Velyki Sorochyntsi

Mykola Hohol, whom the world knows as Gogol, was born at Velyki Sorochyntsi in 1809, and his first collection of stories opens with Sorochyntsi Fair, set in this village. The fair itself has been revived and runs for several days each August, drawing tens of thousands of people to a field of stalls, food, horses and staged scenes from the story. A museum in the village covers his birth and the family, and the church where he was baptised stands nearby.

What you actually see

• The August fair - the revived Sorochyntsi Fair, several days of stalls and staging.
• The Gogol museum - the writer's birth and family in the village.
• The Transfiguration church - the eighteenth-century church where he was baptised.
• The iconostasis - the carved screen inside the church, unusually complete.

When to go

Late August is the fair and the only time the village is busy; dates are announced each year. The rest of the year it is quiet. Museums close on Mondays.

Honest expectations

Outside the August fair there is very little here beyond the museum and the church. During the fair, accommodation for many kilometres is full and roads are jammed. The fair is heavily commercial.

Nearby

Myrhorod is northeast, and Dykanka is southwest.