Mykytyn Rih

Mykytyn Rih is a cape on the right bank of the Dnipro at an old crossing below the rapids. Its position made it a natural gathering place for Zaporozhian Cossacks, and around 1639 they established the Mykytyn Sich here. The fortified camp served as a military and political centre of the Cossack community.

In 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky came to the Sich and was elected hetman. From Mykytyn Rih he led a Cossack force against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in April of that year, beginning the uprising that transformed the political life of Ukraine. The Sich remained at the cape until the Cossacks moved their centre to Chortomlyk in 1652. The crossing retained its importance for people travelling between the two banks of the Dnipro.