Sumy. The city was founded in 1655 by the migrants from Right-Bank
Ukraine who fled from the Polish oppression. In the 17th с the Sumy residents
bravely defended their city from incursions of the Crimean Tatars and in
1708-1709 took part in the Northern War against the Swedes. At that time, the
city was encircled by a system of powerful fortifications which with time lost
their defensive importance.
In 1817-1818 the Decembrist S. Volkonsky lived in Sumy. He was the commander of
the brigade of the First Uhlan Division quartered in the city. Sumy is the
native town of I. Lysenkov (1810-1881), the St. Petersburg publisher and
bookseller, who was on friendly terms with A. Pushkin, I. Krylov, N. Gogol, and
N. Gnedich. Lysenkov was one of the first to publish works by T. Shevchenko.
Names of A. Chekhov, P. Tchaikovsky, and A. Kuprin are also associated with the
city.
Among the architectural monuments mention should be made of the Resurrection
Church (1702), the Transfiguration Cathedral (1788), and St. Elijah's Church
(1851). Of interest are also the Art Museum and the Museum of Local Lore.
Bilopillia. The remains of the ancient town of Vyr have been found here. The town existed in the 11th -13th cc. and was an outpost in the struggle against the nomads. Near the ruins of the site a park was laid out, now it is a monument of landscape architecture. Bilopillia is a native town of writer and pedagogue A. Makarenko (1888-1938).
Desnians'ko-Starohuts'kyi national park. The park spreads in Seredyno-Buds'kyi District. Created in 1999, it takes an area of 16,215 ha. According to natural conditions, the park territory divides into two parts: adjoining the Desna River and Starohuts'ka. The vegetation of the first part is represented by a complex of water meadows of the Desna. The massif of Starohuts'kyi forests is a boreal complex with predominant medieval pine forests. The foundation of the national park has become the first step in creating the international Ukrainian-Russian biosphere reserve Starohuts'kyi and Briansk Forests.
Hlukhiv. First mentions of the town were made in chronicles in
1152. From the latter half of the 13th с. to the 14th с. it was the centre of
the Hlukhiv Principality.
In the early 18th с. here was the residence of the hetmans of Left-Bank Ukraine.
The fire of 1748 destroyed almost entire town, only St. Nicholas' Church (1696)
remained standing. The revival of the town is connected with the construction (in
1751-1757) of the palace-and-park ensemble of Hetrftan K. Rozumovs'kyi. In the
18th с. another architectural monument - the Transfiguration Church - was built,
as well as the Triumphal Arch.
Putyvl'. The town was first mentioned in 1146. The ruins of a
stone church (12th c.) have remained, the church from the walls of which Prince
Ihor Sviatoslavych took the field against the Polovtsians in 1185. The events
associated with this campaign are described on the pages of the poetical work of
Old Rus literature The Tale of Ihor's Host.
The town has architectural monuments: the Movchans'kyi Monastery (16th c.), the
Church of St. Nicholas of Cossacks (1737) and the Transfiguration Cathedral
(1617) built in the Russian style of the first half of the 17th с. The main
gates of the cathedral with a gateway church in the Ukrainian style and the
cathedral itself create an ensemble in which Russian and Ukrainian architecture
blend retaining their distinctive national peculiarities.
Romny. The town under the name of Romen was first mentioned in
written sources in 1096. However, the territory where the contemporary town
stands was inhabited in olden times, which is testified by a Scythian burial
mound and a site of a Slav tribe of the Siverians, which existed in the 8th -
10th cc.
Two architectural monuments invariably attract tourists' interest: the Cathedral
of the Holy Spirit (18th c.) and the Ascension Church with the bell tower
(1753-1797).
Trostianets'. The town appeared in the mid-17th c., though the
locality where it stands was habitable already in the 7th - 10th cc. which is
evidenced by the sites found during excavation works and burial mounds of that
time.
The palace-and-park ensemble of the Princes Golitsyns has survived in the centre
of Trostianets'. It comprises a round courtyard (1749) resembling a small
fortress with high blank walls and four towers and a wonderful park Neskuchne
where age-old lindens grow. Ruins of the Nymph Grotto (1809) have been preserved
in the park as well as the former house where composer P. Tchaikovsky stayed in
1864.
Oblast farmsteads