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06/14/08
Ukraine News
Pre-revolutionary catacombs of Kharkov will soon be open for public attendance
Category: Adds
Posted by: irina
 The story of Kharkiv’s Catacombs is one of the most mysterious and interesting page of Kharkiv history. For a long time there has been a lot of discussion about Kharkiv underground catacombs: legends, stories, rumors and anecdotes about the underground tunnels of Kharkiv have spread far beyond the limits of the city. With time, the more facts were found, the more people came to believe that the catacombs really exist.
The research and excavations showed exciting results: long underground ways were found in the very center of the city - running right under the Philarmony Building, the City Hall, the Academy of Culture and Arts, along Rymarskaya street, then under the city Synagogue, etc. Some underground spaces have not been studied and secured yet, and it is impossible to visit them.
In the beginning of Autumn, 2007, a Kharkiv Civic Organization “Children of Underground” announced that the underground catacombs in the center of Kharkiv would be transformed into a Museum.
Here is a little piece of history about Kharkiv's catacombs.
 The Underground Catacombs were built in the end of the 18th, and in the beginning of the 19th centuries. The total length of tunnels is about 5 km. The longest one is 650 m. For a long time it was hard to reach the Catacombs and prove their existence.
The ancient underground under the city philarmony served as a bomb-shelter during Second World War. This space is supposed to be re-equipped for the Museum about the Kharkov’s Catacombs.
There are many internet resources that tell stories about underground tunnels of Kharkiv. Here is one of them, that happened in the end of the 19-th century.
Several people witnessed how a horse mounted gendarme had fallen under the ground on Mordvinovsky Alley. After the frightened man was taken from the big hole, a secret underground manhole was found. Two prisoners were suggested to follow the underground way and were asked to try to reach the end of the tunnel. Both were going to obtain freedom for the heroism of doing this. These men were missed for three days. Eventually, on the fourth day, they turned up by breaking the floor from beneath in the Church of Saint Nikolay, which was quite far from the place where they had started.
The two brave men took some food and water and went down again. This time, they appeared near the house of the Governor on Ekaterinoslavskaya street, and during the third attempt - near the prison in Holodnaya Gora area.
 The prisoners didn’t tell much about what they had seen underground, but there was one thing, which caught attention of the listeners. They assured that there was a big stone columned underground gallery with twelve stone chairs around it, and an open book of prediction of the human’s destinies.
P.S. Sounds like a fantasy or a horror movie, doesn't it? Well, History is like a woman. Sometimes you think you studied enough to make your own conclusions, but sometimes She brings unpredictable surprises. There is a big number of legends and conjectures inside. Believe or not... this is up to you. :)
article provided by Marina Pristinskaya
Photos for the article were taken from FotoFile.ru
There is another not less interesting and secretive place in Ukraine: the underground catacombs in Odessa. You can read about Odessa Catacombs at DU Network's Travel site.
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