If you want to spend a good day off and visit one of the attractions of Kirovograd region, equidistant from the Dnipro city, Kryvyi Rih and Kropivnitsky, then you definitely need to visit Kochubeyevskie adits.
Kochubeyevskie adits in the village of Annivka in Kirovograd region are considered a historical and industrial monument.
However, I would also count it among the cultural heritage of Ukraine, and now I will tell you why.
There has been no industrial activity here for over a hundred years and there are few tourists, although the place is amazing and deserves more attention.
Poltava Kochubey family – owners of mine shafts
The Kochubey princes trace their lineage back to Kuchuk-bey, a petty Crimean Tatar ruler. Once he moved from Crimea to Ukraine, accepted Orthodoxy and under the name of Andrew joined the army of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. His son rose to prominence and became a military advisor to Bohdan Khmelnitsky during the War of Liberation. Kochubey’s grandson Vasily, general clerk and judge general under Hetman Mazepa, writes a denunciation against his leader. Vasily will be executed on charges of false conspiracy, as Peter the Great did not believe in the hetman’s treason. However, soon after Mazepa’s rebellion, the Kochubey family was rehabilitated and granted large lands in Poltava province and other places in Ukraine. By the way, there is a legend that Mazepa’s goddaughter Motrya was the mistress of the traitorous informer.
Now on the territory of Poltava region can be found a large number of references to the Kochubey family, especially in Dikanka and Poltava.
Further Kochubey family grows and strengthens financially, receives in 1799 the status of counts, and in 1834 – princes.
History of Kochubeyevsky mines
For many years, the lands around Kryvyi Rih were of no value to their owners. However, after the discovery of iron ore, a real industrial boom began here.
The Kochubeys built a mine here in 1904, which was to generate income. The peculiarity of the mine was that it was located on only one narrow seam 1.5-3 meters wide. It could not produce a large volume of output. From 1904 to 1906 only 39 thousand tons of ore were mined here, and in 1913-1915 another 11.5 thousand tons, after which the mine was closed.
The depth of the mine is shallow, approximately there are only 5 adits with a total length of about 250 meters. The mines used only manual labor, the ore was lifted to the surface by wagons.
In 1916 mining was finally closed and the remnants of production were forgotten. After 100 years, the mines will be remembered again and tourists will start coming here.
Kochubeyevskie adits – tourist and cultural site
Now Kochubeyevskie adits are located 1 kilometer from the village Hannivka in Kirovograd region. It is not so difficult to notice the abandoned mine – it is overgrown with tall dense grass and small trees hills (mining dumps) in the middle of the field.
On the highest point of such improvised mounds there is a cross. It is enough to go to it, and then look for the entrance – a wooden staircase, it is located if you go a little down into the quarry. This is the entrance to the Kochubey adits. The stairs are destroyed in several places and it seems impossible to go down. Don’t be frightened – if you reach half of the stairs you can get off and continue down the earthen slope.
Among the grass you can find rocks of various colors – from yellow to brown. Perhaps this is a reminder of the very rock with ore.
Another way is to go down a steep path to the very bottom of the quarry. There will also be several entrances to the mines, some of them high, so that you can walk in full height, and some of them low – you will have to squat.
There is a special atmosphere inside. In the mine that has a wooden staircase – quiet and warm, there is light from a hole in the ceiling. In the farthest mine – the two-story one – it is very dark and cold. This mine is flooded with water. The mine with the ruined staircase is a nice photo area.
If you will go down into the adits, take with you a flashlight, comfortable clothes that are not sorry to get soaked. It’s not dirty, but dusty.
On the surface, near the mine entrance, you can have a picnic. Just don’t leave garbage and be careful – there may be ticks in the grass. In 2016 on Kochubeyevskie adits Ukrainian movie Chervonyi, about the prisoners of the Gulag and abandoned mines served as a mine where political prisoners worked.
Then the movie crew built a set and they stood for a while. A wagon, rails, the same ruined staircase. They say that the scenery was quickly dismantled (probably by the locals). And now only a rebar hammered into the ground and overgrown with grass reminds of them.
How to get to Kochubeyevskie adits
Abandoned mines are located in the village Hannivka in Kirovograd region. It is not far from Kropivnitsky, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro city, Zhovti Vody, and Alexandria.
I will not tell you how buses go from Kropivnitsky, but from Zhovti Vody and Kryvyi Rih it is not difficult to get here.
You can also come here with an excursion. There are definitely from Dnieper and Kryvyi Rih and cover these cities and their neighborhoods. It is necessary to look for this information on the Internet.
If you are traveling by car from Dnipro, it is best to take the route through Pyatihatky and Zhovti Vody. Right after Pyatihatki there is an interesting location – right in the middle of the forest there is a monument to the MIG-21 airplane. The monument itself is neglected, half-rotten and destroyed, where birds live. However, the area around it is cleaned of garbage.
It takes 30 minutes to drive to Hannivka from Zhovti Vody. If you come from Kryvyi Rih, take a bus from Ternivka station. When you come to Hannivka turn from the main road just opposite the monument of Konstantin Pestushko and the broken park near the monument.
If you are coming from Kryvyi Rih, take a bus from Ternivka station.
Pestushko was a native of the village Hannivka and led a successful struggle against the Red army in Ukraine. He died here in Hannivka in 1921.
And so, you find yourself on a long street with concrete pavement and drive along it until there is a left turn with the same concrete road. Then turn right and go to the end of the street. Then the road will be unpaved – you will have to drive through a field. And until you see an overgrown mound in the middle of the field with a cross. These are the dumps of the quarry – this is where the Kochubeyevskiye adits are located.
It is definitely worth coming here. Don’t be afraid to climb down and get good emotions and memories for years to come!