About Kharkiv

Kharkiv is the second most populated city in Ukraine, an important industrial and scientific center of the country, the center of the Kharkiv region.

The modern city was founded by decree of the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654 on the site of an ancient settlement, sometimes identified as the Polovtsian city of the 11th century, Sharukan or the Hun city of the 5th century, Kharka. From 1660 to 1665 the administrative center of the Sloboda Cossack regiments, from December 1917 to January 1918 the capital of the Ukrainian People’s Republic of Soviets, in February – March 1918 the capital of the Donetsk-Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic, in March – June 1919 and from December 19, 1919 June 24, 1934 – the capital of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic.

The city has 142 research institutes, 45 higher educational institutions, including Kharkiv University, which is in the top 500 universities of the world and the Polytechnic Institute, which is in the top 1000; 16 museums, the city art gallery, 6 state theaters, 80 libraries.

In the USSR, it was the largest center for the tank, tractor, and turbine engineering and the third-largest industrial, scientific, and transport center. In the second half of the XX century – the main transport hub of Eastern Europe.

It was awarded the Orders of Lenin (1970) and the October Revolution (1983), as well as awards of the Council of Europe (2010). In 2013, the City Council of Kharkiv awarded the city the title of “city of military glory.”

He has a full set of Council of Europe awards: Diploma, Honorary Flag, European Table, and European Prize.

In 2012, he was one of four cities in Ukraine hosting the 2012 European Football Championship.

Local government – Kharkiv City Council.

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.

Kharkiv was the capital of Ukraine since 1919 till 1934. Today Kharkiv is the second largest city in the country. About 2 million people live here.

Kharkiv is one of the largest industrial centres in Ukraine. Its numerous enterprises produce planes, tractors, electronic, mining and medical equipment, TV-sets, refrigerators, paints and cosmetics, clothing and textiles. Furniture and printing industries are well developed in Kharkiv.

Kharkiv is one of the major cultural and scientific centres of Ukraine. There are many schools, higher educational establishments, research institutes in Kharkiv. There is the Scientific Library, the Historical and Natural Science Museums and the Museum of Fine Arts in Kharkiv. The city supports a circus and six professional theatres.

Kharkiv is very beautiful, especially in spring. There are over 2500 streets and 26 squares in the city. The largest parks are Gorky Park, Shevchenko Garden with the Zoo, Artem Park, the Forest Park and some others. The city is ornamented with a large number of monuments. The most prominent of them is the one to T. Shevchenko built in 1935.

 

Physical location

The city is located in the north-eastern part of Ukraine at the border of two landscape zones – forest-steppe and steppe – at the confluence of the rivers Lopani and Uda, tributaries of the Seversky Donets. The territory of the city is a hilly plain, indented by river valleys, beams and ravines. Altitude ranges from 94 to 205.3 m. Most of the urban area (about 55% of the total area according to 1984) are elevated areas with elevations of 105-192 m.

The city is located in the extreme south of the Central Russian Upland. Within the city, the rivers Kharkov, Lopan, Uda, Nemyshlya, Alekseevka, Sarzhinka, Ocheretyanka, Roganka, Studenok flow. The average height of the city above sea level is 135 m. The highest point within the village of Pyatikhatki has a height of 205.3 m, the lowest within the village of Zhikhar – 94. This explains the relatively uneven relief of the city, located on five hills.

Kharkov is located 26 kilometers (the northern border of the city is the village of Pyatikhatki) south of the border with Russia (Belgorod Oblast). The city forms its agglomeration.

Kharkov is located in the southern part of the climatic temperate zone.

 

Climate

It is classified as a humid continental climate without a dry season with warm summers (Köppen classification: Dfb). The four seasons of the year are pronounced: hot and humid summers, cool and rainy autumn, relatively dry, cold winters and warm, relatively wet spring.

The wettest month is June, the driest month is March. The coldest month is January, the hottest is July.

 

Population

The population of the city according to the 2001 census was 1,470,902 people of the present population and 1,449,871 permanent residents, as of January 1, 2019 – 1,446,107 people of the current population and 1,426,540 permanent residents. The population peak was in the early 1990s: in 1991, 1,623,000 people lived in the city.

The city takes 2nd place in Ukraine in terms of population. Kharkiv is a multinational city: representatives of 111 nationalities live here.