Monastyrskyi Island ( uk, Монастирський острів) is an island within the boundaries of the Sobornyi district of the Ukrainian city of

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

near the right bank of the

river. It is covered with granite rocks to the west which gradually turns into a sandy spit in the east of the island. Part of the island belongs to the Taras Shevchenko city park. The island is connected to the city by a pedestrian bridge in its northern part.

History

According to archeological finds, in the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

period (7—3 thousand ''

Anno Domini The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord" ...

'') human settlements appear on the island. In 1961 there were found several scraps and sharpener of ancient

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

by archaeologists. The island got its name in the ninth century because of an unconfirmed belief that in that century Byzantine monks founded a monastery on the island, which in 1240 was destroyed by the

Mongol-Tatars The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

. In 1747

Ukrainian Cossacks The Zaporozhian Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossack Army, Zaporozhian Host, (, or uk, Військо Запорізьке, translit=Viisko Zaporizke, translit-std=ungegn, label=none) or simply Zaporozhians ( uk, Запорожці, translit=Zaporoz ...

did build a monastery on the island. The first monument to

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, wr ...

on the island appeared in the mid-

1920s File:1920s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Seán Hogan during the Irish War of Independence; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which ...

(the exact year is unknown). In the

1930s File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central United States become dry an ...

the island had an "allée of writers" where several busts of prominent

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

and

Russian writers This is a list of authors who have written works of prose and poetry in the Russian language. For separate lists by literary field: * List of Russian-language novelists * List of Russian-language playwrights *List of Russian-language poets ...

were located, including a simple

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...

bust of Shevchenko. These two monuments did not survive the heavy fighting in Dnipropetrovsk during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. A new monument to Shevchenko was opened in 1949, only the pedestal has survived from this monument. The main alley on the island in the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

s was completed by a monument to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

in the middle of a large

flowerbed A flower garden or floral garden is any garden or part of a garden where plants that flower are grown and displayed. This normally refers mostly to herbaceous plants, rather than flowering woody plants, which dominate in the shrubbery and wo ...

. In 1958 a new monument to Shevchenko was installed on the island that was unveiled on 5 November 1959. This monument is several times larger than its 1949 predecessor. This 1949 monument was then reinstalled in the Shevchenko neighborhood in Dnipro's

Samarskyi District Samarskyi District ( uk, Самарський район) is an urban district of the city of Dnipro, in southern Ukraine. It is located at the confluence of the Dnieper and Samara rivers in the eastern and southeastern parts of the city. Histo ...

where it was located until October 2007, when it was destroyed. (The 1959 monument has become one of the city's most recognized landmarks.) There is also a memorial cross to the Byzantine monks, erected in 1994. In 1999 an Orthodox church of

St. Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...

was built on the northern part of the island. From 17 October 1929 until 24 November 2015 the island was officially named ''Komsomolsky Island'' ( uk, Комсомольський острів), after the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

political youth organization of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

.Monastyrsky (Komsomolsky) island. Historical background
Dmytro Yavornytskyi National Historical Museum It was renamed to its current name in order to comply with decommunization law.In Dnipropetrovsk, 57 place names were "decommunized" - streets, island and subway

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

(24 November 2015)

Gallery

File:Монастирській острів та мости.jpg, 2019 aerial photograph of Monastyrskyi Island File:Площа, Парк ім. Т.Г. Шевченка.jpg, Monument to

on Monastyrskyi Island File:Пляж3 - panoramio - anchishkyn.jpg, Monastyrskyi Island beach File:Комсомольский храм, (01).JPG,

church on Monastyrskyi Island File:A Waterfall In Dnipro (220691437)-2.jpg, Waterfall on one of the island's steep cliffs

Notes

References

External links

{{coord, 48.4632, 35.0796, format=dms, type:isle_region:UA, display=title Sobornyi District, Dnipro Islands of the Dnieper River islands of Ukraine History of Dnipro