Ukrainian Eastern city of Kharkov.

Kharkov is not really a tourist city and not able to be leader of world tourism as famous sightseeing Rome, Paris, Saint Petersburg, Prague or other cities. However Kharkov is one of the biggest scientific, industrial and trade centers of Ukraine. Every visitor of the city notices individual character of it, specific in architecture and friendly relation of local people. There are big parks and squares in the city, surrounded by green areas. There are many nice places to see in Kharkov.

So let start to see them! We start from the center of the city when Kharkov was found as medieval fortress. Kharkov was founded in 17 century as military fortress. The earliest citizens of old Kharkov were free people and they were called Cozacks. They were protecting southern borders of Russian empire from Tatarians (people who carried out attacks on Ukraine). The oldest building in Kharkov considers Pokrovian cathedral which was erected in 1689 year. The church with its has three domes is classic example of Ukrainian baroque and classical construction of Ukrainian churches in that period. Nowadays Pokrovian church is a property of Kharkov church diocese and is situated as working orthodox temple.

Uspenian cathedral is situated on the Universities hill. This is one of the most gorgeous architectural monuments in Kharkov. Some people call it “golden hallo of Kharkov” because you can observe tower bell of Uspenian cathedral from different parts of the city. Till nowadays the tower bell of uspenian cathedral is considered to be the highest building in Kharkov (89,5 meters height). There is a bell chimes installed on the tower. You can hear the chimes of the city every hour. Nowadays the Cathedral of an Organ and Uspenian Cathedral are famous also like a halls of organ music. It is interesting that organ is considered as an attribute only of the catholic churches. But is not really so because only one example of the organ can be seen in Orthodox Church in Uspenian cathedral.

Kharkov Independence square (don't mix it with Kiev Independence square) is a main square of the city. And it is the biggest square in Ukraine and one of the biggest squares in Europe. It lengths is from 690 to 750 meters, the width of rectangular part: from 96 to 125 meters, diameter of the circular – 350 meters, and area of 11,9 hectares. Folk festivals, concerts, fairs, demonstrations, rallies and other public events are being often held here. In the center of square you see a house of state industry (Gosprom, Derzhprom). It is a unique historical and architectural monument and symbol of Kharkov from the times when the capital of Ukraine move from Kiev to Kharkov in 1918 (Kharkov was the capital of Ukraine from 1918 till 1934). The construction of huge government building started and mega project called Gosprom (translated as Government Production) was launched. Gosprom consists of group of buildings combined and located on the different levels. Total building area is 11 thousand square meters the length of façade is 300 meters. The authors of the project are S.Serafimov, S. Kravets, M. Feldherr. The style of building belongs to constructionism popular in 20-s years of XX century.

So you had the opportunity to see just small part of architectural-historical-cultural part of Kharkov city. If you found Kharkov interesting so, Welcome to Kharkov!