Filatov Spring, Milky Way, and Catacombs: What Illinka and Augustivka have to offer

Today we will start an interesting journey through Mizhlymania, a picturesque corner of Odesa region with a long history. Our journey will take place along the Old Balta Road, a historic route that connected Odesa with the northwestern lands, in particular with the city of Balta.

The road gained its greatest historical importance thanks to the Chumaks. The road ran along the right bank of the Kuyalnyk Estuary, where salt was mined in the Middle Ages.

A new stage in the history of this road began in 1809, when the land along the Kuyalnyk Estuary was granted to Count Joseph-Augustus Illinsky of Polish origin. The count founded two sloboda, which are now called Illinka and Augustivka.

Filatov's spring: a legend in the steppe

Our first stop will be Augustivka. Although there are no well-known tourist attractions in the village, tourists are eager to visit its surroundings. Here, in the heart of the steppe, there is a legendary spring named after the great ophthalmologist Academician Volodymyr Filatov.

Not everyone can find this unique spring. The only landmark on the road is the Augustivka bus stop, from which you need to walk about two kilometers towards the estuary. On your right, you will see a gully overgrown with vegetation. This is where the spring is located. And if it is difficult to see it, it is much easier to hear it. Focusing on the sound, you will find a small path going down into the gully.

The gully in which the spring is located. PHOTO: Dmytro Zhdanov

There is a legend that Filatov used to bring some of his patients to this spring, which he considered healing. It is said that the patients' condition really improved. However, no such facts are mentioned in written sources or in Filatov's own records. Apparently, the legend arose because the water tasted really different from the water in other local springs.

Filatov's spring. PHOTO: Dmytro Zhdanov

The waters of the spring belong to the Pontic aquifer, where the water is located at the base (sole) of limestone and flows over the clay surface of the clay layer below the limestone. Interestingly, in the nineteenth century, local priests blessed this spring. This fact shows the respect for history among the villagers of Mizhlymania. And another object honoring the memory of Volodymyr Filatov has appeared on the map.

The Milky Way and the ancient bridge

We are returning to the Starobaltska road. Our next stop is the village of Illinka, which has several interesting historical sites in its vicinity.

The first is an old bridge built in 1828 when a new road was opened along the Chumak route. This bridge was not just a structure for crossing a stream. It was a critical link on one of the most important trade arteries in the region, the new Baltic Commercial Road.

<span><span><span>Remains of the old bridge of the Old Baltic Road. PHOTO: Dmytro Zhdanov</span></span></span>

Travel on the road was paid for. For example, in 1902, the fare for a three-horse carriage from Illinka to Sievierivka cost 8 kopecks. Due to its importance and profitability, this road was constantly improved and maintained.

Given the strategic importance of the road, in 1833 it was decided to drill the first artesian well in Ukraine. The well was drilled to a depth of 91.5 meters and produced more than a thousand buckets in 12 hours. The significance of this well is hard to overestimate: it proved the feasibility of finding artesian water in the steppe of Odesa region. In addition, artesian wells were of exceptional importance as a source of drinking water for the arid Mizhliman region. In the same year, Governor General Vorontsov inspected the artesian well.

The church where Antonina Nezhdanova sang

The ancient St. Elijah's Church, which began construction in 1886, has also been preserved in Illintsi. In that year, Vasyl Pavlovych Nezhdanov was appointed a priest here, who at that time served in the Panteleimon Church on the very coast of the Kuyalnyk Estuary.

Ilyinka Church inside. PHOTO: Dmytro Zhdanov

One of Vasyl Pavlovych's daughters sang in the church choir of both the Panteleimonivska church and the Illinka village church. In 1888, Vasyl Nezhdanov fell seriously ill and died soon after in the Odesa city hospital. His daughter made Odesa famous by becoming a famous opera singer. The Odesa Conservatory is named after Antonina Nezhdanova.

St. Elijah's Church is dedicated to Elijah the Prophet. This is not an accidental choice for a church in the dry Interfluve. Elijah the Prophet is considered the patron saint of thunder and rain. In the dry, often arid Odesa steppe, his intercession was vital for harvest and survival.
Next to the church is a unique local history museum founded in 2012 by village resident Viktor Bondarchuk. Most of the exhibits were collected in Mizhlymania. The historical range of the museum's expositions is from cave bears to the present day.

The secret of the bear cave

Speaking of cave bears. In 1938, the expedition of Tymofii Hrytsai found a unique cave near the village of Illinka in Mizhlymania. The karst cave with a partially collapsed vault, formed in the thickness of Pontic limestone, was located on the northern outskirts of the village, on the right bank of a beam that flows into the Kuyalnyk estuary. During excavations, thousands of bones of animals such as bison, wild horse, saiga, red deer, roe deer, hyena, wolf, rhinoceros, lion, and porcupine were found. But the largest number of bones belonged to cave bears.

At the same time, flint and bone tools made by humans in the Late Paleolithic were discovered. This is the only Paleolithic cave site in our region. Unfortunately, today only descriptions and found bones and flint tools remain of it. There are periodic reports about the alleged "bear cave" near Illinka. But during the research, it turns out that these are mine workings that appeared in the gully in the XIX-XX centuries. The cave itself has long been destroyed by natural processes. But it is possible that its remains are still waiting for researchers somewhere under landslides in the gully that flows into the Kuyalnyk Estuary.

The underworld of Illinka

Illinka has a fairly extensive system of catacombs, where limestone was mined not only in the nineteenth but throughout the twentieth century. We will not tell you how to find the entrance to the Illinka catacombs, because it is dangerous to go down into the catacombs without the accompaniment of caving experts.

The catacombs of Illinka. PHOTO: Dmytro Zhdanov

But no, we will show you one entrance to the catacombs. This is a well that was used as an entrance. Such wells were common in Odesa and its surroundings in the nineteenth century.

A well used as an entrance to the catacombs. PHOTO: Dmytro Zhdanov

So the route Odesa - Augustivka - Illinka will be a great option for a weekend trip. The trip promises to be not only interesting but also healthy, especially if you visit the Kuyalnyk Estuary, a unique balneological resort in Ukraine.

Дмитро Жданов