Bacota

🌲 Picturesque Landscapes

Bacota is a part of a unique area with endemic flora and fauna called Podilsky Tovtry. Millions years ago there was an ancient see with different types of primitive life – a kind of coral reef. The remnants of that coral reef formed rocks that we can observe along the banks of the Dniester River. In our opinion the best way to see this natural beauty is from water.

Due to low soil productivity on Podilsky Tovtry the agriculture hasn’t developed intensively. Therefore a lot of species of endemic plants, insects, bats, birds and fishes saved.

Today this area is included to the National Nature Park – Podilsky Tovtry, and gets protection from human activity.

📜 Long Ancient History

Bakota was first mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle in the year 1240. When the town was first settled, the town was part of the state of Kievan Rus, until the middle of the 12th century when it became a part of the Halych-Volynian Kingdom. In the 13th century, Bakota served as the political and administrative center of the Dniester Lowland (Ponyzzia), which was at the time part of Halych-Volhynia. The chronicle also mentions the rule of the Koriatovych dynasty over the area in 1362.

Bakota has an ancient Orthodox Cave Monastery (48.585647°N, 26.999702°E), which includes ancient frescoes and paintings dating back to the 12th-14th centuries, as well as preserved remains of monks. Local legend has it that the Bakota Cave Monastery was founded by Saint Anthony of Kiev, who also founded the historic Kiev Pechersk Lavra in 1051, now in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Learn more in Wikipedia

😢 Modern Tragedy and Revival

XXth century brought a disaster to Bacota. In the 1950-60th it was a small village with several thousands of inhabitants. According to Soviet Union policy of producing more electricity the New Dniester Hydroelectric Station was built and the village of Bacota was flooded. It happened in 1981. For local residents that was a tragedy. The history says that before flooding inhabitants were forced to destroy their own houses and cut down gardens. All of them, even their forefathers’ graves were moved to the neighbouring villages. After that the entire village was submerged under the water. Sad story for people.

But the nature is strong and smart. Due to a lot of water among the rocks calm and warm climate was formed in Bacota bay. And now it plays an important role in the conservation of a number of rare species of Ukrainian plants and animals.

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BACOTA, UKRAINE