Pryluky is a city on the banks of the Udai River in the south of the Chernihiv region, 135 km from Kyiv. Once it was the center of the Pryluky Regiment with an impregnable Cossack fortress, and today it is an industrial city where Cossack Baroque monuments have been preserved. Not far from Pryluky stands one of the most famous monasteries of the Left Bank — Hustyn.
A Town from the "Instruction"
The first written mention of Pryluk-horod was left by Volodymyr Monomakh: in his "Instruction to Children", he recounts how in 1085 he set out with his retinue to Pryluk. In the mid-17th century, a Cossack fortress emerged here with ramparts, moats, walls and towers, churches, palaces, and houses of the starshyna and merchants.
Colonel Horlenko
In 1692–1708, the Pryluky Regiment was headed by Colonel Dmytro Horlenko. He developed the city and settlement, fortified the fortress, populated the outskirts with farmsteads, supported crafts, trade, churches and schools, and built a new cathedral. The most valuable monuments in Pryluky have been preserved from the era of the heyday of Ukrainian Baroque and the Horlenko and Galagan colonels.
What to See
The oldest masonry structure in the city is the regimental treasury, built to store the regimental treasury, insignia, and weapons. Its walls are a meter thick, and the ends are crowned with baroque pediments. It is also worth seeing the 1889 St. Nicholas Cathedral on Galagan Street, St. John's Church with its bell tower from 1865, the inn courtyard of the Hustyn Monastery with the Church of Panteleimon, and several Art Nouveau buildings. The Viktor Maslov Local History Museum operates in the city.
Hustyn Monastery
The Holy Trinity Monastery in the village of Hustynia on the right bank of the Udai was founded in 1600 by the monks Yoasaf and Athanasii, who came from Athos with the blessing of Yelysei Pletenetskyi, archimandrite of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. They settled on an island overgrown with dense forest — hence the name Hustynia. The lands belonged to the Vyshnevetsky princes, who gave permission for construction; the first wooden Trinity Church was built in 1614. Among the first monks were quite a few Cossacks. Now it is a women's monastery belonging to the UOC (MP).
Coat of Arms and Flag
The origin of the coat of arms of Pryluky has not been definitively established: according to a common version, it derives from the family sign of Raina Mohylianka, wife of the city's owner, Prince Mykhailo Vyshnevetsky. On the green flag of the city is Saint George on a white horse.
How to Get There
Pryluky has a railway station and a bus station, about 135 km from Kyiv. Nearby is the Kachanivka estate, one of the most beautiful in Ukraine.
