Berezan: an island in the Black Sea

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 its size, this area, formerly a peninsula and having twice the current size (at sea level below 5-6 meters), is quite small: the distance from its northern part to the southern part 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, on the western and southern sides by the Black Sea. Territorially, it is part of the Ochakiv district (Mykolayiv region) and is part of the Olvia reserve, which is of national importance. Berezan is an attractive island at any time of the year. In the summer it is a favorite place for tourists who want to touch history. In winter, the banks of the Berezani are covered with ice and acquire bizarre forms, transforming with the advent of spring into a solid carpet made up of wild flowers and grass.

Berezan: an island in the Black Sea

Uninhabited today, with lizards and snakes inhabiting it, thanks to its convenient location (near the confluence of the Dnieper River in the Black Sea) in ancient times, the island of Berezan was not interested in anyone. Thanks to archaeological excavations, which are often carried out on the territory of Berezani, it was determined that the first to become the island was the adventurous Greeks (in the 7th century BC), having founded the settlement of Borisfenid or Borysfen on this site. Archaeological excavations have revealed a part of the necropolis, public buildings, living quarters. The most valuable finds from the island are now stored in the Odessa and Kiev archaeological museum, in the scientific funds of the Institute, and the Hermitage.

Strategic importance of the island

In addition to the Greeks, the foot of the Romans, Greeks, Varangians, Turks, French and English stepped on these lands, which became the prototype of Pushkin's island of Buyan (leading to the kingdom of the glorious Saltan). In these places, ships stopping to Byzantium from Kievan Rus and back, to retooling. A little later, the island of Berezan in the Black Sea, which had at various times such names as Dolsky, St Efory, Lieutenant Schmidt's island, Berezan and Borisfen, was used as an anchorage for fishing vessels. Also on the island could be located the base of Russian merchants and their squads, on which they rested, preparing to overcome the sea route.

Since the XII 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, the Zaporozhye Cossacks captured this territory, which was convenient for repelling attacks by Turkish Janissaries . Yet later Berezan became the property of the Turks who built a fortress on its land, thus closing the way to the Black Sea from the Dnieper-Bug estuary. The structure 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 left by people became again uninhabited.

Lieutenant Schmidt's Island

Berezan is an island that has witnessed a large number of historical events, including dramatic events. On the verdict of the Tsar's court, together with a group of activists, on March 6, 1906, Petr Petrovich Schmidt, the leader of the uprising on the Ochakov cruiser, was shot. This place was not accidentally chosen for the execution of the verdict: the authorities in such a way tried to hide this action from the eyes of the people. Learning about the place of the future shooting, Schmidt said that he would be good to die on Berezan: under the high clear sky amid the sea - his native and beloved elements. In 1968, in honor of this brave man and his companions at 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, wind-filled sail that can be seen from all sides When approaching the island. This monument is a symbol of the sea element, steadfastness and courage of brave sailors.

Berezan in the years of the military

At the beginning of the 20th century, a fortress-target with an intricate labyrinth of dug-outs for testing long-range naval artillery was built on the island of Berezan. Today, the remnants of this structure are mistaken for the ancient Turkish fortress; Above them is a navigation sign, whose height is about 12 meters. In the dark, a green flashing light is burning on it, indicating the seafarers location of the island of Berezan.

In the first years of the Great Patriotic War, the island housed the 85th anti-aircraft battery of the Ochakovo sector of the coastal defense of the naval base of Odessa, covering the approaches from the sea to the port and the city of Ochakov, which carried out antiaircraft defense of ships and ships plying through the Dnieper-Bug estuary and Supported the powerful fire of the pilots of the 9th Aviation Fighter Regiment, which protected Ochakov from the air.