Cathedral of the Transfiguration, Bolhrad
The main church of the Bessarabian Bulgarians, built with their money and their grain.
Bolhrad was founded in 1821 by Bulgarian settlers from beyond the Danube, and the cathedral became the main church of all Bulgarian Bessarabia: the design was made by Avraam Melnikov, rector of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and the limestone dome stands about 50 metres. By the count of the historian Ivan Avramov, about 10 thousand people from the Bulgarian colonies contributed to the construction — the well-off gave money, the rest grain, which was carted to Izmail for the exchange. On 26 January 2012 a fire burned for about ten hours, destroyed some 500 m² and brought down the dome; most of Pavlo Piskariov's murals were lost. The cathedral was fully restored by 2018, partly with donations from Bulgaria.
The cathedral is open and stands in the centre; Ukrainian Bessarabia is regularly under attack on the Danube ports — plan with the air-raid alerts in mind.