Vovchans’k, founded in 1674, was one of the county centers of the former Kharkiv province, which developed most dynamically at the beginning of the 20th century. You could find many buildings from that period.

Of the historical buildings, the huge Lyceum No. 2 (Gagarina Street, 12) is particularly impressive.

It was built during World War I by Austrian prisoners of war as a hospital.

The building is an architectural monument.

Polyclinic building (1 Travnya Street, 1A), built in 1904.

Initially, the building was used for public gatherings and balls. The complex was renovated in 2019.

City mansion of the early 20th century. Architectural monument, Torhova Street, 11.

The building of the former Zemsky administration (an architectural monument of the late 19th century):

There are many informative stands in the city center about the history of Vovchans’k.

It’s a pity, the original Trinity Cathedral was blown up by the Bolsheviks in 1937, and now in Vovchans’k you can find the more modest Zhon-Myronosits Church (1998-2010, designed by Volodymyr Novgorodov).

In Vovchans’k, the head of the zemstvo council, Vasyl Kolokoltsov (1867 – 1934), is honored and remembered, who contributed in every way to the rapid development of the county’s infrastructure and served as Minister of Agriculture under both Skoropadsky rule and Denikin in 1918-1919. The monument to Kolokoltsov was erected in 2007, the sculptor is Seyfaddin Gurbanov.

V. Kolokoltsov’s residential building was built in the 1880s and is distinguished by a very “carved” facade, like made from wood, although all the patterns are brick.

Soviet mosaic at the House of Culture (Kolokoltsova Street, 5).

This architectural monument at Gagarina Street, 10 was built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It was built for a girls’ school.

And in this building at Soborna Street, 98 you can see notes of Ukrainian Art Nouveau – hexagonal windows.

Many people came to Vovchans’k just to see the aircraft dump of the abandoned DOSAAF school. The abandoned airfield had several dozen L-29 training aircraft, An-2 biplanes, and a Mi-2 helicopter. These aircraft had reached the end of their service life in the late 1980s, but it had not been completely disposed of.

Volchans’k was seriously damaged by Russian shelling in 2022-2023. The vast majority of historic buildings featured in this photo collection, taken in 2019, were destroyed in 2024-2025.