The first thing that opened eyes traveler, driving up to Chernigov in Kiev highway, is a picturesque mountain Boldin topped with gold-domed churches. Boldin mountains - the card of the city, witnesses its antiquity. The name derives from their ancient "Bold", meaning "oak." The remains of the oak grove, consisting of ancient trees of this species, even now preserved in the western part of the tract in the mountains Boldin Maleev ditch. Rising above the flood plain of the Desna to a height of 35 meters and covering her wide arc, Boldin is a natural mountain dominates the landscape of Chernigov. Even in pagan times, their territory to be used by local residents in the sacred meaning. There still remains one of the largest ancient burial grounds, with more than 200 burial mounds, the first of which appeared here in the IX - X centuries. The biggest of them - ambulatory and unnamed - were included in all textbooks on national history. The first of them involves the legend of the hero, which became the prototype of the epic Ilya of Murom - defender of the Russian land. The basis for this assumption were the results of excavations of the mound.