Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi

Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi (Ukrainian: Переяслав-Хмельницький, translit. Pereyaslav-Khmel′nyts′kyi; also referred to as Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy) is a town located where Alta River flows into Trubizh River in the Kiev Oblast (province) in central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Raion (district), the town itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. Resting some 95 km (59.03 mi) south of the nation's capital, Kiev, Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi can sometimes be confused with the Khmelnytskyi, a city on the Southern Buh River, also in Ukraine.

With its current estimated population around 30,000 Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi is often described as a living museum.^[1]

History

Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi played a significant role in the history of Ukraine. It was mentioned for the first time in the text of the Rus' treaty with the Byzantine Empire^[1] (911) as Pereyaslav-Russki, to distinguish it from Pereyaslavets in Bulgaria. Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev built here in 992 the large fortress to protect the southern limits of Kievan Rus' from raids of nomads from steppes of currently Southern Ukraine. It was a capital of the Principality of Pereiaslavl' from the middle of the 11th century until its demolition by Tatars in 1239, during the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.

In the second half of the 16th century it became a center of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Bohdan Khmelnytsky called here the "Council of Pereyaslav", where the Ukrainian Cossacks had voted for a military alliance with Muscovy and accepted the Treaty of Pereyaslav. The treaty led to the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate in left-bank Ukraine under the Russian Empire, and to the outbreak of the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667). The town known as Pereiaslav as that time, and later as Pereiaslav-Poltavskyi was renamed to Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi in 1943 to honour this event.

Tourist attractions

The whole town was proclaimed a historical sanctuary. The largest tourist attractions are:

• The museum of folk architecture, presenting the architecture and traditions of Ukrainians from ancient times up to the 19th century.
• Excavated ruins of buildings from the 10–11th centuries.
• St. Michael's church (1646–66) and Ascension monastery (with cathedral built in 1695-1700).

Among its well-known museums are: Museum of Bread, Museum of Land Transportation, Museum of Rushnyk, (Ukrainian Decorative Towels), Museum of Sholem Aleichem (Solomon Rabinowitz, a nineteenth-century Yiddish humorist), Museum of Space Exploration, Museum of Postal Services, Museum of Beekeeping, Museum of Applied and Decorative Arts, Museum of Ukrainian Traditional Rituals, Museum of Archeology, Museum of the Cossack Glory, Museum of Trypillya Culture, Museum of Ukrainian Traditional Dress, etc.

Sister cities

• Kočani, Macedonia

Notable residents

• Sholem Aleichem
• Bohdan Khmelnytsky

References