The Kachanivka Palace (; ) is one of the many country estates built by

Pyotr Rumyantsev Count Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky (; – ) was one of the foremost Russian generals of the 18th century, and is widely considered to be one of Russia's greatest military leaders, and one of the greatest military commanders in ...

Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...

's viceroy of

Little Russia Little Russia, also known as Lesser Russia, Malorussia, or Little Rus', is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. At the beginning of the 14th century, the patriarch of Constantinople accepted the distinction between wha ...

. It stands on the bank of the Smosh River near the village of Petrushivka in Pryluky Raion,

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It is perhaps the best known Rumyantsev estate in the region is the Gomel Residence. The Kachanivka residence was erected in the 1770s to Neoclassical designs by Karl Blank. The church, orangery, aviary, water tower and several other buildings date from the 19th century. After Nikolay Rumyantsev's death, the property passed to the Tarnowski family. Wasyl Tarnowski was interested in the history of Ukraine and amassed a collection of weapons that had been owned by the

hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

s of Ukraine. Among the 19th-century visitors to Kachanivka were

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...

, Mikhail Vrubel, and

Mikhail Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka ( rus, links=no, Михаил Иванович Глинка, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, mʲɪxɐˈil ɨˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, Ru-Mikhail-Ivanovich-Glinka.ogg; ) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognit ...

(who worked on his opera '' A Life for the Tsar'' in the summerhouse).Памятники градостроительства и архитектуры Украинской ССР, т. 4. К., 1986
/ref> Although the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

nationalize Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

d the palace for use as a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

and tuberculosis hospital, the manor, including the extensive English park and several subsidiary outbuildings, is exceptionally well preserved. It has been designated a national cultural preserve since 1982 and was selected as one of the Seven Wondrous Castles and Palaces of Ukraine.

References

External links

* {{Seven Wonders of Ukraine Palaces in Ukraine Buildings and structures in Chernihiv Oblast Historic sites in Ukraine 1770s architecture Tourist attractions in Chernihiv Oblast Neoclassical architecture in Ukraine Historic reserves in Ukraine