Boguslav district is located in the south of the region, its area is 771 km², i.e., 2.6% of Kyiv region. The relief of Boguslav district is defined by its location on the Dnieper Upland and is characterized by big diversity. Rise of granite to the surface is the evidence of their closeness as well as the richness of natural resources. The Ros’ river decorates the Boguslav district, as well as it is a favorite recreation and fishing place.

The history of the land commands respect.

Everyone has heard of Marusia Boguslavka. A monument to this girl stands on a cliffy granite bank of the Ros’. She holds a wreath, twined from the wild flowers. The torn shackles are at her feet. Rescued slaves brought into their homeland a tale about a wonderful woman, who had sacrificed her life to save her fellow countrymen.

This is how the history of the glorious town of Boguslav begins -one of the centers of Ancient Rus’ culture, a witness of many historical events.

And where does the town name come from? Some historians state — from the Boguslavka river. Others suggest a totally contrary hypothesis. There are also many legends about the name itself. The town, founded on the picturesque bank of the beautiful Ros’ in the early eleventh century as a town fortress by Kyiv Prince Yaroslav the Wise, had experienced the periods of prosperity and destruction at the hands of invaders. The remains of the ancient Rus’ township of the eleventh-thirteenth centuries can still be found near Boguslav, which researchers identify as the town of Boguslav, mentioned in the chronicle under 1195. It was one of the most fortified points on the southern border of the Rus’.

Freedom-loving inhabitants of Boguslav took an active part in the uprisings of peasants and Cossacks led by Kryshtof Kosyns’kyi (1591-1593), Severyn Nalyvaiko (1594—1596). During the Ukrainian Liberation War in 1648 — 1654 Boguslav repeatedly served as a place for Bohdan Khmel’nyts’kyi to collect his troops.

The glorious historical past of Boguslav drew attention of many artists. I. S. Nechui-Levyts’kyi was first trained, and then worked a teacher here. The icon painter from Kyiv Caves Monastery Alin Halyk, who became one of the prominent Ukrainian painters, born in Boguslav. Ivan Soshenko was born here in 1807 and spent his childhood in it, among this beautiful nature. He was famous Ukrainian painter, as well he played an important role in life of T. H. Shevchenko by helping ransom him from serfdom, i providing for the poet’s creative development.

A memorial museum is established in the building, where I. Sodhenko was born and made his first artistic attempts.

A prominent Ukrainian writer Maria Vilins’ka (1833 — 1907), who became known in the literature under a pen-name Marko Vovchok, lived in Boguslav district for a long time. The building with a memorial plaque, where she lived during 1885—1886, still remains in the town.

Almost eight years of her life in Boguslav livened up Maria’s creative energy to a certain extent. It was here that she started the narrative «In a Strange Land», and later wrote the story «A Cunning Khamka», based on the Boguslav motive.

A Museum of Town History was inaugurated in Boguslav in 1967. While visiting it, you will learn about interesting historical past of this part of Ukraine.

The history of St Nscholas Monastery starts as early as the fourteenth century. However, in those times it had a different location — close to the village of Lisovychy and not far from Tarascha. In the remote past there was a town called Sambor.

During the Mongol invasion the monks decided to save the monastery. They took the main wooden monastery church apart, and, having moved it through the forests, put it up again between the villages of Ivky and Khokhitva, and respectively, between the rivers of Veremiivka and Rep’iashok. In the early thirteenth century the monastery was rebuilt by Boguslav Colonel Samus’, and later — ruined by Pylyp Orlyk. With the course of time Polish inhabitants of Boguslav as well as their elders repaired it, and moved closer to Boguslav to its current location.

The rivers of Veremiivka and Rep’iashok create an irregularly shaped islet, covered with forest. This tract is called the Monks’ ravine. Traces of ancient settlements have been found there.

Down along the Ros’ and four kilometers from Boguslav there is a village of Khokhitva. The remains of a pre-Scythean settlement of the ninth-eighth centuries A. D. as well as a Kieval Rus’ township were found near it.

On the outskirts of the village there still remains a building in which Marko Vovchok lived during 1887-1893.

A big village of Medvin comes into view from the apple orchards on the 27th kilometer of the highway, which goes from Boguslav. Its territory had been inhabited since ancient times. A tale about the origin of the name «Medvin» says that Prince Volodymyr liked to set up festivities not only in Kyiv, but also in other towns. It is with this purpose that he kept medushi, honey storages, on the outskirts of Kyiv. One of them was in that town. When the Tatars ruined the town, all inhabitants have been killed. The people, who were passing by a deserted town, heard terrible sobbing. It kept going on until the sorceress Kasiana turned the evil spirits out. After that the life came back to the town, but while rebuilding it the people found the storage places with honey and wine, remaining since the Prince Volodymyr times. To celebrate that they got completely drunk, destroyed the pots with drinks, the honey and the wine have been pouring down into the river, and they kept drinking from it. This might be the explanation to the origin of the town name — «Medvin».