Holy Cross Monastery

The Holy Cross Monastery in Poltava was founded in 1650 on the banks of the Vorskla River at the expense of Colonel M. Pushkar, Poltava sergeant and burghers. The Holy Cross Cathedral (1699-1709) is the only seven-domed Baroque church in Ukraine that has survived to this day. The four-storey bell tower (1786) in late Baroque style has a height of 43 m. The complex also includes the single-domed Trinity Church (1750) and the Semenov Church (1887). During the war with the Swedes here was the rate of Charles XII. In the first half of the XX century the monastery was closed and looted, the premises were used by the NKVD as a prison for minors, then as a boarding school. The complex was returned to the church in 1991.