Berezan: an island in the Black Sea

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Berezan Island is a small area located in the Black Sea and is one of its calling cards.

Description of Berezan Island

In its size, this territory, which used to be a peninsula and was twice the size of the current one (at sea level 5-6 meters lower), is quite small: the distance from its northern part to its southern part is only 850 meters.

Berezan Island (photo above) from the east and north is washed by the waters of the Dnieper and Bug, from the west and south by the Black Sea. Geographically, it is part of the Ochakovsky district (Nikolaev region) and is part of the Olvia reserve, which is of national importance. Berezan is an island that is attractive at any time of the year. In the summer, this is a favorite place for tourists who want to touch the history. In winter, the banks of the Berezan are covered with ice and take on bizarre shapes, turning into a continuous carpet of wild flowers and grass with the advent of spring.

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, Berezan Island was of no interest to anyone. Thanks to archaeological excavations, which are oftenconducted on the territory of Berezan, it was determined that the enterprising Greeks were the first to develop the island (in the 7th century BC), having founded the settlement of Borisfenida or Borisfen on this place. Archaeological excavations revealed part of the necropolis, public buildings, residential premises. The most valuable finds from the island are now kept in the Odessa and Kiev Archaeological Museums, in the scientific funds of the Institute, and the Hermitage.

The strategic importance of the island

In addition to the Greeks, these lands, which became the prototype of Pushkin's Buyan Island (leading to the kingdom of the glorious S altan), were also visited by the Romans, Greeks, Vikings, Turks, French and British. In these places, the ships following to Byzantium from Kievan Rus and back stopped for re-equipment. A little later, the island of Berezan in the Black Sea, which at different times had such names as Dolsky, St. Eforius, the island of Lieutenant Schmidt, Berezan and Borisfen, began to be used as an anchorage for fishing boats. Also, the base of Russian merchants and their squads could be located on the island, where they rested, preparing to overcome the sea route.

From the 12th century, Berezan is an island that was used as a strategic point at the entrance to the estuary. At the end of the 17th century, this territory, convenient for repelling the attacks of the Turkish Janissaries, was taken over by the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. Nevertheless, later Berezan became the property of the Turks, who built a fortress on its lands, thus blocking the exit to the Black Sea from the Dnieper-Bug estuary. The building stood for 14 years, and during the years of Russian-Turkish war was destroyed by a detachment of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks led by Anton Golovaty. After that, the island, abandoned by people, became uninhabited again.

Island of Lieutenant Schmidt

Berezan is an island that has witnessed a large number of historical events, including dramatic ones. On March 6, 1906, Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, the leader of the uprising on the cruiser Ochakov, was shot here along with a group of activists on March 6, 1906. 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 execution, Schmidt said that it would be good for him to die on Berezan: under the high clear sky in the middle of the sea - his native and beloved element.

In 1968, in honor of this brave man and his associates on the highest point of the southern part of the island, students of the Engineering and Construction Institute of the city of Odessa and the shipbuilding institute of Nikolaev built an original 15-meter monument resembling a huge sail filled with winds, well visible from all sides when approaching the island. This monument is a symbol of the sea, the stamina 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 naval artillery. Today, the remains of this structure are mistaken for an ancient Turkish fortress; above them is a navigation mark, the height of whichis about 12 meters. At night, a green flashing light burns on it, indicating to sailors the location of Berezan Island.

In the first years of the Great Patriotic War, the 85th anti-aircraft battery of the Ochakovsky sector of the coastal defense of the naval base of Odessa was located on the territory of the island, covering the approaches from the sea to the port and the city of Ochakovo, carrying out air defense of ships and vessels cruising through The Dnieper-Bug Estuary and supported with powerful fire the pilots of the 9th Aviation Fighter Regiment, who defended Ochakov from the air.