Kharkiv

Kharkiv is quite an old city. It was founded 350 years ago. According to the popular legend the city is named after Cossack Kharko. Kharkiv is the historical capital of Slobidska Ukraine. With the foundation of Kharkiv University in 1805 the city became an important educational and cultural centre of Ukraine and the Russian Empire as a whole. Such cultural figures as Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Hulack-Artemovsky, Kostomarov, Repin lived and worked in Kharkiv.

Today Kharkiv is the second largest city in the country. About 2,000,000 people live here. Kharkiv is one of the largest industrial centres in Ukraine. The numerous enterprises produce planes, tractors, electronic, mining and medical equipment, TV-sets, refrigerators, paints and cosmetics, clothing and textiles. Kharkiv is one of the major cultural and scientific centres of Ukraine.

There are many schools, higher educational establishments, research institutes in Kharkiv.

Kharkiv is very beautiful, especially in spring. There are over 2,500 streets and 26 squares in the city. The largest parks are Gorky Park, Shevchenko Gardens with the Zoo, the Forest Park and some others.

There are a large number of monuments in Kharkiv. The most prominent of them is the monument to T. Shevchenko built in 1935.