Rubizhne Things to Do

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We enjoyed our walk around the completed cathedral during the celebration of Shrovetide in March 2011.
The architecture is really unique.
The project stands out for its staircase on the outer wall of the building. You can't go up the staircase: there is a lock at the entrance gate. I think it is only for liturgy purposes.
Nowhere else have I seen such a staircase on a church building.
Also, you can see a memorial plaque to the right of the entrance. The plaque reads,
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
This Holy Assumption Cathedral
was erected to Lord's Glory in 2006
by thankful children
in memory of their kindest and nicest parents
Vassiliy and Vera.
Lord save them!
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
The sponsors of this amazing cathedral live somewhere in the US where they have emigrated before.

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Driving along Moscow Avenue - the construction site of the seventies, you will see a lot of nine-storey apartment houses, several stores and the city library with Maxim Gorky monument in front of it.
Also, you can drop in at Gourmand Cafe to have lunch there.
The avenue can take you from Northern Circle to the Datcha Settlement.

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There is a huge Lenin monument at the chemical factory entrance in Chemists' Square.
Comrade Lenin stands proudly at the central factory entrance as if reminding all the employees whom they all should be grateful to. :-)
The White Giant, as I called it once, must be the biggest and the most impressive Lenin monument in Rubizhne.
Also, it is one of the biggest Lenin monuments in Luhansk region.
It is located at the entrance to what is now a chemical corporation.

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This mosaic is called Victory Day (by me). :-)
The Victory Day mosaic adorns the back wall of the building of the former Komsomolets movie theater and represents the celebration and the joy of Victory Day.
It’s pleasant to sit on a bench in the adjoining park and to admire that unusual mosaic on the back wall of the movie theater.
It is really unique, like nothing else I have seen in the towns and cities of Luhansk region and outside it.
You can merely stand in front of this mosaic, look at it and ponder about its meaning.

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This is where you could see the Eternal Flame in the city.
There is no flame here any more since the authorities have started to value gas like never before.
The Eternal Flame is located in Kirov Street at the mass grave of the soldiers and officers who fell in the battle for liberation of the city in January 1943.
The bronze figure of the mourning officer with a burial wreath in his hand is a symbol of people’s mourning and a reminder of the tragedy of the last world war.
The mass grave is in front of this monument.
There are memorial plaques with the names of the fallen soldiers and officers.
The inscription on the black memorial plaque at the monument reads,
.........................................................................................................................................
Eternal glory to those who perished in the battles for the liberation of Rubizhne
.........................................................................................................................................

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These are pictures of the central war memorial located in Labor Square in the park behind the former Komsomolets movie theater.
The war memorial can be very well seen from Bohdan Khmelnitsky Street and Kirov Street when you leave the city park and approach Khmelnitsky Street.
The war memorial in Labor Square is dedicated to those soldiers and officers who did not come back from the fronts of the last world war.
Also, you can see a memorial plaque to the Heroes of the Soviet Union at the foot of the obelisk.
There are plaques with the names of all city residents who fell at the fronts of the last world war.
The white bas relief at the foot of the obelisk symbolizes the unity of three generations of the Motherland defenders: sons, fathers and grandfathers.
The inscription below the bas relief reads,
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
To the residents of Rubizhne
who fell in the battles
for the liberation and independence
of their Motherland in 1941-1945
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Seven city residents were awarded with the honorary title of the Hero of the Soviet Union:
Nickolay Boyko, senior lieutenant;
Vassily Danko, senior sergeant;
Fyodor Dachko, senior lieutenant;
Vadim Doichev, senior lieutenant;
Mikhail Mikhailichenko, colonel;
Nickolay Rudenko, senior batallion commissar;
Stepan Shvets, major.
All of these heroic officers had also the rank of „Guards“ preceding their army rank, which sounded like "Guards senior lieutenant".
You can see memorial plaque all around the foot of the war memorial. The plaque contain the names of the city residents who fll in battles for the liberation of their Motherland during the Grat Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
I must say the star on the top of the obelisk looks very extraordinary and awkward. Unlike all other ordinary five-point stars this one seems to stand on its two points as though they were legs and the distance between those lower points is much shorter than usual.

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Labor Square is where different rallies were held in the Soviet era.
Now they are all held in the new central square - Lenin Square located in front of the City Council building.
There were two words masde of huge iron Russian letters on both sides of the flag pole located in the middle of Labor Square: SLAVA TRUDU ("Glory to labor!").
Those iron letters were removed after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. They were considered too dangerous for passersby for the letters became too rusty and the wind began to move them…
Labor Square is the biggest asphalted square in the city.
Another one, Lenin Square, is paved. It is located between the City Council building and the Leisure Center.
You can see several five-storey apartment houses on two sides of Labor Square.
There are stores on the first floor of those apartment houses.
The flag pole in the middle of Labor Square has a Ukrainian flag.

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Ozero Pesochnoye
(in Russian)
- Sandy Lake -
is located on the city outskirts not far from where Kharkiv Street ends.
This lake has long been the favorite bathing destination for lots of city residents.
It is included into the list of ecologically safe lakes of Luhansk region.
Although I must say the beach sand is not pure at all. There are always cigarette butts there, but don't let that deter you.
The beach has a volleyball net for beach volleyball, two beer tents where you can combine beer drinking and people watching and a water bike hiring station.
People never call the lake itself by its official name. They use the informal name and say simply Vodnaya, which means Water Station.
The only problem is that there are no direct buses to this place. You always have to hire a cab ($3) from downtown and back.
Youth Day-2011 in Rubizhne