Kharkov

Cathedral in Kharkov, Ukraine.

Freedom square, the fifth larges square in the world

Kharkov with a population of around 1.5 million (2014) is the capital city of Kharkiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It is the second largest city of Ukraine, and a major cultural, educational, and industrial center of Ukraine. The city is famous for a large number of manufacturing units, large industrial complexes, including the giant ones like the Morozov Design Bureau and the Malyshev Tank Factory, the later one being a leader in the production of tanks since 1930s. Modern industrial complexes include facilities dedicated to aerospace, nuclear electronics), and the Turboatom turbines producer. The city has an underground rapid-transit system with a track of 35 km, and 28 stations. The Freedom Square (Ploshcha Svobody) is the third largest square in the world, and the fifth largest one in the world.

Kharkiv geographical position

Tips for: backpackers • business travelers • luxury/exotic travel • hitchhikers • families • seniors • LBG travelers • pet owners

Hotels and lodging

Some hotels in Kharkov:

• Cosmopolit Hotel is located in the city center and attracts both business and leisure tourists. It has emerged as a renowned heritage hotel. Its address: Ak Proskuri Street, 1 Kharkov 61070, (Ukraine)

• Chichikov Hotel is also located in the city center with a restaurant serving cuisines from many European countries. Its address is: 6 - 8 Gogola Street, Kharkov, 17270 (Ukraine).

• Best Eastern Kharkiv Hotel is located in a 16-storeyed and has good restaurants serving Ukrainian as well as European cuisines.

Attractions

As a matter of fact, Kharkov is not a preferred tourist destination like Athens or Rome. Yet, it has an old-time charm in a new setting. It is the largest business and industrial city of Ukraine and attracts many business visitors round the year. They generally like the city, its greenery and gardens, beautiful parks, and expansive squares. The city offers some special sight seeing opportunities, and some of the major attractions of the city are:

Memorial Complex

Shevchenko Monument

The Uspensky Cathedral

Pokrovsky Cathedral

Aerial Cableway

Freedom (Svobody) Square

T. Shevchenko Gardens

The Kharkiv Zoo

Shopping

Once upon a time, the city was just a fort and was positioned at an advantageous location — on the cross roads of trade routes connceting Moscow and St. Petersburg, and other trade routes connecting Western European countries, the countries of the Near East, and the Balkan countries. Despite the 500 years having rolled by and the city having seen many ups and downs, the old tradition perhaps continues to linger.

The city is a good place to search and buy exotic traditional handicrafts, participate in the multilingual seasonal fairs, and carry home some novel souvenirs. There are many modern shopping malls and plazas too. For instance, a place called Barbashoya is perhaps the "biggest out door marked in Europa and maybe in the world". It is really massive, and you will find all goodies here being sold by people from many nationalities. You may buy clothes, foods, ornaments, fancy items — you name it, and you will get it in Barbashoya. However, be wary to buy anything costly — spurious good abound here!

Practical information and resources

Official languages

Ukrainian, though people also understand Russian

Currency

Hryvnia (UAH)

Time zone

EET (UTC+2) [Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)]

Postal code

61001—61499

Elevation

152 m (498.7 ft)

General climate

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Ave. high °C (°F)	-5 (23)	-2 (27)	2 (37)	13 (56)	21 (71)	25 (77)	27 (81)	26 (79)	20 (68)	12 (55)	3 (39)	-1 (30)	12 (54)
Ave. low °C (°F)	-9 (15)	-8 (17	-3 (26)	4 (40)	10 (50)	13 (56)	15 (59)	14 (58)	9 (49)	3 (39)	0 (31)	-3 (25)	3 (39)
Source: Weatherbase

Nightlife

Kharkov has an active nightlife, and varied too — catering to all tastes, and fulfilling for the enterprising. You have a choice of bars, clubs, floor shows, and cultural extravaganza.

• Club Meridean, a nightclub with plenty of dance and music.

• Bolero club, located a little away from the city center (driving distance of about twenty minutes) is famed for its Western and Russian music, and dancing partners.

• Split casino is a casino and has a good bar too.

Photo gallery

St Demetrius Church

Saint Sergyi Cathedral

Municipality building

Railway Station

Annunciation Cathedral

500 years old Kharkov

Kharkov in the 1890s

Thinking about the city of Kharkov, its history and people, takes one to a journey of more than 500 years. Over these five centuries, the city which was just a fort once upon a time, spilled beyond the confines of the fort and emerged as the second largest city of Ukraine. The important years in the city of Kharkov are indicated below:

• 1665: First mention of its name in any existing document.

• 1656: A wooden fort is built by Cossacks.

• 1689: A Monastery named thehe Pokrovska (Protection) was built.

• 1726: A Church School, later named the Collegium of Kharkiv), is founded.

• 1765: Kharkov is made the capital of the Slobidska Ukraine Province by an edict of Catherine the Second, Queen of Russia.

• 1791: Kharkov gets its first theater.

• 1805: The Kharkov University, the first in Ukraine, and the third in the Russian empire, is established.

• 1812: The city gets its first newspaper named "Kharkovsky Yezhenedelnik" (Kharkiv Weekly).

• 1869: The first railway line connecting Kursk, Kharkov and Azovsk becomes operational.

• 1870: The city gets its first ironworks. This heralded establishment of large industrial complexes over the years.

• 1886: The city gets a public library, the first one in the Ukraine as well as in the entire Russian empire.

• 1918-1934: The city remained the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

• 1928: Completion of the Derzhprom (House of State Industry), the most remarkable building in Kharkio of that time.

• 1930: The city gets its first airport.

• 1932: The city scientists at the Ukrainian Technical Institute of Physics construct a proton accelerator and effect the first artificial nuclear fission reaction in Europe.

• 1962: The city's population crosses a million.

• 1975: The underground railways' first track becomes operational.

• 1995: The city airport gets international status.

• 2012: Kharkiv was a host city for the UEFA Euro 2012

The purpose of giving the time lines is that the business and leisure tourists understand that they are privileged to experience the sight and sound of a city with a long history. The city continues to maintain a cultural aura of bygone days, and one is reminded of the fact that once upon a time, just a few centuries before, the city was "positioned at the crossroads of trade routes connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg with Kyiv (Kiev in Russian), the Crimea and the Caucasus, naturally provided for direct trade ties with the countries of Western Europe, the Near East and the Balkan peninsula."

External resources

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