In terms of the number of industrial enterprises and higher educational institutions it ranks second in the country. Population: 1 611 000. The city was founded in the mid-seventeenth century by Ukrainian Cossacks as a fortress to defend the Slobidska (North-Eastern) Ukraine from the Crimean Tartars' forays. In the late 17th c. Kharkiv was one of the largest commercial centres in Ukraine. Since the second half of the 19th century it has been a large industrial and transportation centre. In 1919-1934 Kharkiv was the capital of Soviet Ukraine.

The city's appearance is characterised by a good combination of the 17th-19th cc. architectural pieces with modern buildings. Among the old style buildings that have been preserved you can find: the Protection of the Virgin Monastery (1689, Protection of the Virgin Cathedral is the oldest building in the city and represents a brilliant reflection of the Ukrainian Baroque era of the 17th century), the Assumption Cathedral (18 c.); the Catherine's Palace and the University Building (18 c.); the Opera House building (19 c.).
Tourists are offered trips to the Krasnyi Kut Dendropark (18c.), to Chuguyiv - 40 km from Kharkiv where famous Russian painter Ilia Repin was born and spent his childhood, and to Skovorodinivka (memorial museum of the great Ukrainian philosopher and writer of the 17c. Hrygoryi Skovoroda).

Its collections rank among the largest in Ukraine and include 237,000 objects of material and spiritual culture of the Slobozhanschyna (East-North) region. They comprise archaeo-logical finds, ethnographic and numismatic items, paintings, a set of banners, decorations, post-cards, photos, historical documents etc.

Most important are the departments "Treating the Origins with Consideration" (The Ethnographics of Slobozhanschyna), "Mementoes of Sacral Heritage of the 17th-20th cc.", "The Spirit of the Past", "Open Depositories" etc.

Address: 10, Universitetska St.

The Kharkov Fine Arts Museum

The collection of the museum is one of the oldest and richest in Ukraine. It was based on the exhibition of the Kharkiv Emperor University in 1805. The collection boasts the paintings by A.Durer, Ian van Skorel, I.Patinar, Ian van Kleve, V.Borovikovsky, D.Levitsky, A.Losenko, V. Tropynin, V.Surikov, T.Shevchenko, G.Semiradsky, G.Narbut, I.Aivazovsky, I.Pimonenko, I.Shishkin, T.Yablonska etc.
Address: 11, Radnarkomivska St.