Stari Kodaky: Fortress History on the Dnipro

Kodak Fortress and Its Location

Stari Kodaky is closely connected with the history of Kodak Fortress. It was first built in July 1635 and stood on a rocky cliff above the Dnipro’s first rapid, the Kodak Rapid. For planning your trip, this location is a distinctive landmark: the fortification stood above a named stretch of the river. If you would like to explore history and landscape together, the town brings both themes together.

The fortress had four bastions and consisted of earthen ramparts and wooden fortifications. A bastion is a projecting part of a fortification. The four bastions make the layout of the complex tangible; the ramparts and wood describe further elements of its construction. This makes it possible to understand Kodak Fortress through its specific construction, not just the general term “fortress.” It was destroyed more than 300 years ago.

Pilots and Local History

The history of the Dnipro rapids pilots offers another perspective on Stari Kodaky. They lived in the town, near Lotsmanska Kamianka, and practiced a distinctive profession that has since died out. Pilot culture focuses on the people and work associated with the rapids, adding a cultural aspect to the history of the fortification. The fortress and the pilots represent two different ways of approaching local history: the complex on the rocky cliff, on the one hand, and the historical profession connected with the rapids, on the other. If you are interested in local history, you will find both architectural and cultural points of interest here.

Museum and Cemetery

The local history museum at the cultural center in Stari Kodaky preserves exhibits about the lives and daily routines of the local Dnipro rapids pilots. The collection therefore focuses not only on the now-extinct profession, but also on everyday life. The local history museum is one of the historic village’s visitor attractions; you need to arrange a visit in advance.

On the way to the remains of Kodak Fortress is an old cemetery with preserved stone crosses. Some of the crosses bear dates. The cemetery adds its own historical trace to the fortress remains: the stone crosses themselves, some of which display their dates. Visitors can appreciate the crosses as a distinctive feature of the site.

Dnipro Scenery at the Former Fortress Site

From the former ramparts, the view stretches across the Dnipro, toward the steep slopes on the left bank, and over a small lake formed in a disused quarry. The Dnipro, with the Kodak Rapid, and the quarry lake offer two different connections to water: the course of the river and a body of water created by earlier human activity. The steep slopes on the left bank add another landscape feature to the view. Thus, the scenery around the fortress remains encompasses the river and slopes as well as the lake and its distinctive origins.

Leisure at the Former Fortress Site

Some people spend their leisure time at the site of Kodak Fortress; swimming is also described as a recreational activity there. This use refers to the site of the former fortress, not to the structure as a preserved building. The history of Stari Kodaky thus brings together the historic fortification, the landscape, and a described leisure activity.

Discover more destinations: Mohyliv, Surs'ke, Kryvyi Rih, Novooleksandrivka, Yurivka, Ordzonikidze, Ternivka, Pavlohrad

For the regional travel overview: Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.