Ukraine (N/A) – Mythical Home of Chernobog Lysa Hora is one of the most famous ancient sacred places in Eastern Europe. Better known in English by the translation of its name, which means “Bald Mountain”, Lysa Hora has been immortalized in the popular imagination by the writings of Nikolai Gogol, the music of Modest Mussorgsky, and most famously by its prominent appearance in … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA (BALAKLAVA BATTLEFIELD)
Balaklava, Ukraine (1854 AD) The Battle of Balaklava was a pivotal engagement of the Crimean War and, though not the most decisive, it easily became the most famous. Part of the allied campaign to capture the strategic Black Sea port of Sevastopol, it pitted a combined force of British, French and Turkish troops against a much larger Russian army trying to break out of the … [Read more...]
CASTLES OF THE UKRAINE (AKKERMAN, KAMIANETS-PODILSKYI, LUTSK)
Western Ukraine Western Ukraine was historically one of most fluid frontiers of Europe. This was due in no small part to its use as a highway into Europe for nomadic invaders from Asia. Largely a vast plain with few natural barriers, this part of the continent was almost impossible to fortify. That’s not to say the locals didn’t try. This was especially true during the … [Read more...]
SHOLEM ALEICHEM HOMETOWN & MUSEUM
Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine From Baruch Spinoza to Moses Mendelssohn and beyond, the Jewish Enlightenment in Europe produced countless writers and academics who explored and expounded on the religious ideas and philosophies of the day. However, it wasn’t until the late 19th century when the literary titan Sholem Aleichem effectively introduced humor and cultural … [Read more...]
KENESA OF YEVPATORIA
Yevpatoria, Ukraine The Kenesa, or synagogue, of Yevpatoria is the center of Karaite Judaism in the Crimea and the oldest active Karaite synagogue in the world. The Karaites, a Jewish sect that originated in Persia, broke off from mainstream Judaism in the years following the arrival of Islam. Strict followers of the Torah, the Karaites rejected the Talmud as unnecessary … [Read more...]
ODESSA MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE
Odessa, Ukraine The Jewish people have suffered the persecutions of their neighbors ever since the beginning of the great Diaspora. However, it wasn’t until the 19th century in Russia when organized anti-Semitic activity was raised to a new level in the form of the Pogrom. Russia, whose expansive territories not only had one of the largest Jewish populations in the world … [Read more...]
GRAVESITE OF BA’AL SHEM TOV
Medzhybizh, Ukraine Orthodox Judaism is the most traditional and, in many respects, the most conservative and observant of Jewish denominations; and no group is more closely identified with Orthodox Judaism than the Hasidic Jews. Although not the only Orthdox group, the Hasidim have most strongly preserved the traditions of classical Eastern European Judaism, from religious … [Read more...]
CHURCH OF THE TITHES
Kiev, Ukraine The City of Kiev, one of the last major bastions of Pagan worship on the eastern frontier of Europe, did not convert to Christianity until the very end of the first millennium AD. However, in the following centuries, when Kiev was the capital of the fledgling Russian kingdom, it served as the seat of the Russian Patriarchate. Because of this Kiev is … [Read more...]
