Poltava Poltava is a city in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Poltavskyi Raion (district) within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. The current estimated population is 313,400.

The climate of Poltava is temperately continental, the average temperatures of January and July, the coldest and the warmest months of the year are repectively: 19.2 F (-7.1 C) and 66.7 F (+18.7 C).

History of Poltava


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 Paleolithic dwelling as well as Scythian remains within the city limits.


In the Battle of Poltava on June 27, 1709 (Old Style), or 8 July (New Style), Tsar Peter the Great, commanding 45,000 troops, defeated at Poltava a Swedish army of 29,000 troops led by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Rehnskald (who had received the command of the army after the wounding of the Swedish King Charles XII on June 17). The battle marked the end of Sweden as a great power and the rise of Russia as a burgeoning national presence.

Sights

At the centre of the old city is a semicircular Neoclassical square with the Tuscan column of cast iron (1805-11) that commemorates the centenary of the Battle of Poltava and features 18 Swedish cannons captured in that battle. As Peter the Great celebrated his victory in the Saviour Church, this 17th-century wooden shrine has been 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.

Churches, Historical and Architectural monuments

The Bell Tower of the Assumption (Uspensky) Cathedral, 1774-1801, is the first stone structure that was built in Poltava. In 1992 the cathedral was transferred to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

In Poltava Region you can find such famous towns and villages as:

Velyki Sorochyntsi - old folk handicrafts centre (ceramics, weaving, embroidery).Traditional annual Sorochyntsi Fairs with folk craftsmen's participation and shows are organized in late August.

Myrgorod - mostly known as a health resort with medicinal water and curative mud.

Opishnya - one of the oldest and the most significant folk handicrafts centres in Ukraine (ceramics, weaving, embroidery).

Transport

Poltava has many railway, motor, river and air networks. The region's railways are 853 km long.

The arterial railways Moscow-Odessa, Kremenchuk-Poltava-Kyiv, and Kremenchuk-Gomel cross the region's territory.

The motor road network is well developed. It includes superhighways Kyiv-Kharkiv, Poltava-Kremenchuk, etc.

The Kremenchuk river port services freight ships and passenger vessels.

The Poltava airport can handle civil aircraft of all modifications.