Soviet flooded Bakota: Ukrainians will be told the whole truth about the destroyed region

The project was created by the public organisation "Cultural Club" with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. The partners were the NGO "Territory" (Respublica festival) and Staroushytskyi village council. This is discussed in the material of Socialportal.

Now Bakota is the most popular place among tourist locations in Ukraine according to the results of Google searches. However, most people do not even realise the tragic history of this region and what a unique centuries-old culture is hidden under the water column along with dozens of historic towns and villages.

Bakota is a large ancient city, which was the capital of the Dniester Lowlands from the XII to XIII centuries. During the times of Kievan Rus it served as a trading port on the Dniester, and during the era of the Galicia-Volyn principality it became the most important political and administrative centre of Podolia. However, the history of the city ended in 1981. Then, during the construction of the Novodnestrovskaya HPP by the Soviet authorities, Bakota was completely flooded with water.

The cost of the reservoir was almost 30 flooded villages, 16 thousand hectares of fertile land, 100 hectares of forest, many displaced residents and most importantly - the unique centuries-old cultural heritage of the region.

The project "Bakota in Search of Submerged Heritage" is especially relevant now, when Ukraine's culture is threatened by a hostile neighbour who seeks to completely destroy it.

The project has created a number of cultural products and activities, namely:

• an interactive art object on the observation deck of Bakota, dedicated to the history and culture of flooded villages of the region (stone blocks, each of which symbolises 28 flooded villages, with a QR code with information about the history and culture of each village);
• an exposition of artefacts found on the coast of the Dniester, Ushitsa and Zhvan rivers and during the expedition to the semi-abandoned villages and communication with the local community (photos of people, buildings, notebooks, household items);
• virtual excursion to the 12th century Bakot rock monastery, which is the most famous tourist site in the region, a unique monument of cultural heritage and the oldest monument of cult underground constructions and spread of Orthodoxy in Podolia, as well as a famous "place of power" to which psychics from all over the world make pilgrimages;
• a mural on the wall of Bakota Hub based on the works of local artist A. Gren, who lived and worked in the region in the 20s, it was at Bakota that he created images of Podolia women and was later repressed;
• a digital archive, namely, a website as a digital archive of Bacota's cultural patrimony with all cultural points recorded on a map of the region in a cultural and cognitive itinerary, and a digital archive of Bacota folklore songs as objects of the disappearing intangible cultural heritage of the region, which are still not recorded in any format, sung by local local speakers from Bacota. They are the last ones to remember them;
• an interactive exhibit from the audio archive of Bacota folklore songs at the People's Museum in the village of Chabanowka on tablets. It features recorded songs as well as Bacotian settlers' memories of village life before flooding, rituals and habits. The exhibit will also be presented online on the project website and the museum's website;
• a new cultural and educational itinerary listing all cultural sites in the region, both offline in the form of a tourist guide and online on the project website.