Rivers have always played an exceptional role in people's lives. At the dawn of the development of civilization, they served as a source of food and drinking water, protected from enemy attacks. It is not surprising that on the banks of the great water arteries, cities grew up like mushrooms after the rain, in which history was made.
The main river of the Slavs
This river was known in the ancient world, because the first mention of it dates back to the fifth century. The Greeks called it Borisfen, the Slavs - Slavuta or Slavutich, the Latin name of the river sounds like Danapris. Perhaps from here came the modern name of the main river of the Slavs - the Dnieper, on the banks of which Kyiv arose - the mother of Russian cities. The largest cities of the region are still standing there, and the most important events took place in the past.
The source of the Dnieper, the river of Slavic friendship, is located on the territory of modern Russia. On the border of the Tver and Smolensk regions, approximatelyforty kilometers from the regional center Sychevka there is a small Kielce swamp. Here is a memorial sign that says that it is here that the stream begins, which will turn into a powerful water artery, carrying its waves through solid rock to the Black Sea. And the river itself flows through the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
The river starts from the blue stream…
As we have said before, the source of the Dnieper is located on the territory of Russia. The nearest village Bocharovo is six kilometers away from it. Previously, the village of Dudkino was considered as such, which disappeared from the map in the eighties of the last century. But even in Bocharovo there are no young people left at all, and no more than forty people live in the village itself. Buses practically do not go here - it is not economically feasible. But near the place where the source of the Dnieper is located, a church is being built, and at least occasionally, tourists still come. This is not surprising, because the places sacred to all Slavs are very picturesque. Dense forests abound with berries and mushrooms, and the river itself is full of fish.
A breath of history
So, where are the sources of the Dnieper on the map, we have already found out. Now let's talk about what happened on the banks of an amazing river in the long history of mankind. People lived in these places already in the Stone Age, as evidenced by the numerous finds of archaeologists. Scientists have unearthed ancient settlements just one and a half kilometers from the Kielce swamp. By the ninth century, the famous and very important route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was fully developed.
Most traces on the banks of Borisfen left the twentieth century, namely the Second World War. In the autumn of 1941, the source of the Dnieper was stubbornly defended by the 119th Krasnoyarsk Rifle Division. In fierce battles, most of the soldiers of the division died, in memory of which later grateful descendants erected a memorial plate and an obelisk. In the village of Aksenino, which does not exist today, another monument was erected - to civilians who were burned by the Nazis at the turn of 1942-1943. A guerrilla camp was located one and a half kilometers from the beginning of the majestic river. In the area of the source of Slavic pride, many anti-tank ditches, bunkers, bunkers, as well as mass graves of fallen soldiers have been preserved.
Save and save
The source of the Dnieper today is considered a natural monument of regional significance. In the seventies of the twentieth century, pines and Siberian cedars were planted here, a cross and a sign were installed. Since 2003, it was decided to equip a complex reserve with an area of 32.3 thousand hectares in this place, which includes Lavrovsky and Aksenovskiy peatlands, Gavrilovskoye Lake of glacial origin. With the blessing of Patriarch Kirill, the Vladimir the Great Slavic Foundation is creating a spiritual, historical and cultural center in these protected areas. The church of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir the Great, the chapel and the rector's house have already been erected.
Dnieper River: source and mouth
We wrote a lot about the Dnieper and its source. But one of the largest rivers in Europe has anotherattraction worth mentioning. This is the mouth. The ancient Borisfen flows into the Dnieper Estuary of the Black Sea. On the way to it, the river overcomes a serious natural barrier, forming rapids. This problem of navigation was solved only in the twentieth century, by building a whole cascade of dams. These are the Dnieper HPP in Zaporozhye (1927-1932), Kakhovskaya HPP (1950-1956), Kremenchugskaya (1954-1960), Kyiv (1960-1964), Dneprodzerzhinskaya (1956-1964), Kanevskaya HPP (1963-1975).
The Dnieper Delta consists of a large number of branches and channels. In floodplains stretching for hundreds of kilometers, it is better not to walk. A lot of low and swampy islands of irregular or rounded shape (the so-called saucers) are formed in the mouth. The land here is deserted, as there are practically no forests. But herbs grow in abundance. This is both cattail and sedge, but most of all reed, which forms real thickets.
But it's better to see all the beauty of the Dnieper at least once, walking along it on a boat, than to read about it hundreds of times and look at the photo!
