Day of Knowledge in Kharkov 1st September 2014Ukrainian Independence Day 24th August 2014
Mordinson client (Texas, USA) reporting from Kharkov 5th July 2014
Mordinson client reporting from Kharkov 28th May 2014
Weekend in Kharkov, 17-18th May 2014
HAPPY - inspired by Pharell Williams 17th May 2014
Kharkov at night, 4th May 2014"Pavlovo Pole" area of Kharkov, 7th May 2014
Mineral spring in the center of Kharkov,27th April 2014
Kharkov, Ukraine 24th April 2014
Sunday bike ride 20th April 2014
A walk around Center of Kharkov 17th April 2014
Discover Kharkov with Michael Mordinson - "Gorky Park" 6th April 2014Kharkov International Marathon, 12th April 2014
In Kharkov you will see ancient houses some of which were built 150 and 200 years ago and also ultra modern office buildings made of glass and concrete.
This blend makes the city interesting an unique. There are lots of things to learn about the first capital of modern Ukraine and even more things to see here!
The year which is considered to be the date of the foundation of Kharkov or
Kharkiv (in Ukrainian) is 1654. Back then the vast flat areas of Eastern
Ukraine were not very developed due to the lack of natural fortifications,
the hills that were present couldn't offer a serious advantage against the
invaders so for hundreds of years this area was not populated densely. As
the legend says a man named Kharkov was the one who actually started the
settlement which eventually grew into a modern Kharkov.
When you are in the city, you will have a chance to see the monument to
Kharkov (the founder of the city) which is only 300 meters away from the
Mordinson office. The legendary city founder is sitting on his horse in the
very beginning of the Lenin Avenue.
More than a third of the original inhabitants of Kharkiv are Moldovans! When
our city was still a little village over 9000 men and women from Moldova
were given a permission by the Tsar of Russian Empire to settle down in
Kharkov (at that time a settlement of approximately 16-18 thousand people).
As a reminder of those events there is still a residence area in Kharkov
called Rogan, which a word in Moldavian. Not many people in the modern
Kharkiv know about the fact that over third of the people who lived here in
the very beginning were not Ukrainians.
There are few Russian words which don't need to be translated, for example
vodka, perestroika, glasnost etc, but then there is a Russian word which is
very sad and scary and which unfortunately became known all over the world
because of Russian Empire, this word is pogrom. There is an interesting fact
about Kharkiv- it's the only big city of Russian Empire which never had a
pogrom in its history!
One of the places you should see when you are in Kharkov is the Liberty
Square. It's believed to be among the largest squares in the world. Around
it you will see few remarkable buildings, among them the Kharkov State
University and GosProm. Found in 1805 Kharkov University was the first one
in Ukraine, the only University which had 3 Nobel prize winners studying and
working in it: biologist Æ. Mechnikov, an economist C. Kuznets, physicist L.
Landau.
Kharkiv served as the capital of Ukraine from 1919 till 1934, during those
years the city was being renovated and modernized hastily and probably the
most famous building in Kharkiv that was built at that time was the Gosprom.
The Gosprom or Derzhprom (in Ukrainian) was built during the late 1920-ies
and was often referred to as the first Soviet sky-scraper, the original
height of the building (63 meters) may not impress us now, but at the time
when it was built it looked almost surreal and extremely modern. The solid
concrete and good engineering allowed Gosprom to survive 2 attempts to blow
the building up by the German invaders during the WW2.
In the post war period Kharkov became an important scientific and industrial
centre. Of course we will never know if it's true or not, but I read
somewhere that talking to one his assistants President Harry Truman once
said: "At the moment we have 3 nuclear bombs at hand, those are for Moscow,
St. Petersburg and Kharkov"- what a compliment Mr. President!!!
