sword in the entire territory of Kyiv Rus, 126 cm long. It is assumed that this barrow may have buried the famous epic hero - Ilya Muromets! According to legend, the legendary founder of the city, Prince Black, was buried in the largest artificial earth mound in Eastern Europe - the "Black Tomb" mound...

2

Anthony Caves

The beginning of the underground monastery on the Boldyn Mountains was laid by a native of Chernihiv Oblast, Reverend Anthony Pecherskyi, who moved from Kyiv to Chernihiv in 1068. At first, each hermit monk had his own, separate underground cell, but over time, the Anthony Caves turned into a large complex of underground structures from different periods, including three brick underground churches and a chapel of the 17th century, an ancient Russian ossuary, an underground cemetery, and monks' cells. The total length of the underground complex is 350 m.

3

Trinity Cathedral

The Trinity Cathedral was consecrated as the main temple of the Trinity Illinsky Monastery in 1695. Hetman Ivan Mazepa donated 10,000 gold coins for the construction of a magnificent baroque church. The architect of the cathedral is considered to be the "German breed" master I.B. Sauer. The main shrine of the church is the imperishable relics of the most revered Chernihiv saints - Feodosius Uglytsky, Lavrenty Chernihiv, and Filaret Gumilevsky. Also, the miraculous icon of the Illyrian God Mother was kept there, which was written in 1658.

4

Assumption Cathedral

The active women's Yeletsky Assumption Monastery is the oldest on the Left Bank of Ukraine. It was founded in 1060 by the son of Yaroslav the Wise, Svyatoslav Yaroslavych, at the place of the miraculous apparition of the icon of the Mother of God on a fir tree. The main temple of the monastery, the brick Cathedral of the Assumption, was built in the 12th century and is a wonderful monument of the times of Rus. Ancient Russian frescoes have been preserved in the church and the main shrine of the monastery is located - the miraculous Yelets icon of the Mother of God.

5

Bell tower

The high 4-tier bell tower of the Trinity Cathedral was built in 1775 in the late Baroque style. At the time of its construction, it was the largest bell tower on the Left Bank of Ukraine — its height was 58 m. According to legend, the Chernihiv bell tower was supposed to be even higher than the bell tower of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra... If you climb to the top tier of the bell tower, you can see wonderful local landscapes from a bird's-eye view.

What is included?

Professional guide

Professional guide

*From each purchased tour, we transfer 10% to the Ukrainian Refugee Support Fund. All profits from press tours are transferred to the reconstruction of Ukraine.