Dubetsky-Pankeiev Palace and Estate, Vasylivka
Ruins of a 19th-century classicist palace above the Baraboi, where the family of Serhii Pankeiev — the “Wolf Man” of Sigmund Freud's study — lived.
The classicist estate for Major General Vasyl Dubetsky was built, according to the prosecutor's office (Hromadske), between 1830 and 1854. travels.in.ua writes that the estate was founded in 1845 and the palace completed in 1854. The design of the palace is attributed to Franz Boffo and that of the park to Ivan Dallakva, but the local historian Serhii Kotelko notes that Vasylivka is not mentioned in the works of these masters (landmarks.in.ua). In 1862 Dubetsky's descendants sold the palace, and in 1885 the estate passed to the merchant Kostiantyn Pankeiev (Telegraf). His son Serhii Pankeiev, who died in Vienna in 1979, was a patient of Sigmund Freud, who described his case in “From the History of an Infantile Neurosis”. In 1937 the estate was nationalised; after the Second World War it housed a village school and later administrative offices. In the early 2000s the main western wall of the central block and the roof collapsed. In 2010 the building was transferred to private ownership on condition that it be preserved and restored. In May 2025 Hromadske reported that a court, acting on the prosecutor's claim, had cancelled the sale-and-purchase agreement and obliged the owner to return the ruins, with an area of over 2,300 m².
73 Tsentralna Street, Vasylivka village, Odesa district (travels.in.ua), about 40 km from Odesa (landmarks.in.ua). Getting there: by bus from the “Pryvoz” bus station towards Lymanske, Rozdilna or Mykhailivka, about an hour; from the village along the highway past the petrol station, after the tyre-fitting shop turn right twice, then about 10 minutes along a path (Telegraf, 17.10.2025). Admission is free, there is no infrastructure (funtime.com.ua). Only ruins remain of the palace, the cellars are flooded and choked with debris — do not go inside. There are no opening hours.