Самар

Samarivska City Hromada is the town of Samar on the banks of the Samara River, known as Novomoskovsk until 2024. The town officially dates its history to 1576 and celebrated its 450th anniversary in 2026. In the 18th century, under the names Samarchyk and Novoselytsia, it was the centre of the Samara Palanka of the Zaporozhian Host, one of the largest Cossack districts. The town's main treasure is the Holy Trinity Cathedral, built in the 1770s by folk master Yakym Pohribniak: the nine-domed wooden church was raised without a single nail, and it inspired Oles Honchar's novel "The Cathedral". Nearby, in an early 20th-century building, the Petro Kalnyshevsky Museum of History and Local Lore has six halls covering everything from the ancient history of the Samara region and the Cossack era to modern times. In the 20th century Samar also became an industrial town: a pipe plant built here in the 1930s became known far beyond the country. The historic centre preserves merchant buildings along Palankova, Hetmanska and Shevchenko streets, Cathedral Square and old churches. Travellers are drawn to the Samara River with its floodplains, sandy beaches and bridges, and to the pine and oak forests of the Samara region that come right up to the town. It is worth visiting for City Day in September, strolling along the embankment, hearing stories of the Cossack Palanka and admiring the cathedral reflected in the Samara River.