Sevastopol Park

Sevastopol Park
Севастопольський парк
Monument at the park photographed in 2010
Type	Urban park
Location	Dnipro Raion
Nearest city	Dnipro
Coordinates	48°26′48″N 35°03′39″E
Area	6.5 hectares (16 acres)
Established	1955
Etymology	Siege of Sevastopol
Operated by	Dnipro City Council
Status	culture and recreational park

The Sevastopol Park (Ukrainian: Парк імені Тараса Шевченка, romanized: Park imeni Tarasa Shevchenka) is a memorial park in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Siege of Sevastopol, the park was established in 1955. On the park's main lane there was a monument honoring the soldiers of the siege that was partly destructed on the order of the city council on 7 June 2024 to comply with derussification laws. The memorial was built by architect Petrov and given to the city, constructed from materials collected from Sevastopol itself.

History

During the Siege of Sevastopol Fromm 1854 to 1855, the whole of what is now Dnipro was the a strategically significant location on the military operations map during the Crimean War. The location functioned as the southern frontier area leading to Crimea. This location also housed army units, command centers, and military hospitals. This was the closest safe area for all the injured, and is significant to remember that Katerynoslav (as the city of Dnipro was called at the time) received the captured French, British, and Turks.

Potemkin Palace and Mechnikov Hospital served as military hospitals during the period. The fallen soldiers were laid to rest at a hospital cemetery situated on the grounds of the present-day Sevastopol Park. In 2008 historians from Dnipro (the city was then named Dnipropetrovsk) and the surrounding area claim that over 40,000 Russo-Turkish War soldiers are interred here. On different sides of the same hill, they were buried. Later on, the nearby Sevastopol Park and the commemorative monument were established there.

A tiny chapel was constructed at the cemetery in 1863. However, Emperor Alexander II visited Ekaterinoslav (Dnipro's name at the time) in October of that same year, and on his own initiative, the chapel was restored and dedicated in honor of the Lazarus of Bethany. The church was shuttered and largely demolished during the 1930s. Ivan Manzhura, a Ukrainian poet and democrat, was buried in 1893 on land that would eventually become Sevastopol Park. When the church was finished in 1894, a two-story bell tower was built. The USSR's anti-religious campaign demolished the church, but some of its ruins survived and provided the foundation for the mound that would eventually be built.

The cemetery was devastated during the World War II and rebuilt in 1956. A mound with a monument atop it crumbled during the Siege of Sevastopol, by Nazi German forces. Originally intended to be cleared out and replaced with a vegetable greenhouse, the cemetery was turned into a memorial garden in 1953. Monuments and memorials were erected on the main lane, and alongside them—on the burials of thousands of city dwellers—were constructed a children's playground, a dance floor, a movie theater, and even a bar.

Sevastopol Park received the designation of a monument in 1977. Nevertheless, the memorial became abandoned throughout the years of Ukraine's independence. The park ran out of money in the 1990s, and everything came to a halt and abandoned. The park was attempting to come back to life in the mid-1990s, so they began construction and the bar reopened. However, the workmen discovered the coffins and bones. People in the neighboring areas started to protest against the development, the construction was again halted. The bones of an unidentified man were discovered in 1997 while the park was being rebuilt. Although there were speculations that he recognized Alexander Pol, the inspection revealed that the bones were not his.

A square named for the young scouts was inaugurated and refurbished in the following decade. Sevastopol Memorial Park opened to the public on 3 May 2008, the 225th anniversary of Sevastopol and Victory Day. Diplomats from the Russian Federation Consulate General in Ukraine, a delegation from the city consisting of the Sevastopol veterans, the Dnipropetrovsk diocesan clergy, Cossacks, young sailors from the Dnieper Flotilla, and civilians all attended the event.

In 2020, while conducting archeological digs, archaeologists discovered the tomb of the protopop, from the late 1800s who was maybe the Lazarov Church's rector. The church's foundation, burials and crypts, were unearthed during a 109 UAH renovation work in 2021. Alexander Pol's remains were discovered and was later reburied in a new grave a 100 metres (330 ft) from the actual resting place. A labradorite slab over his new grave would be placed near the central lane.

The park would be closed for redevelopment, which was expected to take longer than a year, from 18 October to 31 December 2022. After the beginning of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022, work has been put on hold. The park was deteriorating as of May 2023, with several deep holes and broken tiles on monuments. The park's renovation is expected to remain intact until 31 December 2024. The memorial plaque was dedicated to the defenders of Sevastopol was removed on 7 June 2024 on the orders of the city council of Dnipro to comply with the law "On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy" (as part of the campaigns to derussificate and decolonization of Ukraine). Commenting on the removal the city council stated that they would contact local museums regarding the possible museumification of the dismantled structures.

Landmarks and structures

There wa a commemorative monument on the location of the mass burial that had a staircase, but this monument's memorial plaque was removed on 7 June 2024 on the orders of the city council of Dnipro to comply with the law "On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy" (as part of the campaigns to derussificate and decolonization of Ukraine). Defensive weaponry are among the components that the architects employed to decorate the monument. One of the park's distinctive features was the arch in front of the entrance, which eventually collapsed because of structural instability brought on by the trams that went through it every day. On 7 June 2024 the memorial plaque was dumped in front of the monument, leaving two big holes in the entire monument.

Following renovation in 2008, a bust depicting Russian admirals and sailors from the Crimean War was placed in the park. The busts that all were removed in December 2021 in the park consisted of:

• Nikolay Pirogov (1810–1881), a medical doctor and scientist
• Shevchenko Ignatiy (died 1855), a sailor of the Imperial Russian Navy
• Koshka Markovich (1828–1882), a sailor of the Imperial Russian Navy
• Zaika Fedor, a sailor of the Imperial Russian Navy
• Sevastopol Dasha, a Sister of Mercy
• Pavel Nakhimov (1802–1855), admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy
• Vladimir Kornilov (1806–1854), vice admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy
• Vladimir Istomin (1810–1855), rear admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy

• Busts at the Sevastopol Park
• 
  Pavel Nakhimov
• 
  Vladimir Kornilov
• 
  Koshka Markovich
• 
  Nikolay Pirogov
• 
  Shevchenko Ignatiy
• 
  Vladimir Istomin

Gallery

• 
  The monument's plaque in 2006
• 
  The park's playground in 2013
• 
  One of the park's alley in 2015
• 
  The park's main alley with busts and monument in 2015
• 
  The monument in 2021