Berezan Island is a small territory located in the Black Sea and is one of its business cards.
Description of the island of Berezan
In size, this territory, which used to be a peninsula and had twice the size of the current ones (at sea level 5-6 meters lower), is quite small: the distance from its northern part to the southern is only 850 meters.
The island of Berezan (photo above) is washed from the east and north by the waters of the Dnieper and the Bug, from the west and south by the Black Sea. Geographically, it is part of the Ochakovo district
(Nikolaev region) and is part of the Olvia Nature Reserve, which has national significance. Berezan is an island attractive at any time of the year. In the summer, it is a favorite place for tourists who want to touch history. In winter, the shores of Berezan are covered with ice and take on bizarre shapes, turning with the advent of spring into a continuous carpet consisting of wildflowers and grass.
Berezan: an island in the Black Sea
Deserted today, with lizards and snakes living on it, due to its convenient location (near the confluence of the Dnieper River in the Black Sea) in ancient times the Berezan island did not arouse anyone's interest. Thanks to archaeological excavations that are often conducted on the territory of Berezan, it was determined that the enterprising Greeks (in the 7th century BC) began to explore the island, having founded the settlement of Borisfenida or Borisfen on this site. Archaeological excavations revealed a part of the necropolis, public buildings, and living quarters. The most valuable finds from the island are today stored in the Odessa and Kiev Archaeological Museum, in the scientific funds of the Institute, and in the Hermitage.
The strategic importance of the island
In addition to the Greeks, these lands, which became the prototype of the Pushkin island of Buyan (leading to the kingdom of the glorious Saltan), the foot of the Romans, Greeks, Varangians, Turks, French and British. In these places the vessels stopped, following to Byzantium from Kievan Rus and back, for refitting. A little later, the Berezan island in the Black Sea, which had such names as Dolsky, St. Eforiy, the island of Lieutenant Schmidt, Berezan and Borisfen, began to be used as an anchorage for fishing vessels. Also on the island could be a base of Russian merchants and their squads, on which they rested, preparing to overcome the sea route.
Since the XII century, Berezan - an island that was used as a strategic point at the entrance to the estuary. At the end of the XVII century, this territory, convenient for repelling the attacks of the Turkish Janissaries, was captured by Zaporozhye Cossacks. Nevertheless, later Berezan became the property of the Turks, who built a fortress on its lands, thus closing the exit to the Black Sea from the Dnieper-Bug estuary. The building stood for 14 years, and during the Russo-Turkish war it was destroyed by a detachment of Zaporozhye Cossacks led by Anton Golovaty. After that, the island, abandoned by people, became uninhabited again.
Lieutenant Schmidt Island
Berezan is an island that has witnessed a large number of historical events, including dramatic ones. According to the verdict of the tsarist court, together with a group of activists on March 6, 1906, Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, the leader of the uprising on the cruiser Ochakov, was shot. This place was not accidentally chosen for the execution of the sentence: the authorities in this way tried to hide this action from the eyes of the people. Having learned about the place of the future shooting, Schmidt said that he would be well killed in the Berezan: under a high clear sky in the middle of the sea - his native and beloved element.
In 1968, in honor of this brave man and his comrades-in-arms on the highest point of the southern part of the island, students of the Odessa Civil Engineering Institute and the Shipbuilding Institute of Nikolaev built an original 15-meter monument that resembles a huge sail filled with winds, clearly visible from all sides when approaching the island. This monument is a symbol of the sea element, fortitude and courage of brave sailors.
Berezan during the war years
At the beginning of the 20th century, a target fortress was built on the island of Berezan with an intricate labyrinth of dugouts for testing long-range marine artillery. Today, the remains of this building are mistaken for an ancient Turkish fortress; above them is a navigation sign, whose height is about 12 meters. At night, a green flashing light burns on it, indicating to the sailors the location of the island of Berezan.
In the early years of World War II, the 85th anti-aircraft battery of the Ochakov coastal defense sector of the Odessa naval base was located on the island, covering the approaches from the sea to the port and the city of Ochakovo, carrying out air defense of ships and ships that traveled through the Dnieper-Bug estuary and supporting powerful pilots of the 9th aviation fighter regiment, defending Ochakov from the air.