After the successful completion of negotiations with the Turkish
Empire, which resulted in a declaration of neutrality by the Turks,
Tsar Peter I traveled to his headquarters located in the hamlet
Krytoi Bereg (Steep Bank) on the left bank of Vorskla River.
During a
council of war the decision was made to engage in battle with
the Swedes.
The Swedish army was camped on the other side of the
river. On June 16, 1709, the main body of the Russian army
crossed the river at three fords approximately 12 km north of
Poltava, and
set up camp near the village Semenovka (now Krotenki).
To commemorate this crossing a concrete obelisk,
crowned with a
double-headed bronze eagle (dismantled soon after 1917),
was unveiled in 1909 on top of a hill on the right bank
of the Vorskla
close to the village Semenovka. The earlier monument
was replaced in 1959 with a new
granite obelisk designed by architects Shmulson and
Pasichny. The sign on the monument
reads: "This is the place where the Russian Army
crossed the Vorskla River
at three fords on June 20, 1709.”
|