Old Kodaki is a village near the Dnipro city, which many locals know about. But few would say what is interesting here except for the old flooded quarry, where many locals and townspeople go to relax, swim and spend hot summer days.
Let’s take a walk through Old Kodaki and see the sights!
Sazhevka gully
The beam itself is not in Old Kodaki, but nearby – where the other village are. They are called Sazhevka village.
This several kilometers long gully made of clay and sand is as if scarred with cuts that diverge from its score along the edges. Perhaps, such a landscape was formed after the glacier retreated or for other reasons, maybe because of landslides. Sazhevka gully is also compared to New Zealand – there are such landscapes there too.
There is nothing much to do here – picnics, walks, photo sessions. There is a lot of fragrant grass and though in summer the grass is not virgin green, but it smells great.
You can start walking along the gully, go down to its very bottom and go to the water, to the Dnipro river, where it will be even more interesting.
How to get to the Sazhevka girder
If you take bus #109 from Dnipro city, before reaching Old Kodaki, after passing the turn to the dachas, you should ask to stop near the cemetery. Then go through the edge of the cemetery and go to the girder almost at its very beginning.
If you get there by car – the way is the same, but you can leave your car near the cemetery or drive further to the girder – there is a dirt road and you can see that people drive there.
Necropolis in Old Kodaki
If on the way to the Sazhevka girder we passed through a new cemetery, then almost in the very center of the village we found a very interesting discovery. On the maps it is labeled as “Necropolis of Old Kodak”. It is a large area overgrown with grass with trampled paths. And among this grass there are stone slabs and pillars.
These are not simple pillars, but the remains of a cemetery. The burials here date back to the XIX and early XX centuries. Perhaps there are earlier dates.
The tombstones are a stone base with a metal cross embedded in the base. Many of the crosses are gone – only the stone remains. There is a cross carved on the bases. There are stone tombstones without crosses with clearly readable texts and dates.
It can be seen that these are very old graves, so the memorial signs are already hidden by the earth and to see them fully you will have to dig them up.
It can be seen that these are very old graves, so the memorial signs are already hidden by the earth and to see them fully you will have to dig them up.
If you walk along the necropolis towards the Kodak fortress you can see a stele. This stele has nothing to do with the necropolis. It refers to the Cossack times – as a memorial of what happened here in this historical period.
Kodak Fortress
If you walk along Old Kodak and go down closer to the Dnieper River, you can see a memorial sign and a large plaque with a map. These are the remains of the Kodak fortress.
The fortress was built in 1635 by the Polish authorities, who did not want peasants to flee from their territory to the Zaporizhian Sich, and that the Zaporizhian Cossacks did not invade the Polish possessions and did not conduct their military and economic activities here.
German knights – mercenaries served in Kodak. However, this did not prevent the Cossacks from capturing the fortifications several times. Now there is a memorial sign that Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky was in these places and led successful battles.
Kodak is a deep moat, powerful walls of stone and earth, artillery, watchtowers at a distance from the fortress, and inside civil and military buildings. There was even a Catholic church.
In 1648 Kodak was occupied by Khmelnitsky, and since 1654 the fortress began to protect the possessions of the Zaporizhian Sich.
Kodak was destroyed in 1711, together with several fortresses in the south of Ukraine, including Novobogoroditsk fortress, when it was no longer necessary to defend against enemies.
A little later the settlement near the former fortress became known as Old Kodaki, and the remains of the fortress continued to deteriorate.
Dmitry Yavornitsky became interested in the history of this place in the early XX century and put a memorial sign here.
In 1940, the communist authorities will start stone mining right on the site of the fortress. During 40 years of mining 90% of Kodak was destroyed. Only the northern earthen ramparts remain, and the rest is now a lake left after quarrying.
In the 2010s near the ramparts put a sign that it is a historical monument, a large poster with the chronology of the life of the fortress, and a little further cross with a mention of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. If you walk along the remains of the fortifications, the highest point of the fortress offers a wonderful view of the quarry in Old Kodaki and the mighty Dnieper River, as well as part of the regional center of the Dnipro city.
People even come here specially to take selfies and photos.
Quarry in Old Kodaki
The lake of the abandoned quarry in Old Kodaki is probably the most famous place in this village. Perhaps even bigger than the fortress. The water here is clean and warm and people come here not only to relax for a couple of hours and swim, but also with tents for several days.
It does not take long to get to the quarry from the center of the village – about 20-30 minutes at a leisurely walk.
A walk through Old Kodaki
And a little bit about Old Kodaki. The population of Old Kodaki is 1500 people. The village is located 20 km from Dnipro city and 2 kilometers from Dnipro airport.
The village is clean and comfortable. We walked through the private sector and saw cleanliness in the streets and wells near almost every house. The center of the village surprised us. Apart from a sports ground and a memorial to fallen soldiers in World War II, there is something similar to a playground and a huge gate made of wood, and they do not close anything!!!????
Also standing here is something resembling idols carved out of wood.
The village has a modern school and good roads. There are many posters of different events for adults and children organized by the local community on the bulletin board. There are even announcements about exchanging an apartment in the city for a house in the village.
There is bus from Dnipro – route 109.
In general, a typical not the poorest Ukrainian village with its own color and life. I enjoyed walking here and relaxing from the noisy city!