Places
University Hill
Centre / Nagorny
University Hill rises above the Lopan, where old Kharkiv took shape: Karazin University, the Dormition Cathedral, gardens and slopes. Toponymic tales and student jokes begin here.
Tales
17
легендадо XVIII века · Центр
WHERE DID KHARKIV COME FROM?
On a horse in full gear—with shield and pike, bow and arrows—sits a Cossack; behind him rise the towers and walls of a stockade. Thus an old artist portrayed the legendary founder of our city, Kharko…
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байкаXVIII век · Центр
"ROHAN"—NOT JUST BEER
For us "Rohan" suggests beer or a new housing district, not the name Kantemir. The land of present-day Rohan, from the early eighteenth century onward, belonged…
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топонимXVIII век · Центр
WHERE THE GOVERNORS LIVED
Where Kharkiv's earliest rulers lived is unknown, but by 1777 they decided to build a formal residence. It was erected on University Hill by that year…
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топонимXIX век · Центр
NO HIGHER THAN IVAN
Approach Kharkiv from any side and you see the gilded dome of the Dormition bell tower. It stands on the high ground of University Hill. Some…
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байкабез даты · Центр
FROM MUD TO PRINCE
D. Pashkov was among Kharkiv's notable governors. Under him the city was actively improved: swamps were filled, bridges and ferries built, ditches dug for drainage, stone churches raised…
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топонимбез даты · Центр
"BRIDGE" TAX
Carrying out the emperor's order to pull Kharkiv from the mud, Kokoshkin set about repairing sidewalks and paving streets. He decided to cobble them every summer without pause—not only central ones but…
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топонимXIX век · Центр
TO THE NEXT WORLD
In 1856 Kokoshkin was transferred from Kharkiv to the capital as a senator. Passing a building under construction in St. Petersburg, he entered out of curiosity and his passion for building works…
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байкабез даты · Центр
FROM LIFE
In the mid-1850s the artist V. Mechnikov appeared in Kharkiv. He stopped here en route from St. Petersburg to his wealthy parents' estate in Kherson province…
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байкасоветский Харьков · Центр
HONORARY CITIZEN
City historian D. I. Bagaley wrote of him: "Youth (he came to Kharkiv at thirty-one), wealth, and independent status let Durnovo be useful to people. And he was useful when…
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топонимXIX век · Центр
DEVOTEES OF KIF
"In the university garden, on the left of the main alley leading to Klochkovska Street, on the children's playground a private entrepreneur set up a ca…
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топонимXIX век · Центр
A MERCHANT'S WILL
In 1894 died one of our city's wealthiest citizens, first-guild merchant V. I. Pashchenko-Tryapkin. From the village of Peresechnoye in Kharkiv province, he entered service with a Moscow merchant as a boy…
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байканачало XX века · Центр
THE PEARL OF ZALOPAN
When you look from University Hill at the panorama of the Zalopan part of the city, what catches the eye first is the Annunciation Cathedral. It draws you with its scale and inventive architecture…
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топонимбез даты · Центр
DAISY DAY
Once a year carriages and automobiles decorated with daisies rolled through Kharkiv's streets. The flower sold everywhere: Mykolaivska and Pavlovska squares, Sumska, Moskovska, Katerynoslavska…
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топонимсоветский Харьков · Центр
CITIZEN OF THE SKY
1920. A detachment of Red Army men stopped by the observatory in University Garden. They were met by the director—a young man. The commander asked to hear about astronomy and see the instruments. — Not here…
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топонимсоветский Харьков · Центр
ONE MACHINE IS JUST A MACHINE...
“I remember Kharkiv in mid-December 1921 vividly. Vladimir Vladimirovich and I wandered through the winter city on the ice, talking as we walked about many things: streets, poets. I recall, at Univers…
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топонимбез даты · Центр
THERE WAS PLACE TO LAUGH...
In the capital Kharkiv there was plenty to do—where to go in the evening or on a day off to laugh and relax. The city had many concert venues, variety and miniature theaters, café-chantants and cabarets…
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байкасоветский Харьков · Центр
KOBZAR ON HIGH
On March 24, 1935, a crowd gathered in University Garden from the Sumska side. Speeches were made, the orchestra played the "Internationale," and a combined choir with the Dumka chapel performed "Zapovit." The People's Commissar of Enlighten…
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