Poltava is a city in central
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
. It is the administrative center of the
Poltava OblastPoltava Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava....
, as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Poltavskyi Raion within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own separate
raionRaions of Ukraine are small territorial subdivisions of Ukraine. There are 490 raions in 24 oblasts and the Crimea autonomous republic of Ukraine. The average area of a Ukrainian raion is...
within the oblast. The current estimated population is 313,400 (as of 2004). The city lies on the banks of the river
VorsklaThe Vorskla River , located in Russia and northeastern Ukraine, is tributary to the Dnieper River.In 1399, the Battle of the Vorskla River was fought in the area...
.
History
It is still unknown when the city was founded.
Baltavar KubratKubrat or Kurt was a Bulgar ruler credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in 632. He is said to have achieved this by defeating the Avars and uniting all the Bulgar tribes under one rule....
's grave was found in its vicinity, and its name derives from the title he, his predecessors and his successors bore. Though the town was not attested before 1174, municipal authorities chose to celebrate the town's 1100th anniversary in 1999, for reasons unknown. The settlement is indeed an old one, as archeologists unearthed a
PaleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
dwelling as well as Scythian remains within the city limits.
The present name of the city is traditionally connected to the settlement
LtavaLtava, the name of a settlement mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle, traditionally connected to the name of the city of Poltava, Ukraine.Now it is also the trademark of food products originating from Poltava.It is also the name of the radio station Radio "Ltava" broadcasting from Poltava....
which is mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle in 1174. The region belonged to the
Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
from the 14th century. The
PolishPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
administration took over in 1569. In 1648 Poltava was captured by the Ruthenian-Polish
magnateMagnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
Jeremi WiśniowieckiJeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki was a notable member of the aristocracy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince at Wiśniowiec, Łubnie and Chorol and a father of future Polish king Michał I...
(1612-51). Poltava was the base of a distinguished regiment of the
UkrainianUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly—citizens of Ukraine...
Cossacks. In 1667 the town passed to the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
In the
Battle of PoltavaThe Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 was the decisive victory of Peter I of Russia over Swedish Empire in one of the most famous of the battles of the Great Northern War. It is said to have started the end of Sweden's role as a Great Power and the Russians took their place as the leading nation...
on June 27-28, 1709 (Old Style), or 8 July (New Style), tsar
Peter the FirstPeter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V....
, commanding 53,000 troops, defeated a
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
army of 19,000 troops led by
Field MarshalField Marshal is a military officer rank. Today, it is the highest rank in the armies in which it is used, one step above a general or colonel-general.-Usage and hierarchical position:...
Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld (who had received the command of the army after the wounding of the Swedish king
Charles XIICharles XII was the King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718....
on June 17). "Like a Swede at Poltava" remains a simile for "completely defeated" in Russian. The battle marked the end of
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
as a
great powerA great power is a nation or state that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess economic, military, diplomatic, and cultural strength, which may cause other smaller nations to consider the opinions of great powers before taking actions of...
and the rise of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
as one.
Later in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, after the
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
had cleared the
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
out of the Eastern Ukraine by the end of 1943 during the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive, by the summer of 1944 the allied
USAAFThe United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II. It was a component of the United States Army, divided functionally by executive order in 1942 into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the...
conducted a number of
shuttle bombingShuttle bombing is a tactic where bombers fly from their home base to bomb a first target and continue to a different location where they are refuelled and rearmed. The aircraft may then bomb a second target on the return leg to their home base...
raids against the Third Reich under the name of
Operation FranticOperation Frantic was a series of seven shuttle bombing operations conducted by American aircraft based in Britain or the Mediterranean which then landed at three American bases in the Soviet Union...
, and used purpose-built bases in the Poltava area, as well as near Myrgorod, as eastern locations for landing
B-17 Flying FortressThe Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed for the United States Army Air Corps , introduced in the 1930s. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and more than met the Air Corps'...
heavy bombers involved in those operations.
Sights
The centre of the old city is a semicircular Neoclassical square with the Tuscan column of cast iron (1805-11), commemorating the centenary of the
Battle of PoltavaThe Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 was the decisive victory of Peter I of Russia over Swedish Empire in one of the most famous of the battles of the Great Northern War. It is said to have started the end of Sweden's role as a Great Power and the Russians took their place as the leading nation...
and featuring 18 Swedish cannons captured in that battle. As
Peter the GreatPeter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V....
celebrated his victory in the Saviour church, this 17th-century wooden shrine was carefully preserved to this day. The five-domed city cathedral, dedicated to the Exaltation of the Cross, is a superb monument of Cossack Baroque, built between 1699 and 1709. As a whole, the cathedral presents a unity which even the Neoclassical belltower has failed to mar. Another frothy Baroque church, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, was destroyed in 1934 and rebuilt in the 1990s.
Administrative divisions
The city is divided into three
raionA raion is a type of administrative unit of some post-Soviet states. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is almost always translated as "district"...
s, or districts.
- Oktiabrski raion, to the south-west with an area of 2077 hectares and a population of 147,600 in 2005. It's a largely residential area and includes the city centre.
- Kyivski raion, is the largest by area, comprising 5437 hectares, or 52.8% of the city total situated in the north and north-west. Its census in 2005 was 111,900. This district has a large industrial zone.
- Leninski raion, to the east and south-east, in the valley of the Vorskla river
The Vorskla River , located in Russia and northeastern Ukraine, is tributary to the Dnieper River.In 1399, the Battle of the Vorskla River was fought in the area...
, with an area of 2988 hectares and a population of 53,700 in 2005.
The village of Rozsoshenci is officially considered to be outside the city, but actually constitutes a part of Poltava agglomeration.
Transport and infrastructure
Transportation in Poltava is well-developed. The city has two major railway stations, and railway links with the cities of
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
,
KharkivKharkiv , also spelled Kharkov is the second largest city in Ukraine.It was the first capital of Soviet Ukraine, now the administrative centre of the Kharkiv Oblast , as well as the administrative centre of the surrounding Kharkivskyi Raion within the oblast. The city is located in the northeast...
,
KremenchukKremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
and Krasnograd. The lines towards Kiev and Kharkiv are electrified and are used by an express train, a regular service with comfortable carriages. Electrification of the Poltava-Kharkiv line was completed in August 2008. Avtovokzal is the city's intercity
bus stationA bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the sidewalk, where buses can stop...
. Buses for local municipal routes depart from "AC-2" (autostation #2 - along
ShevchenkoTaras Hryhorovych Shevchenko was a Ukrainian poet, artist and humanist. His literary heritage is regarded to be the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and, to a large extent, the modern Ukrainian language...
street) and "AC-3" (Zinkivska street).
City transportation is represented by the following:
- trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles...
es with fifteen routes and a network of 72.6 km;
- bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. A bus seats a maximum of 8 to 300 passengers...
es, including a ringroad routes (#19,20,21);
- marshrutka
Marshrutka , from marshrutnoye taksi is a share taxi in the CIS countries, the Baltic states, and Bulgaria. Marshrutnoye taksi literally means routed taxicab...
s on all bus routes.
Ticket prices for that kinds of city transport are respectively 0.75 UAH, 1.00 UAH and 1.25 UAH (as of June 2009).
Poltava has a
domestic airportA domestic airport is an airport which handles only domestic flights or flights within the same country. Domestic airports don't have customs and immigration facilities and are therefore incapable of handling flights to or from a foreign airport....
, situated in 5 km west outside the city limits near the village of Ivashki. The international
highwayA highway is a main road for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities and states. Highway designs vary widely and can range from a two-lane road without margins to a multi-lane, grade separated motorway. In English and U.S...
M 03International Highways - are the roads in Ukraine on the route involving international transport corridors and/or highways that are part of the European network of basic, intermediate, and the roads connecting branches and a corresponding international indexing , and provide the international road...
(E40), which links Poltava with Kiev and Kharkiv, passes through the southern outskirts of Poltava city. There is also a regional highway P-17 crossing Poltava and linking it with Kremenchuk and
SumySumy is a city on the Psel River in Ukraine, and the capital of the Sumy Oblast. As of 2004, the city's population is 283,700. It is served by Sumy Airport.-History:...
.
Education & Science
Poltava has always been one of the most important science and education centres in Ukraine. Major universities and institutions of higher education include the following:
Astronomy
- Poltava gravimetric observatory (PGO) is situated a bit north from city centre (27-29 Miasoyedov st.). It's main work directions are measurments of Earth rotation, latitude variations (applying zenit stars observations, lunar occultation observations and other)
- Observational station of PGO in rural area, some 20 km east along the M03-E40 highway. Radiotelescope URAN-2 (Ukrainian: УРАН-2) is situated there too.
Famous people from Poltava and its region
- Marie Bashkirtseff
Marie Bashkirtseff was a Ukrainian-born Russian diarist, painter and sculptor.Born Maria Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva in Gavrontsy near Poltava, to a wealthy noble family, she grew up abroad, traveling with her mother across most of Europe...
— 19th c. Parisian painter, memoirist
- Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi was a historian, Labor Zionist leader, and the second and longest-serving President of Israel.-Biography:...
— a historian, Labor Zionist leader, and the second and longest serving Israeli president.
- Hanka Bielicka
Anna Weronika Bielicka was a Polish singer and actress known by the name Hanna and its affectionate diminutive Hanka....
- Polish actress
- Andriy Danylko
Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko , better known as his drag character Verka Serduchka , is a Ukrainian comedian and pop and dance singer...
— Ukrainian singer
- Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian novelist, humorist, and dramatist. His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were heavily influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing and identity....
— writer and playwrighter
- Alexander Gurwitsch
Alexander Gavrilovich Gurwitsch was a Ukrainian biologist and medical scientist who originated the morphogenetic field theory and discovered the biophoton...
— RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n physician and biologist
- Ivan Kotlyarevsky
Ivan Petrovych Kotlyarevsky , was a Ukrainian writer, poet and playwright, regarded as the pioneer of modern Ukrainian literature.- Biography :...
— UkrainianUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly—citizens of Ukraine...
writer, poet and playwright
- Anatoliy Vasilievich Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissar of Enlightenment responsible for culture and education. He was active as an art critic and journalist throughout his career.-Biography:Lunacharsky was born in Poltava, Ukraine, Russian Empire...
— Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissar of Enlightenment responsible for culture and education
- Ivan Paskevich
Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich was a Ukrainian-born military leader in the Russian service. For his victories, he was made Count of Erivan in 1828 and Namestnik of the Kingdom of Poland in 1831.-Biography:...
— Ukrainian military leader in the Russian service
- David Peikoff — Canadian-U.S. Deaf Rights advocate, born on March 21, 1900, in Yanoschina, Poltava Province — former Russia.
- Zhanna Prokhorenko
Zhanna Prokhorenko is an actress best known to European and North American audiences for her starring role in Grigori Chukhrai's 1959 film, Ballad of a Soldier....
— Ukrainian actress
- Sasha Putrya
Sasha Putrya was born and lived in the region of Poltava, Ukraine. She died at age 11 from Leukemia. Having started painting at the age of 3, by the time of her death she had created around 2,276 painting and drawings, many of which are collected within 46 albums and are on display in a museum...
— Ukrainian artistThe definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. the worlds best artist is a man named mitchell peter lay who is often loved by the ladies. The common useage in both everyday speech and...
- Nikolai Yaroshenko
Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko was a Ukrainian painter.Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko was born on in the city of Poltava, Russian Empire to a son of a Russian Army officer...
— Ukrainian painter
- Maria Tarnowska
Maria Tarnowska , born Maria Nikolaevna O'Rourke , born June 9, 1877, Poltava – died January 23, 1949, Santa Fe, Argentina....
(born Maria Nikolaevna O'Rourke), famous femme fataleA femme fatale is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetypal character of literature and art...
, whose trialA trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
for murderMurder, as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
(VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
, 1910) attracted worldwide mediaThe news media refers to the section of the mass media that focuses on presenting current news to the public.These include print media ; broadcast media , and increasingly Internet-based media .The term news trade refers to the concept of the news media as a business...
attention.
- Vera Kholodnaya
Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya was the first star of Russian silent cinema. Only five of her films still exist and the total number she acted in is unknown, with speculation ranging between fifty and one hundred.- Early life :Born in Poltava, Ukraine as Vera Levchenko, she went to live in Moscow with...
- an outstanding Ukrainian actress, the first star of Russian silent cinema
- Yuri Kondratyuk
Yuri Vasilievich Kondratyuk was the pseudonym adopted by Oleksandr Gnatovich Shargei, a pioneer of astronautics and spaceflight. He was a theoretician and a visionary who, in the early twentieth century, foresaw ways of reaching the moon.-Biography:Kondratyuk was born in Poltava, Ukraine...
(born Olexandr Gnatovich Shargei) — a pioneer of astronautics and spaceflight who, in the early twentieth century, foresaw ways of reaching the moon.
- Panas Myrny (born Panas Yakovych Rudchenko) - Ukrainian writer (* Panas Myrny's Memorial estate)
- Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky
Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky was a Ukrainian mathematician, mechanician and physicist. Ostrogradsky is considered to be Leonhard Euler's disciple and one of the leading mathematicians of imperial Russia.Ostrogradsky was born in Pashennaya , Russian Empire...
- Ukrainian mathematician, mechanician and physicist.
- Hryhorii Skovoroda- Ukrainian poet, philosopher and composer.
- Symon Petliura - Ukrainian politician and statesman, a leader of Ukraine's fight for independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917.
- Nikolai Yaroshenko
Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko was a Ukrainian painter.Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko was born on in the city of Poltava, Russian Empire to a son of a Russian Army officer...
- Russian painter of Ukrainian origin.
- Svetlana Kopchikova - Ukrainian swimmer and 200 m medley
Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley or by four swimmers as a medley relay...
champion at the 1985 Summer UniversiadeThe 1985 Summer Universiade, also known as the XIII Summer Universiade, took place in Kobe, Japan.-Mascot:Name: UNITANArtist: Osamu Tezuka...
.
Sports
The most popular sport is football. Two professional
football teamA football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football.Such teams could be selected to play in a against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-star team or even selected as a...
s are based in the city: Vorskla Poltava in the
Ukrainian Premier LeagueThe Ukrainian Premier League is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. The league was founded in 1991 after the fold of the Soviet Union's Vysshaya Liga.-Overview:...
and
FC PoltavaFC Poltava is a Ukrainian football club based in Poltava. The club entered the professional leagues for the 2007-08 season in the Druha Liha B...
in the Druha Liha.
There are 3 stadiums in Poltava: Butovsky Vorskla Stadium (main city stadium) and 'Dynamo' are situated in the city centre and 'Lokomotiv' which is situated in Podil district.
Honors
A
minor planetAn asteroid group or minor planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
2983 Poltava2983 Poltava is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on September 02, 1981 by N. Chernykh at Nauchnyj.- External links :*...
discovered in 1981 by
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
astronomer
Nikolai Stepanovich ChernykhNikolay Stepanovich Chernykh was a Soviet, Lithuanian and Russian astronomer.Chernykh was born in the city of Usman' in Voronezh Oblast...
is named after the city.
External links