Stand on Sovetskaya Street, the city's main artery, and you are standing in a place whose name has changed four times in a century. Luhansk began as a foundry settlement on the Luhan River, became Voroshilovgrad, took its old name back, lost it again, and took it back once more in 1990. The street names and monuments still carry those layers.
This guide suits travellers who are already in the region and want to understand the city through its surviving buildings, its museums and its riverside geography, rather than through a conventional sightseeing circuit.
Because the city has been under separatist control since 2014 and Ukrainian administration moved elsewhere, practical conditions on the ground can change. Treat what follows as a record of what the sources describe, and verify locally before you set out.
1. Saint Ascension Cathedral
Constructed in 1840, this is the oldest working church described in the sources and the one with the most unusual history: for almost the entire Soviet period it was the only functioning church in the Luhansk Region. It came through the Second World War largely undamaged and was declared an architectural monument in 1955.
It stands in the town of Alexandrovsk, so plan it as a separate stop rather than folding it into a walk along Sovetskaya Street.
2. Saint-Vladimir Cathedral
On Gorky Square, reachable by tram at the Gorky Square stop, this is described as the largest cathedral of south-east Ukraine, built between 1995 and 2006. The sources call it by far the most impressive religious building in Luhansk from the post-perestroika era.
Combine it with the square itself, which gives you an easy landmark to navigate back to if you are moving around by tram.
3. Luhansk Regional Museum of Art
Housed on Pochtovaya Street in the former home of the industrialists Venderovich, built in 1876, this sits on one of the oldest streets in the city. The collection runs to over eight thousand items of domestic and foreign art from the 16th to 20th centuries, including roughly 1,500 paintings, 300 sculptures and 4,500 decorative and applied pieces.
It opens Wednesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00. Go in the morning and give the building's interior as much time as the collection.
4. Museum of history and culture of city of Luhansk
On Karla Marksa Street, in a former city government building, this museum was created in 1980 as a museum to Voroshilov, the man the city was renamed for in Soviet times. The main exhibition covers the city's development in the 19th century, and at the entrance you will find ancient cannons cast in the Luhansk foundry.
Pair it with the Regional Museum of Art, since both sit in the older central streets and can be covered in one outing.
5. Local history museum
On Shevchenko Street, this is described as one of the oldest museums of the Donbas, in a constructivist building from 1976. Seven displays cover the history of the Luhansk region from the earliest times to the present, and there is an exhibition on the inhabitants of the deep past.
Outside stand two captured English Mark V "Rikardo" (MK-5) tanks from the First World War alongside an old cannon. It opens Wednesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00.
6. Park Museum of Polovtsian stone sculptures
On Oboronnaya Street, near the tram and bus stops for the "Ukraine" cinema and the 17th school, this holds more than eighty Polovtsian stone sculptures, one of the largest collections in Ukraine. The statues date from the 11th to 12th centuries and are known as "stone broads" because most resemble human figures, usually men or women.
They range from one to four metres in height and were placed on the mounds of ancient peoples including the Scythians and the Polovtsy. This is the only monumental art left by the nomadic peoples who once lived in what is now the Luhansk region, so allow time to walk the whole park rather than passing through.
7. House-museum of Vladimir Dal'
On Dalya Street, this is a small single-storey, five-room building that has stood since the 1820s. In 1986 it opened as a literary house museum to Vladimir Ivanovich Dal, in the house where he was born and lived for a long time. The museum has three exhibition halls.
It is a compact stop, so combine it with the central street sights rather than making a dedicated trip.
8. Sviato-Petropavlivs'kyi cathedral
Reached from the "Rabkorovskaya" and "Rodina cinema" tram and bus stops in KamBrod, followed by a walk uphill between the two, this is one of the oldest temples in the Luhansk diocese to survive the mass destruction of the Soviet period. It was rebuilt in stone in 1905, with a bell tower holding seven bells, and by 1930 held 89 icons, 50 of them in a three-tier iconostasis.
The uphill approach is part of the visit, so wear something suitable for walking.
9. Monument to K.E. Voroshilov
On Kotsiubinskogo Street, opposite the Luhansk town council, this is described as a trademark Luhansk monument, set in a location with a grand view over the northern part of the city. It was opened on the hundredth anniversary of Voroshilov's birth and stands twelve metres high including the horse.
You can walk to it from the Sports Palace, uphill from the 7th line stops, or directly from the railway station, which makes it a natural first or last stop of a day.
10. Church of the Holy Martyrs Guria, Samon and Aviv
In Memorial Park, on the site of the former Gusinovskiy cemetery, this church held its first service in 1998. Guria, Samon and Aviv are venerated as defenders and patrons of marriage.
Reach it by trolleybus or bus at the crossing of Sovetskaya and Oboronnaya streets, by tram at the Pedagogicheskii university stop, or on foot from Sovetskaya Street where westbound minibuses can stop directly across the park near the "Dom Odegdy" store.
11. The Luhansk Cathedral Mosque
On Pavlovskaya Street, near the trolleybus and bus stop of the same name, this mosque was built by the Muslim community of the Luhansk region, most of them Tatars, and opened on 29 May 2010. It is a two-storey building of 550 square metres with a 25-metre minaret and capacity for 500 people.
The ground floor holds a library, classroom and office, with a sports hall and kitchen in the basement. If you are coming from elsewhere in the city, you may need to change at "Gayovogo kvartal" to get there.
12. Sviato-Mykolo-Preobrazhens'kyi Sobor
On Internatsional'na Street, near the tram and bus stop for the October Revolution plant, this is the St Michael of the Transfiguration cathedral. It is one of the churches listed among the city's religious buildings and can be reached on foot from the stop.
Group it with the other northern stops on your route rather than crossing the city for it alone.
13. Art Gallery
On Shevchenko Street, this is a separate gallery from the Regional Museum of Art and sits on the same street as the Local history museum.
Because both are on Shevchenko Street, the sensible approach is to visit them in a single walk.
14. Museum of history of Aerotechnics of the Luhansk airrepair factory
In the Ostraya Mogila quarter, this museum holds more than sixty exhibits, described as planes that reached the museum by accident.
It lies to the south-east of the centre, so treat it as a half-day trip of its own rather than an add-on to a central walk.
15. Sviato-Oleksandro-Nevs'kyi Hram
On Budennogo Street, in University park near the "Kvartal Yakira" trolleybus and bus stop, this church is noted for strict simplicity and grandeur. The blue walls give the building an effect of lightness, and the temple area of 306 square metres is decorated with six domes and a bell tower.
It sits in a university park, so it works well as a quiet stop between the centre and the northern monuments.
If you only have one day
Morning. Start at the Monument to K.E. Voroshilov on Kotsiubinskogo Street, opposite the town council, where the view over the northern part of the city sets your bearings. Walk down to the central streets and take in the Museum of history and culture of city of Luhansk on Karla Marksa Street, then the Luhansk Regional Museum of Art on Pochtovaya Street, which opens at 09:00.
Afternoon. Continue to the Local history museum and the Art Gallery, both on Shevchenko Street, and look at the captured First World War tanks and old cannon outside the museum. If time allows, add the House-museum of Vladimir Dal' on Dalya Street.
Evening. Finish at the Park Museum of Polovtsian stone sculptures on Oboronnaya Street, where the light falls across the statues, then walk to the Church of the Holy Martyrs Guria, Samon and Aviv in Memorial Park, which is close to the Sovetskaya and Oboronnaya crossing.
When are the museums open?
No opening hours are given for the other museums, so check locally before travelling to them.
How do I get around the sights?
Some stops, such as those for Sviato-Petropavlivs'kyi cathedral and Sviato-Mykolo-Preobrazhens'kyi Sobor, require a walk from the stop.
Which sights are outside the centre?
Saint Ascension Cathedral is in the town of Alexandrovsk, and the Museum of history of Aerotechnics of the Luhansk airrepair factory is in the Ostraya Mogila quarter to the south-east. Both need to be planned as separate trips rather than fitted into a central walk.
Can I see the main sights in one day?
You can cover the central cluster on foot and by tram in a day, as set out in the one-day plan above. The outlying churches and the aerotechnics museum need additional time.
Work out which of these stops matter most to you, check the current situation on the ground, and start mapping your route through the city.