Poltava

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The regional center , the city of Poltava, lies on the slopes of the river valley yarkuvatyh Vorskla. 1430 settlement gave Tatar Mirza tokens are faced earthen fortress , which in 1482 destroyed the horde Mengli Crimean Khan Giray.

During the Commonwealth the castle was rebuilt and in 1641 the city of Poltava gets right. Since the beginning of the Liberation War (1648 ) and to the elimination of the Hetmanate ( 1775) , the city was a center of the same regiment. During the Great Northern War (1700-1721) between the Russian Empire and the Swedish kingdom, after long unsuccessful attempts to capture the city , in the vicinity was a grand battle of Poltava (1709 ) – a turning point campaign.

Army of Peter I defeated a compact army of Swedish King Karl XII and forced him to flee. From the Battle of Poltava , and the events that preceded it (the destruction of the hetman capital Baturin ), relates one of the most tragic pages of the Ukrainian statehood . On the side of Charles XII of part made ??the Cossacks hetman Ivan Mazepa (1632 – 1709) , which seems to be the Swedish king promised to grant independence to the Cossack lands. Hetman act that swore allegiance to the Russian crown, still ambiguously interpreted by researchers history.

In Poltava many monuments and buildings reminiscent of the Russo -Swedish war. They are located mainly in the area of ??battlefield – on the northern outskirts of the modern city . Next to the oldest of them – Samsonov Church ( 1856) – is a monument to the common grave of Russian soldiers (1894 ) and the Museum of History of the battle. The memory of the nearly 10,000 dead soldiers Norse army immortalized monuments from the Russians and Swedes Swedes the Swedes established 200 -year anniversary of the battle.

With the elimination of Poltava regiment in 1775 which resulted in the status of county town , taking turns being a part of Novorossiysk province (until 1783) , Ekaterinoslavskogo province (until 1796) and Little Russian province ( until 1802 ). The new stage of development of the city came in 1802 p., When Poltava became the provincial center. For architectural projects it had become a kind of “small St. Petersburg .” The new city center – Alexander (now Round ) area – was built on the site of the meeting of Peter with characters defense of Poltava in 1709 erected a monument here (columns ) Glory ( 1811) , which differ radialno eight streets. The circumference of the area surrounded by a chain of administrative structures – the governor’s houses, post office, etc. noble assembly . So far, remaining compositional center of Poltava, Round Square is the most prominent classical architectural ensemble of Ukraine , which distinguishes the city from any other .

Oldest surviving buildings are the Church of the Saviour of Poltava (1706 ), complex of Holy Cross Monastery (XVII-XIX cc.) And bell tower of Assumption cathedral (1801 ). Monastery was founded in 1650 on a high hill above the Vorskla , and the most impressive of its construction – Cross Cathedral (1709 ) and four- bell ( 1786) in Poltava, seen everywhere.

Among the architectural monuments of the last century a special place occupies the original home province zemstvo (1908 ), which was perhaps the first example of Ukrainian identity in a public building. Now here exposition Poltava museum. Diverse artistic palette of the city art museum and a number of literary- memorial museum – Kotlyarevskyi, Myrnogo and V.Korolenko . Among the monuments of Poltava special ornament is pre-revolutionary works – Monument on the tomb Kotlyarevskyi (set to 100 chya thing – writing “Aeneid” , 1898 ) and M. Gogol (1913).