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Novomykolayivka (village, Kerch Peninsula)

A village in Lenine Raion of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, founded in the mid-19th century by Ukrainian settlers from the Poltava region after the Crimean War, known for its preserved Poltava estate of the Klymenko family and the Novomykolayivka Local History Museum.

Overview

The village of Novomykolayivka is located in the steppe part of the Kerch Peninsula (Lenine Raion, AR of Crimea), approximately 35 km from the raion center (the urban-type settlement of Lenine) and 35 km from Kerch.

The history of the village's founding is connected with the mass resettlement of Ukrainian peasants and landowners to Crimea in the mid-19th century, following the Crimean War (1853–1856). As a result of mass persecution by the russian imperial authorities and the emigration of the indigenous Crimean Tatar population, Crimea fell into a state of demographic and economic decline. Among the settlers who traveled to Crimea from mainland Ukraine in search of a new life was the Poltava-based Klymenko family. They brought with them their property, traditions, and the name of their native Poltava village.

Near the newly founded Novomykolayivka was the ancient Crimean Tatar settlement of Kochan-Besh-Kuyu. Although there is a claim that the Poltava natives settled on the site of the Crimean Tatars, by the time of their arrival in the mid-19th century almost nothing remained of Kochan-Besh-Kuyu, and the settlers built their cottages in the open steppe.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Resettlement from Poltava Region in the Mid-19th Century: mass migration of Poltava peasants after the Crimean War as an example of centuries-long Ukrainian development and rebuilding of Crimea long before the Soviet resettlements of the 20th century.
  • Klymenko Estate: an authentic 19th-century Ukrainian Poltava house with an authentic interior (stove, benches, tableware, folk clothing, butter churn, millstones, weaving loom, wool carding comb) has been preserved on the territory of the Klymenko estate.
  • Novomykolayivka Local History Museum: local history museum in Novomykolayivka, created based on the family collection of Yuriy Klymenko, dedicated to the history of Novomykolayivka and the Kerch Peninsula.
  • Continuity of Ukrainian Presence: preservation of Ukrainian everyday life, language, and traditions on the Kerch Peninsula serves as a refutation of the russian imperial myth of "originally russian Crimea".