St. Nicholas Church and CIty Landmarks

We wanted to share a few of the landmarks in Gorodnya. The city was founded in 1550. It was considered a major village during this period. John would say that little has changed other than the addition of electricity, indoor plumbing in some cases, and vehicles. We have included a few old photos that we found on the internet. The poplar trees still line the roads and we are sure that most of the homes in the photos are still standing and in use. We know that the wells are still in use.

We pass St. Nicholas Church every day on our way to the Orphanage. Even if the gates are closed you can reach in and undo the latch and walk around the grounds. We did not try entering as a priest was on the side of the building and he justed looked at us. He looked like he was right out of the 1800’s (including the dark scruffy black beard and long, dark, shoulder-length hair that he was trying to pull a comb through) . He lives on the grounds in a small trailer house. He intently watched us walk around and take pictures. We told him “hello”, “thank you” and “goodbye” in Ukrainian – he just looked at us and never spoke (a vow of silence?). The frescos are of Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel.

The Madonna sits in the main town square, right across from the Lenin statue. Lenin stands in front of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (a big white two story building with a amphitheatre inside) which is where we found the computer classroom that has allowed us to have internet access for 5 grivna per hour ($1 USD). The building is also the unofficial community center and we often passed ballet or dance classes later in the afternoon. The name has been pried off the Lenin statue, but everyone knows who he is and it is just easier to leave him standing there rather than go to the trouble to rent a crane or tip him over and possibly dent the concrete below.

We found a beautiful stained glass window of three women, one bearing a loaf of bread, in the building that houses the Market grocery store that we frequent. A restaurant is upstairs. You are unable to see the window from the outside, which is a shame.

We have found several monuments to fallen soldiers from the area – one for WWI and WWII and one for Afghanistan. We also pass a monument honoring the Soviet Military with an old jet mounted in concrete.

Beyond the poplars that line the roads, there is a beautiful park filled with willow trees surrounding a lake. A mural of a Ukrainian Family (Papa, Mama, and son) is at one of the entrances to the park. The mural reminds me why we are here and once we reach it we are almost at the Orphanage!

Now that we are in bustling Kyiv, we miss our little town and look back at it with fond memories (everything except the bed and the mud)!