Zbruch is a small river with a long and interesting history. Its picturesque valley is oversaturated with various ancient monuments - castles, palaces, wooden churches and stone churches. In this article you will find a detailed description of the Zbruch River. In addition, we will describe the main attractions located on its banks.
Where is the Zbruch River?
Zbruch is a watercourse in Western Ukraine belonging to the Dniester basin (left tributary). The source of the river is located on the slopes of the Avratinsky Upland, near the village of Shchasnovka. Further, the Zbruch flows strictly to the south, cutting through the hilly ridges of Podolia (see the map below). The largest tributaries: Samchik, Male, Olkhovy Potok, Rotten, Grabarka, Bovvanets, Kizya. The Zbruch River flows into the Dniester in the vicinity of the ancient village of Okopy.
Regarding the name of the river, researchers put forward several hypotheses. According to one of them, the hydronym "zbruch" came from the name of the local tribe "borany", mentioned in ancient chronicles. Another version correlates it with the dialect word"zbruchi", which is widely used in the region. So the locals call the swampy area.
Border of two empires
The strictly meridional orientation of the Zbruch valley largely determined its historical role. Back in 1385, the river demarcated Galicia and Podolia - the lands of Poland and Lithuania, respectively. At the end of the 18th century, the Zbruch River became the border between two powerful empires - the Austro-Hungarian in the west and the Russian in the east.
In the turbulent and eventful period of 1917-1922. the river was crossed more than once by opposing forces - Austro-Hungarian, Russian, German, Ukrainian troops. But in the end, the water border did not go away - this time it divided the Second Rzeczpospolita and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The status of the border river Zbruch lost only in September 1939, when the Red Army invaded Poland. Today it separates two regions of Ukraine - Ternopil and Khmelnytsky. Nevertheless, to this day the river is a kind of boundary (conditional, of course) between the "Eastern" and "Western" mentalities.
The most obvious contrast between the two banks can be observed in the area of two settlements - Volochysk (Khmelnitsky region) and Pidvolochysk (Ternopil region). If the first is a typical "Soviet" town with faceless and gray architecture, then the second has a rich architectural heritage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Zbruch River: photo and description
The total length of the river is 247 kilometers, the catchment area is3350 sq. km. The width of the Zbruch varies within 8-12 meters, the depth varies from 1.5-2 to 4 meters. The channel meanders quite strongly, especially in the lower reaches. The slope is large enough for a flat river and is 0.8 m/km. The average speed of water flow in the channel is 0.57 m/sec.
The Zbruch River flows in a wooded area. Of the trees, three species predominate here - hornbeam, oak and ash. In the upper reaches, the river valley is poorly expressed in relief, the banks are flat and plowed. In the middle reaches, it takes the form of a V-shaped canyon with rather steep slopes and numerous outcrops of travertine rocks, often forming small grottoes and peaks that hang over the water. Rare species of herbaceous plants grow in hard-to-reach parts of the valley on the banks of the Zbruch.
Zbruch's food is mixed, but with a predominance of snow. Rain floods are quite frequent in summer. The river bed is covered with ice only at the beginning of January, with the exception of some rapids.
Sights along Zbruch
In the middle course of the river in 1990, the natural reserve "Medobory" was created. Its main attraction is Mount Bohit - one of the most famous places in Eastern Europe. It was here that the pagan temple was located, where the famous Zbruchan idol stood. Today, the statue is kept in Krakow at the Archaeological Museum.
On the banks of the Zbruch, many architectural, archaeological, historical and cultural monuments have been preserved:
- The ruins of a 16th-century castle in the village of Toki.
- Remains of a stone fortress in Satanov.
- The wooden church of St. John the Evangelist in the village Zelenaya.
- Soviet border colonnade in Gusyatin.
- Assumption Church (1719) in Skala-Podolskaya.
- Nikolaev Church in Zbruchansky (XIV century) is the oldest religious building in the Ternopil region.
At the mouth of the Zbruch is the ancient village of Okopy. It was here that until 1939 the borders of three states converged - Poland, the USSR and Romania. According to the famous writer Boris Antonenko-Davidovich, "the rooster in the trenches sang for three powers." An obelisk with a weather vane in the form of a rooster at the top reminds of this fact today.
The river itself is a popular place for tourist kayaking. The main advantage of Zbruch is that it is suitable for beginners and inexperienced rafters. There are many recreational areas on the banks of the river.
