Nosivka is a town on the Nosivochka River in Nizhyn Raion, with a population of about 13 thousand people. It lies on the Kyiv–Nizhyn railway, roughly halfway between Nizhyn and Kozelets. Nosivka has a chronicle history, a Cossack past, and one of the oldest stone churches in the region. The town is also proud of hartanachka — a porridge cooked by a group.
From the Chronicle Nosiv
The Old Rus’ settlement Nosiv on Ruda is mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle under the year 1147. It belonged to the Chernihiv Principality, passed to Lithuania in the mid-14th century, and after the Union of Lublin — to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the 1630s, Nosivka was owned by the magnate Adam Kisiel, later Kyiv voivode: the king granted him the Nosiv starostwo for bravery in the Smolensk War.
The residents of Nosivka took part in the Pavlyuk uprising of 1637 and Ostryanin’s uprising of 1638. From 1649, the town became the center of a sotnia of the Nizhyn, and later Kyiv regiment. It had to endure many hardships: in 1652, the plague wiped out almost the entire population, and in 1662 and 1679, Nosivka was burned down by Crimean troops.
In 1719, Nosiv Cossacks rebelled against a sotnyk appointed by the starshyna without their consent. They destroyed the hetman’s universal and broke the sotnyk’s banner. The uprising was brutally suppressed, and 30 Cossacks were sent in chains to Siberia. In the 18th century, part of the lands here were owned by the Rozumovsky family, including the mother of the hetman, Nataliya Demianivna.
What to See
The main architectural landmark is the stone Trinity Church from 1765. At the end of the 19th century, Nosivka also had the stone Mykolaivska (1834) and Voskresenska (1891) churches, as well as wooden Uspenska and Preobrazhenska churches. In the 17th–18th centuries, five Cossack schools operated in the town.
In 1861, a funeral procession with the body of Taras Shevchenko passed through Nosivka on the way from Saint Petersburg to Kaniv. In memory of this, busts of the poet were installed in front of the station and in the yard of the kobzar Vasyl Nechepa. Two locals, Shavulko and Nazarenko, were members of the Ukrainian Central Council.
Hartanachka
In Nosivka, hartanachka is popularized — a dish from Chernihiv region cooked in a large cauldron over a fire to give it a smoky flavor. It includes meat, potatoes, millet, and greens, so it can serve as both a first course and a side dish. It is cooked by several people together, “as a group” — hence the name. This porridge is also called Cossack kulesh.
Coat of Arms and Flag
The modern coat of arms of Nosivka was approved in 2019: a shield with a crimson border set within a golden cartouche adorned with clusters of viburnum, oak leaves, and wheat ears — symbols of family, strength, and abundance. The previous coat of arms from 1997 featured a cross on a crescent in a blue field. The flag of Nosivka consists of two equal horizontal stripes — green and yellow.
How to get there
Nosivka lies on the Kyiv–Nizhyn railway; suburban trains run from Kyiv and Nizhyn. By car, it is about 120 km from Kyiv and about 100 km from Chernihiv. The trip can be conveniently combined with Nizhyn or Kozelets.
