Amazing South: restored ethnographic village in Odesa region

The vast relict Bessarabian steppes stretching between the Dniester, Danube, and Black Sea have been a harmonious blend of cultural and ethnic diversity for centuries. This is exactly what the restored ethnographic center of Frumushyka Nova in Odesa region reflects, which Intent is telling about today in its regular column "Amazing South".

Historical background

The village of Frumushyka existed in the early nineteenth century. The first official information about it dates back to 1813. There is also a version that the settlement began in the seventeenth century in Budzhak, which was first subordinated to the Crimean Khanate and then to the Ottoman Empire. But it is not known to what extent this information is true.

Frumushyka Nova. PHOTO: tour.tic.in.ua

At that time, there was an active resettlement of Germans to Bessarabia. These were settlers who came from the Duchy of Warsaw. The main reason for this resettlement was the economic decline in Poland due to the Napoleonic Wars. In addition, Protestant Germans were persecuted on religious grounds. The settlers were allocated more than 115,000 acres of fertile Bessarabian land in the valleys of the Kahalnyk, Chaga, and Sarata rivers. German colonization of Bessarabia began after it became part of the Russian Empire, when it became necessary to settle its southern part, Budzhak, from where the Nogai population had left for Turkey.

The lands of Budzhak have always been inhabited by hundreds of nationalities, the combination of which has determined the originality of this region. Bulgarians and Moldovans, Jews and Gagauzes, Germans, Russians, and Ukrainians lived in this area next to each other, working and developing all kinds of crafts. By the way, the name of the village of Frumushyka means "beautiful, pretty" in Moldovan. According to archival data, before the liquidation of the village in 1946, there were about 500 households in the village. At that time, it had its own college, schools, hospital, church, shops, and other public institutions. The locals even had a library at their disposal. Among the industries of that period, it is important to highlight a small mill complex, animal husbandry, and winemaking. Much attention in the village life was paid to agriculture.

Then a sad page in history interrupted the life of the multinational village and gave rise to one of the largest military training grounds for tank divisions. Along with Frumushyka, four other villages located on these lands were liquidated: Kantemir, Hofnungstal, Zurum, and Roshia. In the spring of 1946, all the villages were demolished, and the residents had to leave their homes and were resettled in the surrounding settlements. The abandoned land had been waiting for its owners to return for more than 60 years...

The modern history of the new Frumushyka

In the early 2000s, nothing remained on the territory of the former military training ground but ruins, earthen shelters for tanks and the remains of metal structures. A businessman and former military officer, Oleksandr Palariiev, set about restoring the Bessarabian steppe. His goal was to revive the once-destroyed village of Frumushyka, the homeland of his ancestors. Oleksandr's father, Andrii Diomydovych Palariiev, was born on this land in 1933 and was relocated with his family to a neighboring village after World War II due to the construction of a military training ground. According to Oleksandr Palariiev, he wanted to return to his father the place where he spent his younger years.

Frumushyka Nova. PHOTO: frumushika.com

In the spring of 2006, the businessman started working on the revival of Frumushyka. He decided to lease a part of the military training ground with a total area of over 24,000 hectares. The first steps were planting trees in the middle of the bare steppe and creating a sheep farm. Then they gradually restored the village according to the cartographic records found in the archives. The old maps also showed the name of the river that flowed in the area and was named Frumushyka.

Oleksandr Palariiev's sons, Volodymyr and Mykhailo, also joined the project. Together they rebuilt the family estate. It was a typical Moldovan house: people lived in the main building, food was cooked in the summer kitchen, guests were welcomed in the living room, and there was also a children's room. As Mykhailo, a member of the younger generation of Palariievs, recalls, when his grandfather first entered the restored manor, he cried because he was immediately immersed in memories of the past and the atmosphere of the house he once lived in.

Later, Frumushyka Nova was home to the estates of German colonists, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Jews, Russians, and Gagauzes, as well as a typical Soviet collective farmhouse. This is how the Bessarabian Village Ethnographic Museum was born. In total, the village-museum has 8 houses with outbuildings and courtyards that exactly replicate the appearance of traditional national estates of the late XIX - early XX centuries. The houses are open to the public and recreate the historical way of life with antique furniture and household items. Each yard is decorated with a sculpture with a symbolic image of the people who lived here.

The Bessarabian Village Museum. PHOTO: frumushika.com

The ethno-village is complemented by a huge collection of agricultural machinery, among which there are interesting specimens from the mid-nineteenth century to the Soviet era. For example, there is a tractor from the 1930s. Mykhailo Palariiev admits that they buy such unique items and armored vehicles at scrap metal collection points, where local residents bring everything.

Currently, the Frumushyka-Nova complex has several locations. Let us tell you about them.

Frumushyka-Nova shepherd

Frumushyka's most notable landmark is a giant statue of a shepherd, or "shepherd" as the locals call it, erected in 2016. The monument was named "The Shepherd of Frumushyka-Nova". The idea to create the sculpture belongs to the owner of the complex, Oleksandr Palariiev. The height of the monument is 16.43 meters, the height with the pedestal is about 18 meters. The gigantic structure has a total weight of over 1000 tons. The entire construction process took 12 months. To create the sculpture, 152 cubic meters of labradorite, a type of granite, were used. The work was done by Ivan Korolenko, a sculptor from Vinnytsia region.

The sculpture of the Shepherd. PHOTO: Mahala

Park and Museum of Sculptures "History of Bessarabian Lands"

The main feature of the private park-museum is the largest number of different sculptures, which is why it is listed in the Ukrainian Book of Records. The stones here depict various mythical creatures and symbols of the ancestors who used to inhabit these lands. All the sculptures are accompanied by descriptions on the plaques next to them.

Museum of Socialist Realism Monuments

Many monuments from the Soviet Union are gathered in one place among young trees. The collection consists of hundreds of monuments: Stalin, Dzerzhinsky, Molotov, Maxim Gorky, Mayakovsky, and other Soviet figures, sculptural groups of pioneers, and other garden figures. A special place among the sculptures is occupied by Lenin, who is presented here in many versions. Another of the museum's notable exhibits is a bundle of shells that has remained here since the days of the training ground as a reminder of the fate of this land in the 20th century.

The Museum of Socialist Realism. PHOTO: Ukrayinska Pravda

Sheep farming complex

It is impossible to imagine Bessarabia without sheep farming. The Frumushyka Nova ethnographic center breeds an ancient doodle sheep breed, which is inextricably linked to the development of sheep breeding in Ukraine. This unique sheep breed was introduced to the Budzhak steppes back in 1890. It is this type of lamb that is applying for geographical indication status.

A sheep farm. PHOTO: odesskiye.info

At the Frumushyka Nova farm, you can learn all about this branch of animal husbandry, see how sheep are milked and sheared. The main gastronomic specialty here is the preparation of lamb delicacies and sheep's milk cheese. Frumushyka Nova offers its visitors to try these delicious dishes.

Craft winemaking

Today, Frumushyka-Nova is a successful modern organic winery with 11 hectares of vines, a tasting room, a sales system, and recognizable labels. But, as Volodymyr Palariiev recalls, it all started simply with the production of his grandfather's homemade wine and the desire to treat his friends to it, as is customary in Bessarabia. Later, his family continued the business, including his son Oleksandr and grandsons Volodymyr and Mykhailo.

Over time, the home winemaking format turned into another area of the Palariiev family business. Now they have a clear division of responsibilities - Volodymyr is in charge of making wine, Mykhailo is in charge of selling it, and father Oleksandr once invested in the development of this business. The Palariiev family is currently looking forward to the first certified harvest in 2026. The vineyard has 9 grape varieties.

Frumushyka Nova wines. PHOTO: wixstatic.com

Volodymyr says that his family plunged into the archives of Bessarabia, where they found a "certificate of Dominika Palarii from 1813." It declares that 6 tons of grapes were harvested in the village of Frumushyka and 4 tons of wine were produced.

The outward sign of Frumushyka-Nova wines is the original labels, which are also designed and produced by members of the Palariiev family. According to Volodymyr, the first labels appeared in 2019. The wine had a task to popularize Frumushyka Nova, so they developed a label with the geolocation of the restored village-museum.

Now, every year, the Palariievs introduce new wine lines and develop labels for them on their own. The bottles feature exclusively Frumushyka Nova locations. For example, the lion is a sculpture in the botanical garden. There is also an image of a huge sculpture of a shepherd on the labels, which is Frumushyka's trademark. Even the tree depicted on one of the labels has a legendary story of the Palariiev family. The grandfather of the family told his relatives that it was under this tree that he conceived his son Oleksandr. That's how a beautiful fictional family fable appeared.

Tourist potential of Frumushika Nova

Today, Frumushika Nova is a center of cultural, ethnographic, green, rural tourism and family recreation, offering its guests various types of leisure activities. The complex has a restaurant serving Bessarabian cuisine, Korchma, and its own wine cellar with a mini-museum of Bessarabian viticulture.

There is also a picturesque lake with swans and wild geese, a mini-zoo with enclosures with local animals: wild boars, llamas and other animals. There is a large pheasantry for 1000 heads of pheasants, peacocks and quails, and a farm for ponies and donkeys, which you can ride if you wish.

Those who like to fish and hunt will also like Frumushyka Nova. But it should be remembered that the hunting and fishing season is not open all year round, but only at certain times. Others can shoot at plates instead of live targets or master the skills of a photo hunter. The season for such activities is available in Frumushyka at any time of the year.

A small Orthodox chapel in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built on the territory of Frumushyka for local residents and tourists. On the slopes of the ravine, a few hundred meters away, there are worship crosses. These are peculiar monuments erected by the descendants of those who used to live in the villages demolished in 1946.

Small guest houses and a hotel have been built to accommodate guests of the Frumushyka-Nova tourist and ethnographic complex. For more demanding tourists and large groups, there is a hunting lodge with a spacious hall, as well as themed houses for fishermen, gamekeepers, and foresters. Not far from the houses there are outdoor swimming pools - a large one and a children's pool, and for health improvement and relaxation there is a wood-fired sauna on the territory of the tourist center.

Getting to Frumushyka Nova

The most convenient way to get to the Frumushyka Nova ethnographic complex is by car, as there are no direct public transport services to the recreation center.

By car (the best option):

- From Odesa, you need to go in the direction of Sarata, then turn to Staroselie or Nova Dolyna.

- Important: The road passes through steppe areas and a former military training ground. It is recommended to use a navigator (Google Maps offers routes through Palanka or Zatoka), but it should be borne in mind that it is currently impossible to drive through Zatoka due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. It should also be borne in mind that the quality of the road surface in the last kilometers may be poor.
- Always check the road conditions with the administration of the complex before leaving, especially after rain or snow.

By public transport

- From Odesa (Privoz bus station or Central Bus Station), you can take a regular bus to Bessarabske (Tarutino) or Staroselie village.
- From Staroselie to Frumushyka Nova, there is still about 5-6 kilometers of steppe. You will have to cover this distance on foot or arrange a private transfer in advance.

Organized tours

- This is the easiest option for those who do not have a car. Many travel agencies in Odesa offer one- or two-day tours that include a transfer directly to the complex.

Юлія Сичова