Slavyansk/ Sloviansk, Ukraine

Slavyansk or Sloviansk is a city in the Donbass, in the north of the Donetsk region. One of the oldest mud treatment resort centers in Ukraine, has the status of a resort of national importance.

The city was founded in 1676 under the name of Tor and initially the main occupation of the inhabitants was salt production. The year 1832 is considered to be the year of the foundation of the Slavic resort, when the head physician A. Yakovlev began to treat soldiers with mud and salt water on Lake Rapnoe. In 1907, Slavic therapeutic muds were presented at the international exhibition in Spa, where they received the Grand Prix.

Since the 1930s, the development of industry (mainly machine-building) began.

In 2005, a regional landscape park "Slavyansky Kurort" with an area of 431.31 hectares was created near the city. It includes Slepnoye and Repnoye lakes, mud (bottom silt), brine and water of which are used for medicinal purposes, as well as the Priozerny ornithological reserve. The medical and diagnostic center of the resort includes three sanatoriums: "Slavyansky", "Donbass" and "Jubilee".

 

Sights

The city of Slavyansk is rich in cultural and historical places. Popular with local residents is the central Cathedral Square (after the revolution and until 2015, the October Revolution Square). The square is named in memory of the nearby Cathedral of the Life-Giving Trinity, which was demolished in Soviet times. Later, a monument to V.I. Lenin in a cap and coat was erected here, dismantled in 2015 during decommunization.

In Slavyansk there is a museum of local lore, 2 art galleries, one of which was named after a local native of the artist P.P. Konchalovsky, 5 Orthodox churches of the Moscow and Kyiv Patriarchate. In 2008, a monument to the victims of the Holodomor was opened here.

Palace of Culture of Railway Workers (Vokzalnaya Street)
House of Culture and Technology CJSC "Betonmash" (Solodilova st.)
House of Culture of the Reinforcing and Insulating Plant (Central Street)
House of Culture (Universitetskaya Street)
Department of the RAGS (registration of acts of civil status) (st. G. Batyuk)
Slavic State Pedagogical University (G. Batyuk St.)
Slavic Power Engineering College (Teacher Street)
Slavic College of the Luhansk National Agrarian University (Svobody St.)
House of Culture of JSC "Slavtyazhmash" (Darvina street)
Club CJSC "Slavoliya" (Svoboda street)
Sanatorium "Donbass" (Pushkinskaya street)
Central City Hospital (Shevchenko St.)
Hospital № 1 (Vasilyevskaya street)
City Hospital No. 2 (Zavodskaya Street)
Hospital № 3 (Donskaya street)
Nodal hospital at Slavyansk station (Malogorodskaya street)
Slavic maternity hospital (Universitetskaya street)
Regional psychiatric hospital of the city of Slavyansk (Narvskaya street)
Monument to Entrepreneurs (Central Market)

Slavic resort
Just a few kilometers from the city is the Slavic resort, one of the oldest in Ukraine. It includes 3 sanatoriums: "Donbass", "Slavyansky" and "Jubilee". The resort specializes in balneo-mud treatment with brine and sulfide silt mud, which covers the bottom of the salt lakes Rapnoe, Slepnoye, Veysovo, etc. The brine is extracted from salt wells dug near the lakes and is used in the form of therapeutic mud, baths, showers, physiotherapy, inhalation, phytococktails, speleotherapy, hydrocolonotherapy, etc. In the treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, mineral water from the Slavyansk, West Slavyansk and Slavyanogorsk deposits is used.

The water and mud bath and 3 sanatoriums located here specialize in the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, nervous system, circulatory system, gynecological diseases, gastritis, and general improvement of the body.

 

Getting here

By train
Train Station. The city has a railway connection with Kharkov and Kiev.

By car
By car, you can get on the international highway "Kharkiv - Rostov" M-03 ((E40) or the national highway "Slavyansk - Mariupol" H-20.

 

Hotels

Sanatoriums
Sanatorium Slavyansky, st. 10th Anniversary of October, 11. ✉ ☎ (06262) 2-63-70; 2-88-45. He specializes in the treatment of spinal and orthopedic patients.
Sanatorium Donbass, st. Kostyurina, 1. ✉ ☎ (06262) 2-63-70; 2-88-45. He specializes in the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems, with diseases of the inflammatory nature of the female and male reproductive organs. Also treated are children from 4 years of age, including those with cerebral palsy.
Sanatorium Yubileyny, st. Pavlova, 1. ✉ ☎ (06262) 2-63-70; 2-88-45. Specializes in the treatment of diseases of the peripheral nervous system, musculoskeletal system, cicatricial changes after burns, chronic diseases of the genital area, male and female infertility. Rehabilitation of patients who have suffered acute myocardial infarction is carried out.
Sanatorium Shakhter, st. Ostrovsky, 74. ☎ +38 (06262) 5-56-31. Specializes in the treatment of iron deficiency anemia, diseases of the cardiovascular system, respiratory organs, osteochondrosis, osteoporosis.

Average cost
Hotel Europe, st. Uritsky, 65. ☎ +38 (0626) 62-12-06.
Hotel Ukraine, st. Shevchenko, 22. ☎ +38 (06262) 2-28-14.
Hotel Caesar, st. Matveeva, 1. ☎ +38 (0626) 66-42-75.
Hotel Slavyansk, st. Iskra, 23. ☎ +38 (06262) 2-81-95.

 

Geography

The city is located in the northern part of the region in the valley of the Kazyonny Torets River (a tributary of the Seversky Donets, the Don basin). On the territory of Slavyansk there are unique salt lakes of karst origin. They are separated from each other by small sand bars about 150–200 m wide. The lakes have healing properties and are the basis of the city's spa industry. The largest are Lake Slepnoye with an area of 0.29 km² and a depth of up to 2.2 m, Lake Rapnoye with an area of 0.22 km² and a depth of about 7.5–8 m, and Lake Veysovo with an area of 0.16 km² and a depth of up to 19 m.

Since 1975, these lakes have been under protection as hydrological natural monuments of national importance. There are also several other lakes of smaller size and depth. The water temperature in summer reaches +22…+24 °C. The brine of salt lakes is enriched with sulfates and has a sodium chloride composition. At the bottom of the Rape and Slepnoye lakes there are deposits of therapeutic silt mud, mainly sulfide.

Distance to Donetsk: by road — 119 km, by railway — 110 km. Distance to Kyiv: by road - 664 km, by railway - 632 km.

 

History

The beginning of Slavyansk was laid by the Top (Salt) fortress, founded in 1645 on salt lakes. After 20 years, the first salt factory appeared here, and with it the number of settlers grew. The official year of foundation of the city is 1676. The new name Slavyansk was given to Tor in 1784, and in 1797 it became part of the Izyum district of the Sloboda-Ukrainian province of the Russian Empire, which in turn became the Kharkov province in 1835.

The first mention of the Torsk settlement occurs in 1627.

The year 1832 is officially considered the year of the formation of the famous Slavic resort on the shores of Lake Rapnoye. In 1869, the Slavyansk railway station appeared on the route along the Southern Railway.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Torsk salt deposits became one of the centers of the salt mining industry. Here, in particular, the so-called Bakhmut salt syndicate worked.

Slavyansk was captured by Nazi troops on October 28, 1941, and then was occupied.

On February 17, 1943, he was liberated from the Nazi German troops by the Soviet troops of the Southwestern Front during the Voroshilovgrad operation.

On March 1, 1943, it was occupied for the second time.

On September 6, 1943, he was again liberated from the German troops by the Soviet troops of the Southwestern Front during the Donbass operation.

The troops that participated in the liberation of Donbass, during which they captured Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and other cities, were thanked by the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin on September 8, 1943, and a festive salute was given in Moscow with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

War in Eastern Ukraine
On April 12, 2014, during the armed actions, the City Police Department, the SBU and the City Executive Committee were captured. Thus, Slavyansk was occupied by armed members of the "People's Militia of Donbass" and declared to be part of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

In captured Slavyansk, local residents were persecuted, illegally detained, ill-treated, tortured, and some were executed.

After three months of hostilities, Slavyansk returned to Ukrainian control, and the national flag of Ukraine was again raised over the Slavyansk city council. After the liberation, three mass graves of local residents were found on the territory of the city.

In 2020, elections to the City Council were held: OPPL-14, OB-6, CH-6, PMR-5, NK-4, EU-3.

 

Economy

The volume of industrial production is 2842 million hryvnia (2011).

Slavyanskaya TPP has the largest share in the city's economy, where for the first time in Europe two powerful power units of 800,000 kW each have been installed.

The main industry of the city is mechanical engineering. In Slavyansk are located:

Slavyansk Heavy Machinery Plant (Slavtyazhmash) - manufactures coke-chemical equipment, founded in 1931. In 2016, it is cut into scrap metal.
The plant of construction machines ("Betonmash") is one of the oldest plants in Slavyansk, founded in 1941. The enterprise manufactures concrete mixing equipment, spare parts for the mining and metallurgical complex, assemblies of coke batteries.
Slavyansk Machine-Building Plant. Founded in 1945, since 2011 - machine-building. Currently, coke-chemical equipment, overhead cranes and other mechanical equipment are being manufactured.
machine-building enterprise "Agregat"
"Mechanical Plant"

In the field of production of building materials, chalk and lime, a chalk-lime plant stands out.

Ceramic production is traditional for the city. Hundreds of private entrepreneurs are engaged in this business, supplying a wide range of ceramic products to the market of Ukraine and neighboring countries, providing employment for the population and revenues to the local budget. There are also two relatively young joint ventures, namely the Ukrainian-Italian company JSC "Zeus Keramika" (since 2003), specializing in the production of building materials from porcelain stoneware, and the Ukrainian-British plant for the production of ceramic masses "Ceramic masses of Donbass" (since 2005).

Competitive on the international market are the products of the Slavyansk Plant of High-Voltage Insulators.

The Slavoliya, Khleb enterprises, the Ukrainka garment factory, and others operate.

Leased enterprise "Salt mining company". The only manufacturer of high-quality Extra salt in Ukraine containing 95.4% NaCl. Slavyansk used to be a large industrial center for the production of soda based on local deposits of rock salt.

Slavyansk is the center of the Yuzovsky shale gas field. The development of the field was supposed by Shell since 2015, but after the armed conflict in 2014, the plans were canceled.

An important component of the city's economy is the Slavic resort, one of the oldest in Ukraine, for more details see below.

 

Transport

The city is a junction of roads and railways. There are 4 railway stations on the territory of Slavyansk: the main station with a locomotive and wagon depot Slavyansk, a freight station named after. Kozhushko (former Mashchermet), passenger and cargo Slavyansky Kurort and unused dead-end Slavyansk-Vetka. Three railway lines go to Lozovaya, Liman and Kramatorsk.

The Kharkiv-Rostov M-03 E 40 highway passes along the edge of the city, and the national highway Slavyansk-Mariupol H-20 starts from it. Gorelektrotransport consists of trolleybuses. For 2021, there are 3 permanent routes, one more operates in the summer. The main public transport is shuttle buses.

 

Education

Two universities have been opened in the city: the Donbass State Pedagogical University and the Institute of Scientific, Pedagogical and Industrial Infrastructure, as well as five secondary specialized educational institutions and 35 schools.

Slavic College of the National Aviation University (Central Street)
Slavic Chemical-Mechanical College (Central Street)
Slavic College of Railway Transport (Gagarin St.)
Slavic Power Engineering College (Teacher Street)
Slavic State Agrarian College (Svoboda St.)
Slavic Professional Engineering Lyceum (spml15.ucoz.ru)
Slavic Professional Art Lyceum (vocational school No. 76)
Vocational school No. 56 (Gagarin street)
Vocational school No. 146 (Science street)
Evening school (Poshtovaya street, currently not working. A psychiatric dispensary is located in its place.)