History
It is still unknown when the city was founded. Baltavar Kubrat'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 Paleoletic dwelling as well as Scythian remains within the city limits.
The present name of the city is traditionally connected to the settlement Ltava which is mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle in 1174. The region belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 14th century. The Polish administration took over in 1569. In 1648 Poltava was captured by the Ruthenian-Polish magnate Jeremi Wisniowiecki (1612-51). Poltava was the base of a distinguished regiment of the Ukrainian Cossacs. In 1667 the town passed to the Russian Empire.
In the battle of Poltava on June 27, 1709(Old style), or 8 July (New Style), tsar peter the First , commanding 45,000 troops, defeated at Poltava a Swedish army of 17,000 troops led by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld (who had received the command of the army after the wounding of the Swedish king Charles XII on June 17). "Like a Swede at Poltava" remains a simile for "completely defeated" in Russian. The battle marked the end of Sweden as a great power and the rise of Russia as one. The next year, 2009, will be marked as a year of 300 anniversary of Poltava battle.Lots of sweden people are going to visit Poltava , to see historical places , museums and monuments devoted to this event.Poltava imtelligence is going to take an active part in celebration of it making diffferent kinds of art
exhibitions and shows devoted to it.A collection of clothes has already developed on the basis of poltava Battle symbols and signs.
During the World War II poltava became a center of "Frantic"(April 1944) - "shuttle" operation of strategic aviation of the USA.
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 Poltava and featuring 18 Swedish cannons captured in that battle. As Peter the Great 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.
Views and sightseeings of Pltava were admired by Russian tsars Catherina II (1787) and Nicolai II(1909), and great Russian military leaders A.Suvorov, M.Kutuzov, as well as world culture geniuses - Nicolay Gogol,Taras Shevchenko, Oles Gonchar.
On cross-roads of Central Europe and Russia, on crossing of Ukrainian Kyiv-Kharkiv-Sumy motorway, a regional Ukrainian center Poltava is decorated with new streets, historical monuments, universities, museums and churches of different confessions.
People of Poltava
Historically Poltava people are considered to be one of the most hospitable and friendly people among Ukrainian regions.And for some reasons, Poltava girls are widely known as the most attractive women of Ukraine...You don't believe it?Just visit Poltava and make sure that we are right.....
Territorial division
Leninski district
Oktiabrski district
Kyivski district
Village Rozsoshenci is officialy 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 train stations, and rail links with the cities of Kiev, Kharkiv, and Kremenchuk. The line towards Kiev is electrified and is used by the Poltava Express, a regular service with comfortable carriages. Electrification of the Poltava-Kharkiv line was completed in August 2008. Avtovokzal is the city's intercity bus station. Buses for local municipal routes park along Shevchenko street.
City transportation is represented by the following:
trolleybuses with fifteen routes and a network of 72.6 km;
buses, including a ringroad route;
marshrutkas on all bus routes.
Poltava has a domestic airportt, situated outside the city limits near the village of Ivashki. The international highway M 03 linking 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 Sumy.
Travelling, bow to the torch-bearers of Ukraine culture, visit streets of ancient but always young with thousand-year history city of Poltava....you will never regret about it....WELCOME TO POLTAVA!!!!!
On the edge of the steep bank of the Vorskla River, the city of Poltava raises to the sky with the domes of Hrestovozdvyzhenskyi Monastery's and Faith-Hope-Love cathedrals.It is a craddle of Ukrainian literature's father Ivan Kotlarevskyi and a space rocket's builder Yuriy Kondratiuk.
