Holy mountains
Holy Mountains - a national park in Ukraine, founded in 1997 on an area of 405 km2 along the Seversky Donets River.
The park is known, first of all, for its shallow mountains, in which relict melon pine trees grow. In addition to them, almost a thousand plants grow here, 48 of them are present in the Red Book of Ukraine. In the Holy Mountains, 250 species of animals were recorded, among which 194 species of birds, 43 species of mammals. Also, 40 species of fish live in the waters of the national park.
No less interesting in the national park are archaeological sites and historical monuments, of which there are more than 200 in total. These include Dub Kamyshev, dedicated to the feat of Lieutenant Vladimir Kamyshev, who climbed to the top of the oak and adjusted artillery fire for enemy positions in 1943 when the Seversky Donets river was forced. But the Germans noticed him and demolished the crown of the tree from a self-propelled gun, mortally injuring the hero. From the monuments will attract the attention of the monument to Artyom, dedicated to the revolutionary Fedor Andreevich Sergeev, the founder of the Donetsk-Krivorozh Soviet Republic.
On the rocky banks of the river is also the St. Petersburg Lavra, built back in the 13-16th century. Near the laurel there is a forest with centuries-old oaks about 25 meters high, but among them there is, and the oldest oak in the eastern part of Ukraine, more than 600 years old, with a diameter of 2 meters and a height of almost 30 meters. On the mountain above the laurel, a monument to Artyom rises.
On the lands of the Saints Mountains National Park, Lake Chernetskoye, which appeared on the site of the old channel of the Seversky Donets River, is also located on the Black Stallion reserve with an area of 223 hectares, where black alder grows. In the martynenkovo swamp you can see the largest heron colonies in Ukraine, chibis, willvologists, nightingales, black pears, and udotes are also found here. Of the plants, water lilies, cubes, thyroid, swamp irises, head restraints, watercolors, floating rdes. On the territory of reserves, any economic activity and logging is prohibited.
