Kelmenets district

Kelmenets district is located in the forest-steppe zone of the Prut-Dniester interfluve in the northeastern part of Chernivtsi region. The following rivers flow through its territory: Dniester, Sursha, Vilia, Loschyna, Restavka, and Medvezhka. In the south, Kelmenetschyna borders on Moldova, in the north - along the Dniester River bed - on Kamianets-Podilskyi district of Khmelnytskyi region, in the east - on Sokyryanskyi district, in the west - on Khotynskyi and Novoseleskyi districts of Chernivtsi region. The district covers 0.67 thousand square kilometers. The distance to the city of Chernivtsi by highways is 90 km, by rail - 106 km. The district has a 72 km long state border with the Republic of Moldova. As of 01.01.2018, the permanent population of the district amounted to 40.2 thousand people. The district center was home to 7.3 thousand people.

The district center is the village of Kelmentsi. Settlements of the district: Hrushivtsi, Dnistrovka, Voronovytsia, Babyn, Komariv, Makarivka, Nahoryany, Moshanets, Bernove. According to historical documents, the village was first mentioned in 1559. At that time, it was called Kelmenesti (1642) and Kelmentsei (1817). According to legend, at the place where Kelmentsi is located, where the routes from Podillia to Moldova and from there ran, there was an inn and the estate of the innkeeper Kelman, and later the houses of people who worked for him. The travelers called the estate Kelman's yard, and his employees were called Kelmantsi. Until 1959, Kelmentsi was a village, and since May 1959 it has been an urban-type settlement. It received the status of a district center in 1940.

Kelmentsi district lies within the historical and ethnographic land of Bessarabia. Many ancient Slavic settlements of the V-IX centuries and settlements of later times have been discovered on the territory of the district, when the territory of present-day Bukovyna was an integral part of the Russian principalities - first Kyiv (X-XI centuries), and since 1199 - Galicia-Volyn. Such prominent figures as opera singer L. Lypkovska, songwriter M. Tkach, singer P. Dvorsky, artist M. Hebrina, and composer H. Shevchuk were born in the Kelmenets region.

Kelmenets district is one of the most mysterious regions of Chernivtsi region. There are no architectural landmarks in the district, but their absence is fully compensated for by the natural resources of the Kelmenets region. It is unlikely that the banks of the Dniester will express you as well as here: the stone castles created by nature are truly unique. However, the most fascinating views of the Dniester cliffs are from the opposite bank, in Khmelnytskyi region. In recent years, the tourist infrastructure of the Kelmenets district has begun to find its feet: several tourist bases have already been built on the banks of the Dniester. The first two of them are off our route: the "Fisherman's House" recreation center in the village of Bernove (9 kilometers from the route) and "Dzhia" in the village of Moshanets (6 kilometers from the route). You can spend the night in one of them.

Kelmenets region is also a paradise for archaeologists. There are 18 archaeological sites in the district, including early Slavic earthen fortifications along the banks of the Dniester between the villages of Voronovytsia and Hrushivtsi, ancient Russian settlements near the villages of Lenkivtsi, Nahoryany, Babyn, Buzovytsia, settlements of Trypillian culture near Novoselytsia and Cherniakhiv culture near Komariv village, and groups of mounds of different times in the area of Kelmentsi, Vartykivtsi, Lenkivtsi, Moshantsi, Berkivtsi, Oselivka, Voronovytsia, Vartykivtsi, Zelena.

Sacred architecture

• St. Dmitry's Church (1887) in the village of Bernove;
• Remains of the caves of the Bakotskyi rock monastery (XII-XIII centuries) in the village of Dnistrovka;
• St. Michael's Church (1864) in the village of Babyn;
• St. Michael's Church (1847) in the village of Perkivtsi;
• St. Michael's Church (1892) in the village of Kelmentsi;
• Assumption Church (1765) in the village of Komariv;
• Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (1808) in the village of Nelipivtsi;
• Church of St. Alexander Nevsky (1860) in the village of Ivanivtsi.

Natural monuments and protected areas

• Hrushevets Park in the village of Hrushevets is a monument of landscape art of the XIX century, which is home to about 20 species of trees and shrubs, most of which are rare for Kelmenets region: Persian lilac, gray walnut, white robinia, steel rose and others;
• Cone hills in the villages of Hrushevtsy and Nahoryany are a geological natural monument of local importance. It consists of cone-shaped hills with a height of 15-20 meters. These geological forms were formed as a result of the destruction of the barrier reef by natural processes, which was formed in the Miocene era (began 23 and ended 5 million years ago), when this area was occupied by the waters of the warm sea;
• Ichthyological reserve "Bernovskiy Island" in the village of Bernovo, located in the waters of the Dniester reservoir, where catfish, bream, pike, carp and other fish species come to spawn;
• The Babynska Stinca landscape reserve, located along the slopes of the Dniester reservoir valley in the villages of Makarivka, Nahoryany, Hrushivtsi, Babyn, Dnistrovka, Komariv. The landscapes of this area are rich in rock outcrops, which form a kind of open-air museum of geological history.

In Kelmentsi, the Kelmentsi Mineral Water, a source of sodium and calcium hydrocarbonate, comes to the surface on the territory of the district hospital. In the village of Hrushivtsi, there is a source of mineralized water called "Hrushovetsky".

Address of the District State Administration: 2 Tsentralna Square, Kelmentsi, Kelmentsi district, Chernivtsi region, 60100, tel./fax: (03732) 2-05-80, tel. 2-04-85, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] .