Zbruch is a small river with a large and interesting history. Its picturesque valley is oversaturated with various ancient monuments - castles, palaces, wooden churches and stone churches. In this article you will find a detailed description of the Zbruch River. In addition, we describe the main attractions located on its shores.
Where is the Zbruch River located?
Zbruch is a watercourse in Western Ukraine that belongs to the Dniester basin (left tributary). The source of the river is located on the slopes of the Avratinsky Upland, near the village of Shchasnovka. Further, the Zbruch flows strictly south, cutting through the hilly ridges of Podillia (see map below). The largest tributaries: Samchik, Male, Alder Stream, Rotten, Grabark, Bovvanets, Kizya. The Zbruch River flows into the Dniester in the vicinity of the ancient village of Okopy.
Regarding the name of the river, researchers put forward several hypotheses. According to one of them, the hydronym "zbruch" came from the name of the local tribe "borans", mentioned in ancient chronicles. Another version correlates it with the dialect word "zbruchi", which is widely used in this region. So the locals call the marshland.
The border of two empires
The strictly meridional orientation of the Zbruch Valley largely determined its historical role. As early as 1385, the river delimited Galicia and Podillia - the lands of Poland and Lithuania, respectively. At the end of the XVIII century, the Zbruch river became the border between two powerful empires - the Austro-Hungarian in the west and the Russian in the east.
In the stormy and busy period of 1917-1922. The opposing forces crossed the river more than once - Austro-Hungarian, Russian, German, Ukrainian troops. But in the end, the water border did not disappear - this time it divided the Second Commonwealth and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Zbruch lost the status of the border river only in September 1939, when the Red Army invaded Poland. Today it separates two regions of Ukraine - Ternopil and Khmelnitsky. Nevertheless, to this day, the river is a kind of boundary (conditional, of course) between the "eastern" and "western" mentalities.
The most obvious contrast between the two banks can be observed in the area of two settlements - Volochisk (Khmelnitsky region) and Podvolochisk (Ternopil region). If the first is a typical “Soviet” town with a faceless and gray architecture, the second has a rich architectural heritage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Zbruch River: photos and description
The total length of the river is 247 kilometers, the catchment area is 3350 square meters. km The width of the Zbruch varies between 8-12 meters, the depth varies from 1.5-2 to 4 meters. The channel is quite meandering, especially in the lower reaches. The slope is large enough for a flat river and is 0.8 m / km. The average speed of the water flow in the channel is 0.57 m / s.
The Zbruch River flows in a wooded area. Of the trees, three species predominate - hornbeam, oak and ash. In the upper reaches, the river valley is weakly expressed in relief, the banks are gentle and plowed. In the middle course, it takes the form of a V-shaped canyon with rather steep slopes and numerous outcrops of travertine rocks, often forming small grottoes and peaks that hang over the water. In remote areas of the valley on the banks of Zbruch rare species of herbaceous plants grow.
Zbruch nutrition is mixed, but with a predominance of snow. In the summer, rain floods are quite frequent. The river bed is covered with ice only in early January, with the exception of certain rapids.
Attractions along Zbruch
In the middle reaches of the river in 1990, the nature reserve "Medobory" was created. Its main attraction is Mount Bohit - one of the most famous places in Eastern Europe. It was here that the pagan temple was located, where the famous Zbruchansky idol stood. Today, the statue is kept in Krakow at the Archaeological Museum.
On the shores of Zbruch many architectural, archaeological and historical-cultural monuments have been preserved:
- The ruins of the castle of the XVI century in the village of Toki.
- The remains of a stone fortress in Satan.
- The wooden church of St. John the Evangelist in the village of Green.
- Border Soviet colonnade in Gusyatin.
- Assumption Church (1719) in Skala-Podilsky.
- St. Nicholas Church in Zbruchansky (XIV century) is the oldest religious building in the Ternopil region.
At the mouth of Zbruch is the ancient village of Okopy. It was here until 1939 that the borders of three states converged - Poland, the USSR and Romania. According to the famous writer Boris Antonenko-Davidovich, "the rooster in the Trenches sang on three powers." This fact today resembles an obelisk with a weather vane in the form of a rooster on top.
The river itself is a popular place for tourist kayaking. The main advantage of Zbruch is that it is suitable for beginners and inexperienced rafters. On the banks of the river there are many recreational areas.