Myrhorod
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- For Nikolai Gogol's book, see Mirgorod (Gogol).
| Myrhorod (Миргород) |
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| Country | Ukraine | ||
| Oblast | Poltava | ||
| Founded | 1575 | ||
| Area | |||
| - Town | 20 km² (7.7 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 105 m (344.5 ft) | ||
| Population (January 1, 2005) | |||
| - Town | 42,011 | ||
| Website: http://www.mirgorod.osp-ua.info/ | |||
Myrhorod (Ukrainian: Миргород, Russian: Миргород, translit. Mirgorod) is an ancient city in the Poltava Oblast (province) of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Myrhorodsky Raion (district), the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the picturesque river Khorol.
The current estimated population is around 42,700 (as of 2005).
[edit] History
The town was founded either in the 12th or 13th centuries as an eastern border fort of Kievan Rus. According to legend, the fort was a place of peace negotiations that gave it its name (literally the City of Peace).
Myrhorod was first mentioned in chronicles in 1575 when Stephen Bathory, King of Poland made it a regiment city. According to some historians, there was an earlier mentioning of the city in 1530, when the city coat of arms were established - yellow cross over an eight-pointed star, which signifies the victory of Christianity over Islam.
Myrhorod was the regimental base of the Myrhorod Cossacks who were very active in several Ukrainian Cossack uprisings, particularly during the peasants'-and-cossacks' revolt of 1638 under the leadership of Hetman Yakov Ostrianytsia against the Polish nobility (Szlachta). The Myrhorod Cossack regiment was among the best units in the army of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648-1654).
After the Treaty of Pereyaslav, the city became an uezd city, center for the Myrhorod regiment. The famous Sorochintsy Fair is located 25km from the Myrhorod.
Myrhorod became famous in world literature through a cycle of stories Mirgorod by Nikolai Gogol. Taras Shevchenko, Vasily Kapnist, Vladimir Borovikovsky and Hryhori Skovoroda lived in the city, while Boris Grekov was born there.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Myrhorod is also known as a resort town for its underground mineral waters lodged inside the layer of rocks deposited during the Jurassic era. Commercial drilling for this ecologically pure water started in 1927.
"Myrhorodska" (or "Mirgorodskaya") water is rated as "slightly mineralized chloride-natrium water". It is clear, and tastes a little bit salty. For its unique health curative effects, the "Myrhorodska" water is recommended by doctors for people suffering from gastritis, colitis, and other disorders of the digestive system. It is also used as table water because it effectively quenches thirst and produces the general health-beneficial effect. There are several health resorts in Myrhorod and the vicinity.
Since 1991, Myrhorod administration signed international agreements of mutual cooperation in the spheres of economics, commerce, and culture with four foreign partner-towns including Gorna Oryakhovitsa, Bulgaria (1991) and Randolf, Vermont, USA (1999).
In 1999, an English [Language] Resource Center was established at Myrhorod School #9, one of four such centres opened in Ukraine with the continuous help from Siena College since 1995. Other contributors to this project were Americans for Democracy in Ukraine (ADU), Canadian Credit Bank, and Narodna Kasa from Montreal, Canada. In 1995 a group of Myrhorod teachers, former participants at the seminars conducted by methodologists from Siena College Teacher Training Institute, organized Poltava Oblast's English Teachers' Association. The Myrhorod English Resource Center is supervised by the local Myrhorod's Teachers' Association.
Sometimes the name of the city has figurative meaning as provincial and backwards. Sergei Yesenin called the United States the Iron Myrhorod.
[edit] External links
- City Info - in Ukrainian
- City portal - English navigation, mixed Russian, Ukrainian and English content.
- City Info - in Ukrainian
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Administrative divisions of Poltava Oblast, Ukraine |  |
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Raions: Chornukhynskyi | Chutivskyi | Dykanskyi | Hadyatskyi | Hlobynskyi | Hrebinkivskyi | Karlivskyi | Khorolskyi | Kobeliatskyi | Kotelevskyi | Kozelschynskyi | Kremenchutskyi | Lokhvytskyi | Lubenskyi | Mashivskyi | Myrhorodskyi | Novosanzharskyi | Orzhytskyi | Poltavskyi | Pyryatynskyi | Reshetylivskyi | Semenivskyi | Shyshatskyi | Velykobahachanskyi | Zinkivskyi |
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Cities: Chervonozavodske | Hadiach | Hlobyne | Hrebinka | Karlivka | Khorol | Kobeliaky | Komsomolsk, Ukraine | Kremenchuk | Lokhvytsia | Lubny | Myrhorod | Poltava | Pyriatyn | Zinkiv |
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Urban-type settlements: Chornukhy | Chutove | Dykanka | Kotelva | Kozelschyna | Mashivka | Novi Sanzhary | Orzhytsia | Reshetylivka | Semenivka | Shyshaky | Velyka Bahachka | more... |
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Villages: Velyki Sorochyntsi | more... |
