Vilkovo, Odessa region - what is it like, Ukrainian Venice? Vilkovo - Ukrainian Venice in the Odessa region Danube Biosphere Reserve
Vilkovo is an illustration of a labor feat. Not for the sake of a medal or victory in a social competition, but for the sake of life. Not something invented by the Soviet regime (although, of course, not all exploits were invented then), but the real thing, one that can still be seen and touched. The titanic labor of thousands of fugitive Old Believers raised this city above the waters of the Danube floodplain. And even if this is not Venice at all (“Ukrainian Venice” is what travel companies call the town), even if there are no extraordinary architectural monuments here, but it doesn’t stink, like on the streets of an Italian miracle during the period of sewage disposal...
Mykolayivska Old Believer Church at the Bilgorod Girl
0th km of the Danube at the Kiliyskiy girt
Erik
Ivan Lipovanin
Terrible and incomprehensible (in particular, to me personally) processes, which are not at all uncommon in big Russia, drove these people from their homes into the taiga, into the sparsely populated Polessk swamps, into the Danube floodplains. And how did they get here? How did you transport your goods? On their backs, or on horses, or on oxen? But where do oxen come from in Muscovy? It was in Ukraine that there were once so many of these working creatures that the Ukrainians themselves began to be compared with these madly strong and calmly phlegmatic children of cows... I remember my father-in-law’s stories about working with oxen, about their measured reblinking in the middle of a starry night.. But this is from a different story.
Christianity appeared in Rus' in the 10th century. It came from Byzantium and held firm until the 17th century. Although Constantinople fell under the onslaught of the Seljuk Turks, and Kyiv was captured by the Tatars, Lithuanians, and Poles. The Kiev Metropolis first moved to Vladimir on the Klyazma, then to Moscow, and then completely split into two and settled in Moscow and Vilna (the capital of Lithuania). Later, the “third Rome” appeared, and even later it was headed by Patriarch Nikon, who decided to carry out a reform... Instead of a two-pointed cross - a tripartite one, Jesus instead of Jesus, circumambulation of the temple against the sun, instead of in the direction of the sun, and such little things that are funny to list. I remember the comedy with Eddie Murphy: “... they have McDonald’s, and we have McDowell’s, they have golden arches, and we have golden arcs...” But to Nikon’s innovation, which he adopted from Catholic Europeans, opposition arose with the archpriest Habakkuk at the head. These people were unable or unwilling to accept reforms in unshakable religious traditions. And terrible repressions began... Exiles, torture, executions - all this, on the orders of Nikon and with the full support of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, had to be endured by people who preserved the old traditions and received names - Old Believers, Old Believers, “schismatics”. Some of these people emigrated outside the Russian Empire and settled on the Turkish territory of Bessarabia. The floodplains in the Danube Delta became their new homeland.
Tipova Suchasna vulitsa
"Typova Stara Street" - Bilgorod Canal
Prayer from Muslims
Typical channels
It is interesting that in the 18th century the Old Believers split into two parts. Since priests had to be appointed by bishops, and there were no such priests at the disposal of the Old Believers, some began to profess the non-priest direction, while others began to choose priests on their own or to agitate for priests from the majority, which they called “Nikonians.” The Orthodox majority is still called “Nikonians” (although Nikon’s reforms were not carried out on the territory of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian religious elite did not want to join the Russian church in 1654).
Most of the Old Believers adhered to the “priestly” branch - they had their own priests, and in 1846 they even received their own metropolitan. He became Metropolitan Ambrose of Bosno-Sarajevo, who joined the Old Believer Church and publicly confirmed his commitment to it. For this, official Orthodoxy discredited the Metropolitan.
In Bukovina and Bessarabia, the Old Believers of the priestly persuasion were called Lipovans. One version of the origin of the name is that the Old Believers loved to settle in linden groves. Although there is a version of the origin of the name from some Philip, whose followers were the Old Believers (probably from Metropolitan St. Philip (Kolychev) - the hero of the film "Tsar"), therefore another name for the ethnographic group is Filipons.
On the Danube
The development of the Lipovan branch is closely related to the Bukovinian one. It was here that the first and largest Lipovan monastery was created, which became the basis of the hierarchy of Old Believers. Later, a majestic temple was built in Belaya Krynitsa, which is now a symbol of the Old Believers in Ukraine.
In Vilkovo, on the banks of the Danube, there is a monument to Ivan Lipovanin - this is a memory of the first settlers who founded a settlement in the Danube delta in the mid-18th century.
Throughout the 19th century, Old Believers were persecuted in the Russian Empire. The weakening occurred only in 1905 - then representatives of the old faith received permission to processions and church bells. And in 1918, the Bolsheviks completely equalized the rights of the Old Believers with the powerless “Nikonians” (patriarchal Orthodox believers). But the patriarchal church did not recognize the rights of the Old Believers. It was only in 1971 that the Russian Patriarchal Church acknowledged the mistakes that led to the schism in the 17th century and pointed to the “equality of integrity” of the Old Believers Church. This is how the connection happened.
Until recent years, marriages with Nikonians were prohibited among the Lipovans (permission appeared after a significant deterioration in the demographic situation). Lipovan women do not have the right to enter the church through the main entrance. Men after 60 years of age do not shave (although 20 years ago a beard was the companion of Lipovan men throughout their lives). This is only part of the differences in Lipovan religious rituals - I don’t remember the rest. Now the Lipovan-Vilkovo residents are increasingly allowing civilization into their lives, but back in 1746, when Lipovansky Posad was founded on the site of modern Vilkovo, the life of the residents was close to the life of hunter-gatherers. Hunting and fishing were the main activities of the Lipans. They also rowed silt from the Danube and built themselves a solid earth. It’s hard to even imagine the complexity of such work, but it was precisely this that made it possible to turn a remote swamp into a town. True, instead of streets in this town there were canals, and movement was carried out by boats. Later, they began to pour silt outside the city - this is how vegetable gardens appeared, which are still in operation today. The main horticultural crops of Vilkovo residents are strawberries and grapes. Strawberries appear here first in Ukraine - they are immediately bought up by intermediaries. Grapes are the raw material for the production of local dry wine “Novak”. I tried it - it was delicious, I especially liked the strawberry flavor.
Now Vilkovo is a tourist center of the Ukrainian Danube region. But the road here is scary. The last 30 km is a horror flying on the wings of the night. Therefore, there are significantly fewer tourists than the city could receive.
One of the four main natural reserves of Ukraine. The territory of the reserve is included in all possible registers of the world's most valuable landscapes. Tourists can see the beauty of the Danube and its landscapes during a boat excursion (they are very popular in Vilkovo).
The main occupation of Vilkovo residents now (as two centuries ago) is fishing. The main commercial fish is the Danube herring, a Red List species, which is caught in tons in the reserve. In special zones of biosphere reserves, folk crafts and fishing are not prohibited by law, but within certain standards and with official permission from a special department of the reserve.
The Danube Biosphere Reserve is unofficially part of a larger biosphere reserve, most of which is located in Romania. But Danube herring is the unofficial main souvenir of the city - it is sold salted and smoked. This is a very fatty, delicious fish, which is officially called the Azov-Black Sea anadromous herring. It does not live in the Danube, but only spawns (rising upstream 600 km). In addition to the Danube, it comes to spawn in the Dniester, Dnieper and Southern Bug, but much less frequently.
The first Vilkovo-Lipovans lived for a long time in reed huts (kurens). Houses built from reeds and mud began to appear in the 19th century. Such buildings are still the majority in Vilkovo. Many erik canals were filled in during Soviet times - they were made into real streets, but in the old part of the city the eriks are still the main transport arteries. The largest among them is the Belgorod Canal.
Mykolaiv Orthodox Church (1899-1902)
At the end of the 18th century, Zaporozhye Cossacks came to the town from the Sich, destroyed by Muscovites. They became the basis of agriculture in the vicinity of the town and further - they voluntarily took on the burden of agricultural work (the Russian Old Believers categorically refused them). Now the descendants of the Cossacks - Ukrainians - make up about a quarter of the city's population (in total, about 9 thousand people live in Vilkovo). Lipovans call them crests. For more than two centuries, marriages between Lipovans and crests were prohibited.
Ukrainians in Vilkovo have their own temple - a church dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was built in 1899-1902. This is a majestic and luxurious temple, with five domes and a bell tower. It was built in a mixture of neo-baroque and modern. They say that Faberge was directly involved in the project of the temple iconostasis, but I personally don’t understand how.
Lipovan churches are inferior in external luxury to the Ukrainian church, but this makes them no less interesting architecturally. These are unique ship-temples (in plan they have the shape of a ship), which are symbols of an unshakable faith that was suppressed for centuries, but survived. These are ships that overcome the sea of life and time - the temples of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Nativity of the Virgin.
Mykolaiv Old Believers Orthodox Church (1906-1913)
The Old Believer Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is the youngest temple in the city. It is located on the island of Kalimbeika and was built over seven years - from 1906 to 1913. This temple is typical of Lipovan - it has a large dome and an attached bell tower. From a distance it looks somewhat like wooden churches of typical diocesan projects, but when you look up close the impression changes dramatically - a feeling of antiquity and authenticity appears.
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is the main temple of the Old Believers of the city, and, accordingly, the entire region. It was built in the 50s of the 19th century, and the 32-meter bell tower was added in 1873. The temple is very elegant, but for some reason I liked it less than the other two temples in the city.
Old Believers Orthodox Church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary (1857, 1873)
There are more than three thousand boats (large and small) in Vilkovo - this is almost the largest percentage in Ukraine. The shuttle replaces both the car and the cart for the Vilkov resident. It is used to get to vegetable gardens, strawberries and grapes are transported on it, and herring and other fish are caught on it. The canoe is indispensable in housing construction, because it is used to transport reeds and silt for construction. They also carry fragments of mollusk shells, from which they construct a pile. After spring floods (and this is a common occurrence in Vilkovo), such rubble is cut off and the house dries out. Later they fill it up again.
Vilkovo is a unique city, unlike other cities in Ukraine. Everyone should visit here before this monument to human titanic labor has not yet been completely filled up and paved over.
Text and photos by Roman Malenkov
Vilkovsky dachas on the Danube
It seems that I have never seen such a strange city either before or (so far) after. Small (9 thousand inhabitants) and lost in the floodplains of the Danube Delta just 15 kilometers from the Black Sea, Vilkovo essentially never became a city, remaining a real Old Believer settlement. One of the largest enclaves of the Old Believers civilization, scattered from Eastern Europe to Transbaikalia, a miraculously surviving corner of the Transdanubian Sich and just a city in the Danube Delta, nicknamed “Ukrainian Venice” in guidebooks for the abundance of canals and boats. And at the same time, it is perhaps the most inaccessible city in Ukraine.
The first thing you need to understand is that Vilkovo is far away. Having left Odessa at 9 am, we arrived here at 3 pm - however, largely due to our mistakes. But the bus to Vilkovo takes about 5 hours, despite the fact that 3 hours is enough to explore the city itself. At the entrance there is a checkpoint with border guards and environmental police, since there is a border and a nature reserve, but they did not inspect us. In recent years, Vilkovo has become quite a popular tourist destination, and too much here is geared towards tourism to create obstacles for guests.
The bus station is that booth at the foot of the church:
There are three churches in the city, and two of them, including this one, are St. Nicholas, and two of them, not including this one, are Old Believers. St. Nicholas "Ukrainian" (and non-Old Believers here are mostly Ukrainians) church was built in 1867 (that is, when Vilkovo belonged to Romania), the farthest from the center, and differs unfavorably from Old Believers churches due to the abundance of beggars. Of course, it’s also about the bus station and the market - and yet when three people immediately rush at you from the road and start, almost grabbing you by the hand, begging for money - it’s unpleasant, to say the least.
St. Nicholas Church stands in the so-called New Town. Halfway from St. Nicholas Church to Rozhdestvenskaya in the Old Town there is a small Soviet cultural center:
Behind which is a monument to the Fisherman:
When the Old Believer settlement arose in the Danube Delta, now only God knows. The first Old Believers fled here, most likely, back in the 17th century, immediately after the Schism. In these parts, the Old Believers are still called “Lipovans” to this day - either this is a distorted word “Filippovtsy” (one of the non-priest confessions), or a reference to these very floodplains with their linden forests. Be that as it may, by the beginning of the 18th century there were Lipovan villages throughout Moldova. In 1709, after the defeat of the Bulavinsky uprising, the Nekrasovites were added to the Lipovans - Old Believers Cossacks who rebelled and then left under the leadership of Ignat Nekrasov. The Danube Delta was apparently simply the most remote place west of Russia. In 1762, Vilkovo became a city, the capital of Plavni.
In 1775, another wave of those who did not want to live “under Russia” came to the Delta - the Cossacks from the defeated Sich. Here they founded the Transdanubian Sich, which existed until 1828, which, again, the Nekrasovites were not very happy about - not only were the Cossacks not Old Believers, not only were the Don Cossacks always loathe the Cossacks, but there wasn’t enough fishing grounds for everyone . In 1794-1806, a real war broke out in the floodplains between the Nekrasovites and the Zadanubians, which ended with the latter having to go upstream, and many fled back to Russia. However, by that time there was little left of the Nekrasov community: back in 1791, most of the Nekrasovites went south, gradually settling in the depths of Turkey, from where only in 1966, on one ship, the Cossacks returned to the Soviet Union.
However, under Russia, the fate of the Vilkovo Lipovans turned out to be not as difficult as that of their many brothers. The distant periphery, the borderland, which at any moment could fall to other countries - in general, the imperial authorities preferred not to aggravate relations with the Lipovans. And even the Nativity Church was built in 1850, that is, under Nicholas I, when the persecution of Old Believers intensified throughout the empire.
The Church of the Nativity opens the Old Town, its “dry” part - endless huts with tiled roofs along the winding streets. It was a very strong impression - a deserted, non-Russian-looking city, women in headscarves hurrying to church, and the bell ringing over the tiled roofs:
A typical landscape in the “dry” part of Stary Vilkov. And the foreign landscape is combined with a much more Russian spirit than in other Russian cities - the old faith, primordial Rus'... If it were not for the tiles and white clay, in some places Vilkovo would be very reminiscent of the Russian North.
Gradually we came to the main “street” of Vilkov - Belgorod Erik:
Eriks here are the canals that form a network between the two branches of the Danube. As I understand it, the Belgorod erik is natural, and the side ones are mostly dug by hand. The bridge over the main river is the center of city life, and for tourists it is notable for the fact that here you can arrange a boat excursion - officially on one bank (Pelican travel agency), and on the other - directly with the residents:
On average, an hour's sailing on a motor boat through the Old Town and the floodplains costs about 200 hryvnia - and it seems to me that without it the impression of Vilkovo would not be complete. But for now let’s go further overland and admire the erik some more. As you can see, there are really a lot of boats on it, and the traffic is active. Most of the boats are the so-called “gulls”, the main watercraft of the Ukrainian Cossacks - light, spacious and maneuverable:
And this is what the landscapes of that very “Ukrainian Venice”, the inner part of the Old Town on Erik look like:
An ordinary erik looks like this - a narrow and perfectly straight channel, where two boats can barely pass each other. It should be noted that we arrived when the flood had already ended - and during the flood the water rises to the sidewalks:
The sidewalks here are simply called “masonry”. They are usually 2-3 boards wide, and it is no coincidence that the locals joke - “a drunken Vilkovite staggers not left and right, but back and forth”:
Someone parks boats on the side of the rivers:
But often short ditches under the masonry lead directly to the courtyards:
However, in recent decades, “Venice” has declined greatly - shops have become a more reliable source of food than the river, and it’s easier to get to the big city by bus. Many eriks were no longer looked after, and they quickly became overgrown with silt, turning into ordinary dirty ditches. In addition, the eriks dug for a reason - they formed a real hydraulic system, and therefore the clogging of even one erik affects all the others. They say that Vilkovo is rapidly becoming shallow and silting.
Behind the Belgorod Erik there is another St. Nicholas Church - Old Believer, and (although I did not find the date of construction) probably built in the first Romanian era (1856-78), like the “namesake” in the New Town. Lipovans in Vilkovo make up about 70% of the population, but due to the abundance of tourists, the local Old Believer churches are perhaps the most open in the world. Nobody prevents you from taking photographs (although I haven’t tried it directly in the church), you can calmly go to the service... a service in an Old Believer church leaves an indelible impression - the abundance of ancient icons (and the Old Believers always had more icons than the few churches could accommodate), a different manner singing and a strong feeling as if it were the 16th century. But the main thing is that there are not many places where anyone can see this, and not just those who seemed trustworthy to the Old Believers.
Not far from the church we saw the Danube. I saw it here for the first time:
The Danube turned out to be a huge river. In terms of water flow, it is only a quarter smaller than the Volga, and its width at Vilkovo is almost 800 meters, that is, quite worthy of Siberian rivers. Powerful current, muddy water. Beyond the Danube is Romania. Like Izmail and Kiliya, Vilkovo stands on the Kiliya arm - the largest of the three large branches that form the delta.
Coming to the Danube bank, we realized that we had wandered into a reed factory. Harvesting reeds, which are exported from here to Europe, is Vilkov’s main economic specialization. In the middle of the reed factory there is a hut like this, and behind the hut - try to guess what.
This is a completely rusted barge - we saw about five of these in the city, off the banks of the Danube and the main river. Industrial fishing was probably once carried out in the delta:
Now fishing nets are dried here on fishing boats:
From the board there is a beautiful view of the reed harvesting:
This whole walk took us less than an hour, and overall it left us with an ambivalent feeling. On the one hand, I was very impressed by the atmosphere of Vilkov, but on the other, there was a feeling of some kind of disappointment: “And that’s all?!” But it is no coincidence that I mentioned above the boat excursions, which are conducted both by the official Pelican company and by the local residents themselves. At the bridge over the main erik, a fisherman-looking guy approached us and offered us a ride on a motor boat around the Old Town and the floodplains for 200 hryvnia. We agreed.
Actually, the entire voyage consisted of two parts - first along the main river through the entire city, and then to the Danube and into the floodplain. And I must say, from the water Vilkovo looks completely different, many things that are invisible from the shore clearly appear:
Embankment - fences, masonry, boats on the water, bridges over the necks of the rivers. Someone's boat is coming out of the erik - now it will start the engine and drive:
Traffic on the canal is really active - oncoming and overtaking boats come across almost continuously. Motor:
Oaring:
And even kayaks - either some kind of club, or a physical education lesson at a local school:
Apparently, there is also an ethics here. So, our helmsman, seeing one of his peers, accelerated his speed and tried to splash them a little, and when he met a boat with women or elderly people, on the contrary, he turned off the engine and passed them by inertia. The main difference between a boat and a car is that it creates waves behind it, which will certainly shake and toss the oncoming boat - therefore, a “polite boatman” will first of all strive not to create a wave on the oncoming boat.
We walked the canal almost from end to end - about 10 minutes after the bridge, deserted floodplains begin, and then the boat goes out into an almost motionless backwater, behind which five-story buildings can be seen:
Here is an abandoned windmill:
Then we returned to the bridge and headed for the Danube:
We go out into the open river, where, I must say, there is a rather strong wave and a piercing wind:
At the mouth of the canal there is a border outpost with a turret resembling a tower, and a couple more rotten barges:
And although Romania is on the other side, the islands opposite Vilkov are quite inhabited. The fact is that here the Kiliya arm forms its own “delta within a delta,” which has turned into the outskirts of Vilkovo. These floodplains are very densely populated:
Half of Vilkovo residents have vegetable gardens here. Many make homemade wine, which they sell to tourists during the season:
Some areas have recently been replaced by recreation centers - despite the wilderness and inaccessibility, Vilkovo has recently become one of the most tourist cities in Ukraine. From these bases, during the season, excursions are carried out to the “zero kilometer” - the place where the Danube flows into the Black Sea, and deep into the floodplains, to look at the birds (and if the Volga delta is famous for its flamingos, then the main bird of the Danube delta is the pelican).
On one of the islands there are two golbets - Old Believers often used such columns with icons instead of crosses. As the helmsman explained to us, here they perform the same function as Orthodox crosses at the entrances to cities:
Well, it’s not yet the season, and the floodplains are mostly empty. A very impressive view - and it is not clear what century it is.
And finally - people. Perhaps the most amazing thing I saw in Vilkovo were its inhabitants. In general, I usually don’t photograph people, primarily because, in general, the people in different parts of the East Slavic world are not so visually different. But here I could not resist. People in Vilkovo look completely folkish - be they pious old women:
Or quite modern women:
For the most part, the residents of Vilkovo are not too different from the inhabitants of the Slavic hinterland in general - and yet there is something infinitely their own, Lipovan, about them. It seems that despite the openness and cordiality, despite the anticipation of the tourist season, despite the drunkenness and silted eriki, they still preserve some special, ancient times a Russian secret that people from outside cannot understand.
In conclusion of the story about Vilkov, I simply cannot help but provide links to two more of my posts that are related to the topic.
It is curious that 300 years ago, when Vilkovo (formerly Lipovanskoe) was founded by the Cossacks and Lipovans, the city stood near the sea. But over the past centuries, the sea has moved 18 kilometers away.
The Danube is the main local attraction. It is the largest river in Europe, almost 3,000 kilometers long. The river is the border of ten states, including Ukraine. Actually, on the opposite bank from Vilkovo there is already Romania. Despite the fact that the amount of fish in the Danube is decreasing, it is still there and fishing is an important source of income for local residents. There are sturgeon and beluga here.
What to do in Vilkovo:
- take a boat ride along the city canals or walk along them
- visit the “zero kilometer”, the place where the Danube flows into the sea
- get acquainted with Lipovan culture and cuisine
- see Old Believer churches
- go fishing
- try local wine
- visit the unique Ermakov Island, see birds and animals
There is a main canal in Vilkovo, just like in Venice. Actually, this is the only “working” channel that is constantly used.
There are also many small eriks.
The system of wooden and stone platforms is interesting; they are found almost everywhere and allow you to avoid dirt.
Hundreds of such platforms - personal berths - have been built along the Danube.
In spring there are a lot of daffodils in the city.
There are several monuments.
Lenin was demolished last year, only one pedestal remains.
The state provides very little support for the tourism industry in Vilkovo, so the tourism infrastructure that exists now was created by local residents. Actually, the state, apparently, generally supports Vilkovo only in words, this can be seen even by the terrible road that leads to the city.
We, as tourists with many years of experience, will list what what needs to be done here first of all to develop the tourism industry. In case those in power read us.
1. The most important thing is to pay attention to Vilkovo. Not only in terms of tourism. Believe me, this needs to be done for various reasons. And if you don’t understand these reasons, then you have no place among those in power.
2. Repair 80 kilometers of the road, this is some kind of shame, not the road.
3. Clear, improve and, most importantly, preserve the remaining small eriks (channels). This is the calling card of Vilkovo, which many tourists now simply call a swamp.
4. Improve tourist water transport and the services they provide. At the moment, there appears to be no special oversight over those offering services.
5. Place more emphasis on Lipovan traditions and cuisine. Take an example from the promoted Hutsuls.
There are many other recommendations, these are just the main ones. Why should you pay attention to Vilkovo? Because this is a unique place. Believe us, wherever we have been, we still write that this place is unique, with good potential.
Moreover, Vilkovo is already popular among foreign tourists. Together with us there was a group of Germans, 15 people, embassy employees. Many European tourists come to Vilkovo during cruises on the Danube. This is the last point for them, here they transfer to small boats and go to the zero kilometer, that is, the place where the Danube flows into the Black Sea.
In addition to Vilkovo itself, the Danube Biosphere Reserve, which is located around the city, is of great interest. Wherever you go by boat, your path will go through the reserve. The ecosystem of the Danube Delta is the most interesting in Europe and one of the best in the world. During two days of excursions we saw a huge number of birds and animals.
We took two boat trips. First, up to the symbolic zero kilometer along the Ankudinovy arm. Along the way we looked at alluvial gardens and reed thickets.
At the final point of the route we took a photo with a symbolic sign. Here you can collect various beautiful shells and see rare birds. It’s a pity that our camera doesn’t allow us to photograph them in the distance, but believe me, they are there, even pelicans.
We also visited Ermakov Island. Along the way we passed along Vilkovo.
It is visited by only a few hundred people a year, so it has a unique ecosystem. There is no pier here, disembarkation is directly on the shore. We really wanted to fly here on a copter and show the island from above, but the border guards forbade it (we specifically called them to ask permission).
A long lens is a must here. We saw wild horses, wild cows, hyena, white-tailed eagle, bittern, cormorant, Dalmatian pelican, heron, pheasant, hoopoe. We really wanted to see forest cats and wild boars, but it didn’t work out.
The island is surrounded by a special dam that prevents the growth of tall trees and shrubs. It is very convenient to walk along the dam and, by the way, the path on it is trodden by animals, not people.
Not everyone survives the winter; we saw the bones of several large animals.
Crow Egg
And of course very beautiful landscapes.
Vilkovo is also interesting because Old Believers (Lipovans) live here. We have little interest in religion, so we didn’t even know who they were. In a nutshell: in the 1650s and 1660s, a reform of the church was carried out. Those who did not accept the reform began to be called Old Believers. They are also Orthodox believers, just with small, “cosmetic” differences. You can read in detail on Wikipedia, but for us the main difference was that Old Believers cross themselves with two fingers, not three, and there are separate entrances to the church for men and women.
There are three churches in Vilkovo: two for Old Believers and one modern. We specifically shot them from above for comparison. Purely visually there are no differences. True, you can’t take photographs inside the Old Believers; the local mayor’s office has officially banned it. The reason is conflicts between Old Believers and tourists.
You can read on the Internet that Lipovans are closed and unsociable. We must say that there is such an impression. Although, when we flew in the city with a copter, local residents came up with interest and asked what it was and how it worked. There were no problems in communication :)
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Vilkovo (option - Vilkovka) is a city in the Kiliya district of Odessa region, located on the islands in the Danube arm, 18 km from the Black Sea. The city of Vilkovo is a unique town on the water, which is the main exit to the Ukrainian Danube Delta. The population of Vilkovo is 10.8 thousand people. The city is called the capital of the Danube fishermen.
Vilkovo was founded as the village of Lipovanskoye in 1746 (according to other sources in 1762) by the so-called Old Believers or Lipovans, who fled religious persecution after the Nikonian schism of the Russian Orthodox Church. These were the Don Cossacks who first settled in the Danube floodplains in the 40s of the 17th century. It was then that the settlement of Lipovanskiye appeared on Russian military maps for the first time – that’s what Vilkovo was called then. At the same time, this territory was being populated by Zaporozhye Cossacks, who fled persecution after the destruction of the Zaporozhye Sich. To this day, Lipovans represent the majority of the city’s population. They have preserved many of their religious traditions. There are 3 churches in the city - an Orthodox Orthodox church and two Old Believer Lipovan churches. Since 1812, after the signing of the Peace of Bucharest, Vilkovo has been a district town in the Besarabia province.
The first residents of Vilkovo began to develop the floodplains, but in order to build a house and set up a garden, they first had to build an artificial island. Construction material was taken right there, digging a canal around the island. And today the population of the old city continues to live on these same islands, each of which is surrounded by a canal or “erik”. Roads from house to house are laid along masonry and bridges. Each family has its own boat and this is the main means of transport for Vilkovo residents.
The Vilkovsky house has a special design. The frame of the house is made from wood, and then sheaves of reeds are installed into the frame. The inside and outside of the house is coated with Danube silt mixed with chopped reeds or straw, and the last upper layers are coated with sawdust. Such a thermos house retains heat well in winter and cool in summer.
Vilkovo is famous for its fishing and fish processing farms. The city is crossed by numerous canals and ducts that form streets. There are many different bridges, bridges, and passages. A recognized tourist center: houses on stilts, practically no sidewalks, instead of streets there are canals, personal and public transport - boats and catamarans.
A nature conservation reserve “Danube Plavni” (Danube Biosphere Reserve) has been created in Vilkovo, with an area of 47 thousand hectares. 65% of bird species registered in Ukraine are protected.
The office of the Danube Biosphere Reserve is located in Vilkovo, and its territory surrounds the city and extends into the Kiliya delta all the way to the Black Sea. The Danube Delta is the pearl of the Danube region, the last living delta in Europe, growing and developing, famous for its rich and unique flora and fauna.
The city has the Church of the Nativity (1850). Two roads lead from here - one to Kiliya and Izmail, the other to Spasskoye and Tatarbunary.
You can stay in Vilkovo in a Soviet hotel for 11 UAH. (a bed in a double room, 2004) or in a private boarding house for the “cool” for much more money. You can ride around the Danube Plavni Nature Reserve by negotiating with local fishermen for a certain amount of liquid currency on their motor boats and cutters.
During the Soviet years, the Vilkovo area was a border zone, but since 1992, entry here is free for everyone.
Coming to Vilkovo, you will visit the only city in Ukraine - a unique city on the water, which is located in the Danube Delta, one of the greatest rivers in Europe, and enjoy the pristine nature of the Danube floodplains. An unforgettable experience awaits you here.
On the border of Ukraine and Romania, an old Russian city is lost, where it has its own power and its own truth.
Vilkovo is a city on three waters and seven winds. Waters - Starostambulskoye, Belgorodskoye and Ochakovskoye branches. Winds - Karael, Abasia, Lodos, Buryas, Poludena, Midnight and the main one - Fortune, it is sea, brings fish, which means life.
Vilkovo was founded three centuries ago by Old Believers who fled Nikon's church reform, and to this day it remains quiet and hidden, hidden in the Danube floodplains - reed thickets.
According to local legend, Vilkovites know how to walk on the sea as well as on dry land.
The city is a set of man-made islands, washed out of silt, fenced with cut down reeds. Every year, fishermen on homemade boats repair their islands - Vilkovo goes under water, like Kitezh.
No authorities know how many islands there are, although in fact this city with a population of 10 thousand people is Ukrainian territory. But people here still speak the Russian language of pre-Petrine times and do not know what country they live in: some still think that they are “under Russia”, others – “under Romania”. The city was founded in August. The exact date is not known, although the white-bearded, stocky residents of Vilkovo live for a hundred years, were personally acquainted with their great-great-grandfathers and preserve urban legends.
Local happiness
In Vilkovo they live well, there is even a suspicion that they are happy. Not least because the bosses can't get here. To get to Vilkovo from Kyiv, you need to travel 480 kilometers to Odessa, then another 250 by bus or minibuses in the Odessa region, then by boat, if the locals sense someone in you and agree to give you a ride.
The Old Believers of Vilkovo are naive, like children, and healthy, like the aborigines before the advent of Miklouho-Maclay. They were not affected by the diseases of civilization. Brown beards, bright blue eyes - Russian blood has not dissolved, despite the invasions of the Turks and Romanians: in the city, for centuries, people only marry their own people.
The past is perceived here as existing. Russian shirts are worn untucked, under the belt. Local churches still write in metric and expense books that began 250 years ago. On the bell tower of the main temple, a bell rings with the inscription: “I will plant Vilkovo as a sign of joining the vast, God-protected Russian state.”
Vilkovo is a mythical city that appeared in the 17th century. The city was called a wandering city - it wandered from island to island. The inhabitants, now handsome and kind-hearted, were Filippovites. It was they who, during the Nikon reform, committed self-immolation and were considered the most fanatical and intolerant. Now they say that fanaticism helped them escape in the Danube floodplains, where it was impossible for an ordinary person to survive. Over the centuries, the name "Philippon" was transformed into "Lipovan". Thus was born the Vilkovo legend that the founders of the city descended from tribes that once hid in the linden forests. The Don Cossacks-Old Believers of Ignat Nekrasov joined the Philippons. Later, the Cossacks fled from the defeated Sich to these same floodplains, which were reputed to be deserted.
Vilkovites took part in the Turkish campaign. Kutuzov highly appreciated their services in his report:“In 1807, the residents of the village of Vilkovo showed their zeal, escorting the ships of our flotilla to the Kiliya armo, transporting provisions and other government needs to the flotilla and ground forces along the Danube River on their boats and their own expenses, without any salary from the treasury, leaving even the trades to their servants for food. Such exploits of theirs could not remain without respect, and the commander of our troops, as a reward, granted them the use of fishing and selling wine."
Since then, the residents of Vilkovo have been living with them. True, the sale has turned into an exchange in kind (as they now say, barter). But all city life still depends on the size of the catch. Danube herring is the main and main product of Vilkovo and, so to speak, currency. It is eaten fried, boiled and in all other forms every day. They say that Vilkovo’s longevity comes from it. Centenarian people in Vilkovo are a normal phenomenon. Who caught how much and how they used it - that’s all the topics for conversation, except for the ecclesiastical sublime. And the Vilkovo “novak” grapes, from which wine is made, are completely unique - nowhere else there is a variety that grows on silt and water.
Having become adept at transporting “an army and guns” and other large-sized loads on their boats, they, the economic ones, got cows and take them to the protected land to graze, and return them to the islands to spend the night. On little boats, which even a man would be afraid to sit in and where the rower, like a gondolier, stands in the Venetian style, pushing off with a four-meter oar, cows ride proudly, touching the reeds with their horns. In Vilkovo they are teased as “sea cows”. I can testify that it turned out to be a huge herd.
The area of Vilkov is about 460 hectares. The Danube, on which the city grew, is divided into a network of narrow canals between “residential points”. The canals are called eriks (the Turks helped with their “aryk”). Along them there are wooden ladders. These are streets, in the local dialect - masonry. They stand high above the water - the spring floods flood the islands. As the mayor of Vilkovo, Ivan Timoshenko, says, if drunk people everywhere sway from side to side, here they swing back and forth, so as not to fall off the masonry. If someone is in Erik, it means they are not local.
And the huts in Vilkovo are built using a cunning “three booths” system. The first, the largest, is to show to guests. The second, smaller one, is to sit with relatives. The third, similar to a barn, is for living. Russian stoves with handles and pots are in the yard so they don’t smoke. The true Slavic nature showed itself: it is impossible to live in purity, so at least throw dust in the eyes.
One mayor seems to know that Ukrainian power has been in Vilkovo for 20 years. Residents of the islands close to the central one suspect that Soviet power is over them (why else is Ilyich standing in the center and pointing his finger at the sea?). A common point of view. Vilkovchanka Motrya from a distant island sells wine only for rubles. Soviet. I collected 800 thousand - four bags. Capital, he says. She didn’t disappoint - with such a life, she would never know that her bank had collapsed. Other townspeople believe that they are still under the Romanians. “Vilkovo-Romanian contacts” were described to me by centenarian Eremey Kirsanov:
- “The Romanians came into the war of 1918 - they sent red fish and beluga to fish. Then the Russians came - they drove them to the collective farm. but there was no more good fish."
Romania - here it is, just a stone's throw away, just cross the Starostambul arm. But, as the border guards say, not a single smuggler even tries - there are reed floods all around, a disastrous business. And yet Romania is closer to them than the capital Kyiv. The local mayor's office is called the mayor's office, Ivan Timoshenko is the chief mayor. Tymoshenko came to mayor from the police, he himself was a newcomer and lived for a long time, as if at a train station waiting for a transfer: in Vilkovo they do not understand how one can serve in punitive units. Tymoshenko did the most important thing for the city - he caught the only local drug addict who grew and used poppy straw. This was the end of the drug mafia in Vilkovo.
Tymoshenko is not an ordinary person. A direct descendant of the famous marshal, he used to live in his Ukrainian house in the village of Furmanovka. It was like being in a whirlwind in Vilkovo. Now he has a service boat instead of a service Volga. And two honorable duties: paving masonry and painting the newlyweds. “There are 50 kilometers of masonry, every year we look for 100 cubic meters of timber for them,” Tymoshenko complains. And weddings are more and more “water” - from the bride’s house to the groom’s house and the church you can only get by boat. Fortunately, there is no shortage of boats in Vilkovo - 5,000 on the water, at least two boats per family. It's mostly women who row the oars: they say they row quickly.
The ladies in Vilkovo are truly portly - blood with milk and Danube herring. The only thing that no one has yet figured out is where women came from in Vilkovo, if they were neither among the Philippons who reached the floodplains, nor, even more so, among the Cossacks. “Apparently, they stole it somewhere, or made it out of ribs,” say reasonable Vilkovites.
I love you, boatman
The way they speak in Vilkovo is not spoken anywhere else. This is what they said in Rus' three centuries ago.
Their children are “youths”. And bad people are “kayafs” (from Caiaphas, to whom the arrested Christ was brought). Krivlyaki - "lamotics". Their clothes are caftans, jackets, jackets, sarafans, supports and posts. Only sea life made adjustments. About the talkative people they notice that they are poisoning sprat, about the crazy people - the ships burned down. There are surprisingly few such “fire victims” in a city where for centuries people have been marrying only “their own.”
Real ships burned in Vilkovo only once - either someone set the fire out of malice, or by accident. Since the fire, the boatman Ivan, a young but serious man, has become the main man in the city.
Ivan lives at a Venetian address - the Grand Canal, his own house. I came to him, to put it mildly, at the wrong time - Ivan was fairly rested after work, was embarrassed by his drunkenness, and did not respond to sound signals.
You say you came to build a boat? Better come tomorrow, we'll talk.
So I need it quickly.
It doesn’t happen quickly for us, the stomach is not the same.
Ivan is a resident of Vilkovo in the seventh generation. The best master in Vilkovo. It’s not even that it’s not scary to go out to sea in his boats not only on the Danube, but also on the sea. His boats are lucky, always with a catch, not only herring, but, lo and behold, sturgeon too. Ivan walks around with his shirt untucked, his muzzle red, if something doesn’t go his way, he can hit him with an oar. A noble groom will never find a profitable match. Rich, by Vilkovo standards, fabulously rich. He takes $500 worth of fish for each boat. In general, I would not pay.
Only “charon” Vasya, the ferryman from island to island, easily drops by to see the boatman Vanya. Vasya is cheerful and talkative, so much so that he is teased with “Bell” - an offensive nickname, as yard dogs are called. Small bugs chained to the ground are a real find: they bark loudly, but consume little food. You can’t feed wolfhounds here; the only food is fish; in order to grow potatoes, you need to create a separate island for yourself.
In the lost Vilkovo, wealth is measured by the Danube herring (Danube), although any visitor would call the Lipovans millionaires: in every house there are Donikon icons, the price of which is pure gold.
The rector of the local Nativity Church, Father Sergius, says that his temple, the road to which is always open, has never been attempted to be robbed. Although in the village of Primorsky, closest to civilization, the Russian church was surrounded three times - “there was a special order from the nationalists from the UNSO.”
We hold on to ancient primordial Rus'. Those who come to our faith remain in it; to leave it is a betrayal. We, Old Believers, do not have a schism, like the Nikonians. (There are three Orthodox churches in Ukraine, they are dividing churches, they tried to storm the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. - Y.S.) We are whole, we do not inject ourselves. And the people here are different - they are used to believing everyone, they have retained the old Russian hospitality in the “stingy” Ukraine.
Father holds two four-hour services almost every day. He complains that he can’t tell anyone his age (31 years old), and he doesn’t go to the disco.
Here they say so often that they do not walk under the state, but under God, that you begin to believe. Vilkovchan does not want to go beyond the city limits: “there is no land beyond the sea.” But there are also those who “escaped from Eden.”
105-year-old Joseph Yakov(he, like everyone else in Vilkovo, was named after the calendar) one day left the town at the wrong time - he ended up in the army, in the war. His 14 orders and the medal "For Military Merit" he doesn’t even wear it on May 9: firstly, the shirt doesn’t stick well, and secondly, all the awards in Vilkovo lose their meaning. Yakov even had to shave off his beard, without which a Lipovanin would not be a Lipovanin. After the Patriotic War, he became the captain of a seiner, sailed the sea, caught fish, and was so successful that “the secretary of the city committee personally allowed the icon to be kept in a distant nook at home. We often had searches back then; they tried to confiscate everything belonging to the church. But whoever confiscated it quickly went into the depths ". This old saying gave rise to the main Vilkovo legend - about retribution.
New myths
Myths began to multiply in the city when the Soviet government, which reached Vilkovo, swept away the Old Believer cemetery and built a cheerful kindergarten in its place. Six months later, the island went under water. The remains of children's "climbing paths" and "slides" still stick out among the reeds - this land could not be saved, no matter how much silt was washed onto it.
History repeated itself a year later, when one of the three Vilkovo churches was blown up and a fish warehouse and a public garden for cultural and public recreation in Lipovan were built. The fish in the warehouse was spoiling, the trees and herbs in the garden were drying out and burning. This continued until 1993, until the “whole world” began to rebuild the church.
Historians tell legends: they say that the ancient hero Achilles visited these parts. The place where he put his heel 2000 years ago is now the regional center of Kiliya.
Legends are told by border guards: they say that almost 400 fortune tellers live in Vilkovo. Yes, they are so effective that entire families died out because of them. To this day, when Ivan Ivanovich argues with Ivan Nikiforitch, they run to the “witch doctors” - so that they can damage the enemy.
Fishermen tell legends - how under the Tsar they caught beluga sturgeons from three cows the size, but under the Romanians they could not even lift a bucket of Danube water.
The Vilkovo authorities tell legends about how Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma found out about them and decided to visit his “Venice.” I didn’t get to Vilkovo itself - it was too far away. He arrived at the nearby pier, where a monument to the bent Lipovan, the first to land on this land, was erected for his arrival. When the president was taken off the boat and stood next to the monument, the mayor crossed himself - the concrete Old Believer looked just like the president, just with a beard. This was also noticed by the guards, who secretly hid in black suits in the surrounding floodplains at meter intervals. Then it turned out that the monument was cast by sculptors from intricate Odessa for Kuchmin’s visit.
Unknown to the authorities, Vilkovo decided to visit the Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Yevgeny Marchuk. So that he could get to the border of Vilkovo in winter, asphalt was laid directly on the ice. He, however, came down with the snow. And Lipovans received a new legend - about special asphalt with cooling that does not stain the tires.
But the most notable myth was brought to the Old Believers by a simple family. They, who called all strangers Germans, suddenly saw that Germans exist in nature: a foreigner moved to live with them in the city, and even married a Vilkovka woman.
Someone else's
The island became a ring for them - no beginning, no end. We fell into it like a quagmire - it sucked in. Jan Becker, vice-mayor of the Dutch city of Heethorn, left his native land and moved into the house of Anna Galitskaya, the head of the local Vilkovo eco-center. Actually, Anna herself came up with her own center and contacted the mayor’s office of the Dutch city, following the example of Vilkov, who lives on the water. It is in Vilkovo that they build huts from silt and reeds, whitewash them and call them “mazurkas”. In Holland, the houses were stone, rich, and the canals were clean. The vice-mayor came to satisfy Anya’s interest in such technical progress, then invited her along with a delegation of Vilkovo residents to his place, and then arrived in Vilkovo and stayed. Now Ian is mastering local life. The Russian-Dutch dictionary became a family reference book. Anna is studying it, she decided that Ian would not understand our cases. Moreover, the Old Russian speech.
Anna says that she left home for nowhere - to Jan. Housing on the outskirts of Vilkovo was offered to her by a sailor friend. Anin’s eco-center also moved there. She, a bacteriologist who studied in St. Petersburg and learned about comfort and theaters, settled in Vilkovo as in the most cholera-prone region: “There is no normal water here, people take it, untreated, from canals, cross themselves and drink. I extinguished cholera outbreaks three times. During the last one, in 1991, 100 people fell ill in such a small town. I have neither day nor night. As soon as someone gets poisoned, they wake me up - is it cholera?
Ian has settled down here, he feels good with me,” says the completely Europeanized Anna, who mastered cycling for her athlete husband. - In the city, our couple seemed to be accepted, but Ian is like a child - he approaches the residents of Vilkovo, smiles, and talks. They take him for a quiet madman." And they honestly cannot understand how, for the sake of a skeletal foreigner, a Vilkovka woman could leave her dear, portly husband.
In the house, Anna is the mother-nurse. But the abundance of Vilkovo herring is not given to Yan. “Under normal conditions, he would live another 30 years, but in such conditions it’s good if 15. I’m a doctor and I understand this. But he doesn’t want to leave. And there’s nowhere - in Holland his wife received all his property. They thought - to my mother in Russia, but Ukraine won’t let him go there. He’s here on a visa. Europe is so small, it’s so easy to cross, but our country is complicated. The visa expires in a couple of weeks,” Anna says this and drops her cup on the floor. “Yana, most likely "They will send us home. We are torn apart by two states."
So Vilkovo has its own power, no central one will reach it.
But you can’t explain this to the Dutchman; he is used to following the laws.
In the meantime, Yan was given a job as an adviser to the mayor on tourism.
Like, the Dutchman will bring his fellow countrymen and show them the floodplains. Foreigners will not be allowed inside the city: Vilkovo is a closed territory, reed silence, zero kilometer, its own starting point.
Yanina SOKOLOVSKAYA
Vilkovo - "Ukrainian Venice"
Vilkovo- this is the confluence of the waters of the Danube and the Black Sea, the pearl of the Danube lower reaches, the “Ukrainian Venice”, located right by the sea on the border with Romania. The unusual thing about the city is that the old part of the city is located on the water. Instead of streets, there are canals along which people travel mainly on peculiar Ukrainian “gondolas” (made here) and motor boats. In the city, people swim through the canals standing on the stern of the boat and pushing off with a pole.
How about, for example, the address: Belgorodsky Canal, 24. This is something like a central avenue for them. You float, and all around you are whitewashed clean houses, small vegetable gardens fertilized with silt, wooden masonry on the sides of canals 1-2 meters wide. The channels are called eriks. There are simple wooden bridges across the eriki. The top of the walkway is not secured. If the boat is carrying oversized cargo, then the top of the bridge is removed, and when the boat passes, it is put back in place. It turns out that the bridges are drawable.
The area of Vilkov is about 460 hectares. No authorities know how many islands there are, although in fact this city with a population of 10 thousand people is Ukrainian territory. But people here still speak the Russian language of pre-Petrine times and do not know what country they live in: some still think that they are “under Russia”, others – “under Romania”. But Vilkovo still remains quiet and hidden, hidden in the Danube floodplains - reed thickets. The town is small, it’s difficult to get lost here, and there are very friendly and welcoming people around.
Getting acquainted with this amazing region, we cannot help but talk about the history of its origin. In the mid-17th century, fugitive Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks, persecuted for religious and political reasons, settled in the lower Danube Delta. The location was chosen on the mainland on low sedimentary banks, which were flooded with water during strong winds and floods. There was a need to strengthen areas for housing, outbuildings and vegetable gardens. The soil was taken here, digging canals and eriks around the captured areas. They served as a boundary between the owners' land plots and good passages and shelter for boats.
Together with the natural channels of the delta, man-made canals formed a single water system of canals and eriks in the city of Vilkovo. It occupies up to 45% of the city’s territory and you can get to any part of it via canals by boat.
Vilkovo is an original and colorful region: Lipovan settlements, amazing dialects, a city of fishermen and winemakers. The city is located on water, so all the land here is alluvial. Most of the vegetable gardens are located on the islands, where people go by boat. Standing in the water, they take out the silt here, then lay it on the shore, and the dried silt is taken to the right place by wheelbarrows or stretchers. Fertilizers are almost never used. Silt, as in ancient Egypt, gives strength to any plant. Perhaps that’s why there are strawberries here almost all year round, but in addition to strawberries, Novak grapes are grown here, which is completely unique - nowhere else is there a variety that grows on silt and water. The grapes are used to make wonderful red wine and sell it, as indicated by chalk signs next to the gates. Wine costs 5-6 hryvnia 1.5 liters. There is a joke here: a Vilkov resident who wet his throat with Novak wine can be easily recognized. It only wobbles back and forth and in no case left or right. In Vilkovo this is impossible, because you will immediately fall into the water - there are such narrow masonry walls along the houses. Also here you can drink wonderful herbal teas from a wood-burning samovar, which are comparable only to those from the Carpathians.
According to local legend, the people of Vilkovo can walk on the sea as if on land. In Vilkovo, almost every family has fishermen, so there is plenty of fresh fish here. Men go fishing on the Danube or on the islands. Fishing lovers will appreciate the quiet banks of the Danube and its channels, overgrown with willows and reeds bending towards the water. You will see many exotic birds that live in abundance in the floodplains: pink pelicans, geese, striped hawks, and the famous white-tailed eagles.
You can go on a tour of the Danube on a boat, where they will show you the “0” kilometer - the place where the Danube flows into the Black Sea, the nature of the Danube Biosphere Reserve, feed you fish soup and drink wine, and in the evening you will be brought back to the pier. You can spend the night in a city hotel or rent a room by making arrangements with the grandmothers at the bus station.
So, for those who have not yet saved up money for Italy, we offer you to admire our “Ukrainian Venice” for now. Believe me, if you visit the Ukrainian Danube region at least once, you will forever remain in love with this region. It is here that nature and people live very close together, and in the evening you can take a bottle of wine, sit on the banks of the Danube and just relax. Well, by God, the feeling is simply incomparable when, sitting near a house in a small green garden and drinking delicious homemade wine, you hear the noise of a passing motor boat behind the fence, and not a motorcycle or a car. And what seems absolutely funny for a city person is to see how cows are taken on boats to graze on protected land, and returned to the islands to spend the night. On little boats, which even a man would be afraid to sit in and where the rower, like a gondolier, stands in the Venetian style, pushing off with a four-meter oar, cows ride proudly, touching the reeds with their horns.
In Vilkovo they are teased as “sea cows”. This is exotic!
You need to get to Vilkovo from Odessa. The bus station is located next to the station on Privoz. Departure to Vilkovo at 6.20 and around 10 am you will already be there.
In our article we will talk about a small town, which is located at the very confluence of the Danube River into the Black Sea. A mysterious, enigmatic, bewitching place where reality and fiction, natural beauty and products of human affairs are intertwined, all this is Vilkovo, the Ukrainian Venice. This is what this amazing place is called not only by visitors, but also by the city residents themselves.
The old part of the city is located on the water, so you can only get here by boat. Here you will not see standard transport, because instead of streets there are canals, like in Venice.
Let's figure out how it happened that people created this city right on the river, and what kind of recreation Vilkovo can provide, judging by people's reviews.
Church reform: consequences
Several centuries ago, representatives of the Old Believers fled to this place from the imposed church reform. As a result, after Russia's victory in the Russian-Turkish war, Russia's position increased noticeably. Many lands were united, and Moscow absorbed the single center of Rus'. There was a need to create one central church, since the Orthodox religion was the only core for the state.
It was decided to come to one ritual, one form of worship and one prayer. For this purpose, the Nikon reform began to be implemented, at the center of which was Byzantine church practice.
It turned out that many years after the baptism of Rus', traditional rituals underwent changes. Patriarch Nikon rebelled against fragmentation and disunity and on this wave enlisted royal support. But in fact, everything turned out to be much more complicated - not everyone wanted to accept the changes.
There were a record number of those who wanted to live in the old way; they included: part of the boyars, the clergy, peasants, and merchants. Thus began the process of splitting. As a result of the confrontation, many people suffered, and the Old Believers realized that there was practically no chance of winning and surviving.
Some self-immolated in protest, others fled, and others went underground. In this way, the escaped Lipovan Old Believers ended up on the swampy banks of the Danube and Ukrainian Venice began to emerge.
The feat of Lipovan and the birth of Vilkovo
Since 1746, this city on the water was literally rebuilt and “land was taken out of the water”, namely, they found silt inside the waters, laid it in the foundations of houses and streets, and fenced off the islands with chopped reeds. It was as if the city was being torn from the tenacious hands of the river.
During the days of the Russian-Turkish war, the Lipovans made a contribution to the victory. Their services were highly appreciated in Kutuzov's reports. If the Lipovans had not made their contribution, it would have been simply impossible to imagine one of the most notable victories on a historical scale - the capture of the city of Izmail, a fortress of the Ottoman Empire. According to Suvorov, who personally inspected the fortress before the assault, this structure is one of the strongest fortifications in all of Europe.
The Lipovans themselves did not take part in hostilities for reasons of religion, but they agreed to assist Suvorov in organizing the transfer of troops along the Danube. They provided their own boats with high performance, spaciousness and maneuverability. Over the years of living on the river, the settlers had provided for everything. Their narrow boats had sharp edges on both sides, which greatly saved them time when turning.
The commander, as a reward, gave the Lipovans the opportunity to own the water of the Danube, and this was recorded in a document and sealed. In the 20th century, Romania attempted to deprive the Lipovans of this right, but the Hague International Court recognized the right of the Lipovans to be masters of the Danube.
The act of lipovan is not even a military feat, but also a good Christian deed. The people showed that they do not remember any grievances, put the common cause above their own interests and know how to help, without hoping for any benefits.
Population of Vilkovo
Most of all in Vilkovo there are Russians. There are about 70% of them here, and most of them today profess an ancient religion and support the Old Believer faith. 25% are Romanians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, as well as representatives of other national minorities.
In total, about 9 thousand people live in Viloko (according to 2001 data). Russian is the native language for most of the population here.
Religion in Vilkovo
There are only three churches in the city - two churches that support Old Believer traditions, one is Orthodox. In addition, there are several Baptist churches in Vilkovo.
Geography of the region
From the map of Vilkovo you can get a clear idea of the location of the town.
The Danube flows into the Black Sea with several “sleeves”, separating channels that resemble a fork, this explains the name of the city. The parts of this fork were manually joined by “eriks” - channels. And at the moment there are more than 72 islands in the city.
Together with river channels, the canals created one large water system in Vilkovo. The photo of Vilkovo clearly shows the channels that alternate with small islands. If you look at a map of the city from the air when the Danube is flooding, you can see clear rectangles of land islands among endless water.
Nature of Vilkovo
Vilkovo is truly a piece of paradise, which can rightfully be called the Ukrainian Venice, because here all nature lives at the junction of the river and the sea. Rare species of animals, birds and plants can be found in this region. And nearby there are lakes and a pine forest. Silt gives plants strength, as in Ancient Egypt, by fertilizing them.
Residents take out the silt with their own hands, stand in the water, then let it dry and deliver it in wheelbarrows where they need it. The land that you create with your own hands can always be turned into a vegetable garden with beds of vegetables or a garden with flowers.
The small houses of the inhabitants are surrounded by fragrant vineyards and gardens. All vegetable gardens are mainly located on the islands. Just imagine: to get to visit your neighbor, you need to sail a boat or walk along a bridge. What can I say, this is truly Ukrainian Venice. In the photo you can see simple streets along which boat traffic takes place. This is how the everyday life of Vilkovo residents goes.
Business in Vilkovo
In addition to cultivating the land, residents catch fish and sell it. It’s not for nothing that the city is sometimes called the capital of the Danube fishermen. They fish here both in the river and in the sea. This is the main industry of the population. In addition, reeds are also in great demand here.
Residents of Vilkovo sell local strawberries, fish, grapes, homemade wine and other products to tourists, who happily buy local delicacies.
Sights of Vilkovo
Why come to Vilkovo? Ukrainian Venice is an exceptional city in Europe, located on the territory of the Danube Plavni Nature Reserve. This is an area that is carefully protected by the state. There are unique natural complexes here, environmental monitoring is carried out along with scientific research.
Life is in full swing in Vilkovo. Many birds, animals, fish and plants are listed in the Red Book. At the place where the Danube flows into the Black Sea there is a “zero kilometer” sign. According to some rumors, if you visit here at least once, you can forget about illnesses and failures. I can’t even believe that the path of the Danube is 2.5 thousand kilometers, and it flows into the sea right here, in Vilkovo.
Holidays in Ukrainian Venice
This beautiful place has several hotels, mini-hotels and recreation centers. Based on the reviews, we can conclude that it is ideal to visit here as a couple, with children or a large group or family. In the courtyards there are playgrounds, slides and swings.
During the day you can go sailing on a boat or boat, go fishing or even visit the fish market, which, by the way, is the best in the region.
We recommend local cuisine. It is worth trying real fish soup, smoked bream, Danube herring, Salamur sauce, Lipovan herbal tea, and, of course, local wine Novak. It’s definitely worth coming to Vilkovo. It's delicious and interesting here!