Kropyvnytskyi (, ) is a city in central
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, situated on the
Inhul River. It serves as the administrative center of
Kirovohrad Oblast
Kirovohrad Oblast (), also known as Kirovohradshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (''province'') in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kropyvnytskyi. The oblast's population is It is ...
. Population:
Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name several times. The settlement was known as Yelysavethrad after Empress
Elizabeth of Russia
Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular List of Russian rulers, Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, ...
from 1752 to 1924, or simply Elysavet. In 1924, as part of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, it became known as Zinovievsk after the revolutionary
Grigory Zinoviev, who was born there. Following the assassination of
Sergei Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov (born Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and a member of the Bolshevik faction ...
in 1934, the town was renamed Kirovo.
Concurrently with the formation of
Kirovohrad Oblast
Kirovohrad Oblast (), also known as Kirovohradshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (''province'') in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kropyvnytskyi. The oblast's population is It is ...
on 10 January 1939, and to distinguish it from
Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast ( rus, Кировская область, p=ˈkʲirəfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. As of the 2010 census, the population ...
in central Russia, Kirovo was renamed Kirovohrad.
As part of independent Ukraine, the name of the city was then changed to ''Kropyvnytskyi'' in 2016 due to
decommunization laws, in honour of
Marko Kropyvnytskyi, who was born near the city.
[Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols](_blank)
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
(14 April 2015)
Verkhovna Rada renamed Kirovograd
Ukrayinska Pravda (14 July 2016) However, Kirovohrad Oblast was not renamed because it is mentioned in the
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...
– only a
constitutional amendment
A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...
could change the name of the oblast.
Names
Yelisavetgrad
The name "Yelisavetgrad" (usually spelled Elisavetgrad or Elizabethgrad in English language publications) is believed to have evolved as the amalgamation of the fortress name and the common
Eastern Slavonic element "
-grad" (
Old/
Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...
"градъ", "a settlement encompassed by a wall"). Its first documented usage dates back to 1764, when Yelisavetgrad Province was organized together with the Yelisavetgrad
Lancer Regiment.
Presenting a letter of grant on 11 January 1752, to Major-General
Jovan Horvat, the organizer of
New Serbia settlements, Empress
Elizabeth of Russia
Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular List of Russian rulers, Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, ...
ordered "to found an earthen fortress and name it
Fort St. Elizabeth". Thus simultaneously the future city was named in honour of its formal founder, the Russian empress, and also in honor of her heavenly patroness,
St. Elizabeth.
Zinovievsk
Following the Russian Revolution and founding of the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, in 1924 the city was renamed Zinovievsk, after
Grigory Zinoviev, a
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
statesman and one of the leaders of the
Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
[ He was born in Yelisavetgrad on 20 September (September 8 O.S.), 1883. At the time he was honored by the name, he was a member of the ]Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
and the Chairman of the Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
's Executive Committee.
Kirovo and Kirovograd
On 27 December 1934, after the assassination of Sergei Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov (born Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Russian and Soviet politician and Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and a member of the Bolshevik faction ...
, Zinovievsk and other Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
cities was renamed again - this time as Kirovo, and then as Kirovohrad.[ The latter name appeared simultaneously with the creation of Kirovograd Oblast, on 10 January 1939][ and was aimed at differentiating the region from ]Kirov Oblast
Kirov Oblast ( rus, Кировская область, p=ˈkʲirəfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. As of the 2010 census, the population ...
in present-day Russia.
After Ukraine regained independence, the name of the city started to be spelled according to Ukrainian pronunciation as Kirovohrad. The previous Russified orthography remains widely used on account of the widespread use of the Russian language in the region.
Kropyvnytskyi
Since 1991 numerous discussions had been held on the city's name. A number of activists supported returning the city to its original name, Yelisavetgrad (or now Yelysavethrad in Ukrainian transcription). Other suggestions for contemporary Ukraine included ''Tobilevychi'' (in honour of the , the Coryphaei of the classic Ukrainian drama established in Yelysavethrad in 1882); ''Zlatopil'' (; from Ukrainian "золоте поле", literally "golden field", in reference to wheat fields; there are several places in Ukraine with this name), and ''Stepohrad'', Ukrainian for "city of steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the tropical and subtropica ...
s" (in recognition of the agricultural status of the city); ''Ukrainsk'' or ''Ukrainoslav'', i.e. "the glorifying Ukraine one;" and ''Novokozachyn'' (to commemorate the semi-famous Cossack
The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...
regiment which could have been quartered at the present-day city location).
The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko
Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...
, signed the bill on decommunization in Ukraine on 15 May 2015, which required places associated with the communist past to be renamed within a six-month period. On 25 October 2015 (during local elections) 76.6% of the Kirovohrad voters voted for renaming the city to Yelysavethrad. A draft law at the time before the Ukrainian parliament would prohibit any names associated with Russian history since the 14th century, which would make the name Yelysavethrad inadmissible as well. A committee of the Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...
(Ukraine's parliament) chose the name Inhulsk on 23 December 2015. This name is a reference to the nearby Inhul river. On 31 March 2016 the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Nation Building, Regional Politics and Local Self-Government recommended to parliament to rename Kirovohrad to Kropyvnytskyi.[Profile Committee of the Council decided on a new name for Kirovohrad]
Ukrayinska Pravda (31 March 2016) This name is a reference to writer, actor and playwright Marko Kropyvnytskyi, who was born near the city. On 14 July 2016, the name of the city was finally changed to Kropyvnytskyi.[
]
Administrative status
Kropyvnytskyi serves as administrative center of Kropyvnytskyi Raion and hosts the administration of Kropyvnytskyi urban hromada, one of the hromada
In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...
s of Ukraine.
Until 18 July 2020, Kropyvnytskyi was designated as a city of oblast significance and belonged to Kropyvnytskyi Municipality but not to Kropyvnytskyi Raion even though it was the center of the raion. It is divided into two districts — Fortechnyi and Podilskyi. The urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...
of Nove is part of the Fortechnyi District. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kirovohrad Oblast to four, Kropyvnytskyi Municipality was merged into Kropyvnytskyi Raion.
History
Before the foundation
In the 16th and the first half of the 18th centuries, the lands of modern Kropyvnytskyi and its adjacent districts belonged to Zaporozhian Sich. On the territory of modern Kropyvnytskyi were located the settlements of Ukrainian Cossacs, which gradually turned into districts of the city, including Kuschivka, Zavadivka and Velyka Balka.
18th and 19th century: from military settlement to trade centre
The history of the city beginnings dates back to the year 1754 when Fort St. Elizabeth was built on the lands of former Zaporozhian Sich in the upper course of the Inhul, Suhokleya and Biyanka Rivers.
On 9 January 1752, the Senate, based on the petition of the Serbian colonel Jovan Horvat, issues a decree on the creation of New Serbia and the construction of the
fortress of St. Elizabeth for its protection. In January 1752, the decree was signed by Elizabeth of Russia
Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (; ) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular List of Russian rulers, Russian monarchs because of her decision not to execute a single person during her reign, ...
, on the basis of which a thanks letter was issued to Ivan Horvath and instructions to Ivan Glebov. The mentioned documents didn't indicate the place of construction of the fortress, so it was chosen by order of Ivan Glebov. The Hadiach- Myrhorod regiment of Ukrainian Cossacks (1390 males) arrived to build the fortress, which completed the main works in four months: from June to October 1754. During the work, 72 Zaporozhians died, 233 fell ill, and 855 ran away to Sich. This fort played a pivotal role in the new lands added to Russia by the Belgrad Peace Treaty of 1739. In 1764 the settlement received status of the center of the Elizabeth province. Also, it was from this fortress at the end of May 1775 that a 100,000-strong army led by the general Peter Tekeli set out, which on 15 June destroyed Zaporozhian Sich. In 1784 the status of chief town of a district, when it was renamed after the fort as city of ''Yelyzavethrad''.
The Fort of St. Elizabeth was on a crossroads of trade routes, and it eventually became a major trade center. The city has held regular fairs four times a year. Merchants from all over the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
have visited these fairs. Also, there were numerous foreign merchants, especially from Greece. The main architect of the city in the middle of the 19th century was Dostoevsky’s brother, Andrey
Andrey (Андрей) is a masculine given name predominantly used in Slavic languages, including Belarusian, Bulgarian, and Russian. The name is derived from the ancient Greek Andreas (Ἀνδρέας), meaning "man" or "warrior".
In Eastern ...
. Also here born writers minodav Shpolyansky (Don Aminado), Yuri Daragan and Arseny Tarkovsky. Developed around the military settlement, the city rose to prominence in the 19th century when it became an important trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...
centre, as well as a Ukrainian cultural leader with the first professional theatrical
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...
company in either Central or Eastern Ukraine being established here in 1882 ( Theatre of Coryphaei),[Sweeping out Soviet past: Kirovohrad renamed Kropyvnytsky]
UNIAN
The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...
(14 July 2016) founded by Mark Kropyvnytsky,[ Tobilevych brothers and Maria Zankovetska.][
]
Early 20th century: famine and pogroms
Elizabethgrad was ravaged by famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
in 1901 and its residents suffered more due to poor government response.
The region is extremely fertile. However, a drought in 1892 and poor farming methods which never allowed the soil to recover, prompted a large famine that plagued the region. According to a 1901 ''New York Times'' article, the Ministry of the Interior denied the persistence of famine in the region and blocked non-State charities from bringing aid to the area. The reporter wrote, "The existence of famine was inconvenient at a time when negotiations were pending for foreign loans." The governor of the Kherson region, Prince Oblonsky, refused to acknowledge this famine. One non-resident and non-State worker entered Elizabethgrad and provided ''The New York Times'' with an eyewitness account.["Famine and Disease in South Russia Province" ''New York Times'', 5 Aug. 1901. New York Times. 26 June 200]
He observed: general and acute destitution; deaths from starvation; widespread typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
(shows poverty), and little to no work to be found in the region.
Elizabethgrad was located in the Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...
and, during the 19th century, had a substantial Jewish population.
Elizabethgrad was subjected to several violent pogrom
A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
s in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1905 another riot flared, with Christians killing Jews and plundering the Jewish quarter.[Rosenthal, Herman. Broyde, Isaac. Janovsy, S. Jewish Encyclopedia.co]
"Yelisavetgrad:Elisavetgrad"
accessed 20 June 2009 A contemporary account was reported in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' on 13 December 1905.["Russian City Burning; Jews Being Massacred," ''NY Times'', 12 Dec. 1905, accessed 25 June 200]
Ukrainian War of Independence and Ukrainian–Soviet War
During the Ukrainian revolution, the government in the city changed several times. The City Council recognized the authority of the Central Rada on 19 December 1917. in January-February 1918, street battles took place here between supporters of the Ukrainian People's Republic on one side and the Bolsheviks and their allies - anarchists led by Maria Nikiforova, on the other.
On 7 May 1919, paramilitary leader, and former divisional general
Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...
in the Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, Nykyfor Hryhoriv, launched an anti-Bolshevik uprising. On 8 May 1919, he issued a proclamation "To the Ukrainian People" (''До Українського народу''), in which he called upon the Ukrainian people to rise against the "Communist imposters", singling out the "Jewish commissars" and the Cheka
The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...
. In only a few weeks, Hryhoriv's troops perpetrated 148 pogroms, the deadliest of which resulted in the massacre of upwards of 1,000 Jewish people in Yelisavetgrad, from 15 to 17 May 1919. In total, about 3,000 Jews died in the city.
The Soviet Red Army eventually reconquered the city in 1920.
Ukrainian SSR
During Soviet rule, in the Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...
, the city economy was dominated by such enterprises a
Chervona Zirka Agricultural Machinery Plant
(current name Elvorti; which once provided more than 50% of the USSR need in tractor seeders), Hydrosila Hydraulic Units Plant
Radiy Radio Component Plant
Pishmash Typewriter Plant (de facto defunct nowadays) and others.
During the Holodomor
The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a mass famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–193 ...
and Great Purge
The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
, 2238 residents of the city died.
In World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the city was occupied by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
from 5 August 1941. From October 1941, the occupiers operated the Stalag 305 prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...
in the city, following its relocation from Rzeszów
Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...
in German-occupied Poland. Abysmal conditions combined with scarce food rations even led to acts of cannibalism, whereas Jews and communists were executed.[ It was subsequently recaptured by Soviet forces on 8 January 1944.
]
Independent Ukraine
During the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004 the city achieved country-wide notoriety due to mass election fraud
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...
committed by local authorities and after that became known as District 100 (its community number according to the Central Elections Committee
The Israeli Central Elections Committee (, ''Va'adet HaBehirot HaMerkazit'') is the body charged under the Knesset Elections Law of 1969 to carry out the elections for the upcoming Knesset. The committee is composed of Knesset members (and deleg ...
).
After the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
, the policy of decommunization was introduced, during which the city was renamed in honor of the founder of the first Ukrainian theater, Marko Kropyvnytskyi.
Russian invasion of Ukraine
With the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the city began to suffer from rocket attacks by the Russian army. On the morning of 1 March 2022, the Russian occupiers fired at the Kanatove airfield near Kropyvnytskyi, trying to destroy infrastructure facilities. On 12 March 2022, Russian troops attacked the airfield near the Kanatove railway station, as a result of which 7 soldiers were killed. On the morning of 23 July 2022, 13 missiles arrived (8 Kalibr sea-based missiles and 5 Kh-22 missiles from the TU-22M3 aircraft). The enemy fired at a military airfield and a railway facility. As the result, 19 were wounded and 3 were killed. Air alarms sounded almost daily in the city.
As of 24 May 2022, there were more than 40,000 forcibly displaced people from regions of active hostilities in the city and region. According to data on 29 August 2022, this figure increased to 85,000 people. Also, during the war, various institutions and enterprises moved to Kropyvnytskyi, including Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs from Mariupol
Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...
(originally Donetsk
Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...
), Kharkiv Research Institute of Prosthetics, Donetsk National Medical University from Kramatorsk (originally Donetsk) and Kherson
Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...
State Agrarian and Economical University.
Geography
The city is in the center of Ukraine and within the Dnieper Upland. The Inhul river flows through Kropyvnytskyi. Within the city, several other smaller rivers and brooks runs in the Inhul; they include the Suhoklia and the Biyanka.
Urban layout
The city began as a settlement built in adjustment to a fortress called "Yelizaveta Fortress". At the end of 1757, the earthen fortifications were almost ready. Only the internal layout has changed, retaining its dimensions (55x55 sazhens). North of the fortress of St. Elizabeth, behind a small ravine on the banks of the Ingul, a soldier's settlement arose under the name of Grechesky or Bykovo, named after captain Bykov who was the commandant
Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...
of the fortress. The main streets of Bykovo were Nizhne-Bykovskaya (Pushkin St.). Verkhne-Bykovaya (Chapaeva), Ostrovskaya, Vasilievskaya, Andreevskaya (retained its original name), Artem, Kakhovskaya, Tobilevich, Pushkina Lane, Znamensky, and Sibirskaya.
To the east of the fortress, the Permskoye suburb appeared. It got its name from the camp of the Perm (Carabinieri) Regiment (), called in 1754 to cover the working people and eradicate the Gaidamaks. Permskoye was located between the river and the esplanade zone, it was a small residential area, numbering a dozen blocks with straight streets and lanes. The main streets of Perm were - (Bolshaya Permskaya), Fisanovich, Sverdlov, Bobrinetskaya, Gorky, International, lanes Krepostnoy, Postal, Ogorodny.
Soon, buildings appeared on the other side of the Ingul. This part of the settlement was called Podil and is today forming the central part of the city. The drawings of 1762 indicate that a large residential area arose here, cut by streets 10-12 sazhens wide into a grid of square and rectangular quarters. It became the core of a rapidly growing village. The main streets on Podil were Marksa Street (Bolshaya Perspektivnaya, Nikolaevsky Prospekt), Dzerzhinskya (Moskovskaya), Lenina (Dvortsovaya, Verkhne-Donskaya), Timiryazeva (Nizhne-Donskaya), Gogola (Uspenskaya), K. Liebknecht (Preobrazhenskaya, Merchant ), R. Luxembourg, (Pokrovskaya), Kalinina (Mirgorodskaya), Decembrists (Ingulskad), Company (Nevskaya, Pashutinskaya), Volodarsky (Aleksandrovskaya), Kirov (Mikhailovskaya), Krasnogvardeiskaya (Arkhangelskaya), Karabinernaya (retained its original name).
While Bykovo and Permsky quarters were built up by the headquarters department for soldiers and officers, then in Podil they are occupied by houses of merchants and artisans. The settlements of Kovalevka and Balka, apparently founded by the Cossacks, adjoined the outskirts (in the territory of the modern part of the Balka, there is still a lane called Cossack). These settlements, which eventually merged with the suburban development into a single planning structure, initially had a picturesque, free tracing of the street network. But, if over time the layout of the Balka was subjected to only partial regulation, then only small fragments remained of the original layout of Kovalevka (Bebel St., Transportnaya St., Molodezhny Lane).
Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the suburb, the following were built: the city market (on the site of an existing shopping center), the wooden Assumption Church (on the site of the regional committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine), the wooden Vladimirskaya (Greek Church), the wooden Znamenskaya Church (on Bykovo), the schismatic prayer house. These objects with ordinary, mainly wooden manor buildings, as well as with fortress structures, determined the appearance of the city in the first ten years of its development.
The planning architectural and spatial composition of the central part of the settlement consisted in the hierarchical subordination of its main street (B. Perspektivnaya, K. Marksa) with the square on it and ordinary low-rise buildings. Among this development, public houses and shops were sharp accents, and the Assumption and Vladimir churches served as dominants. The street served as the main axis of the entire composition. It divided the suburb into two equal parts and the direction of its route almost coincided with the center of the fortress. Thus, the fortress with the church in it turned into the third main dominant of the street, although it was located outside its boundaries.
In plan, the area was rectangular with an aspect ratio of 1:3 (50x150 m.). On one of the smaller sides, it adjoined the main street (Bolshaya Perspektivnaya), and on the wide side it adjoined the market and a small quarter, like the square, which is now included in the territory of the market.
From the side of the market on the square there were a gostiny dvor and butcher shops, and on the opposite and smaller sides - public buildings. Within the retranchement, the city occupied an area of 2.3 sq. km. (1.8 x 1.5 km.). From the period of the formation of the city the fortress of St. Elizabeth was the town-planning core of the settlement, the place of concentration or attraction of all its main functions. The central administrative function was concentrated in the fortress. This is the administrative management of the fortress, the subordination of the chiefs of the suburbs and settlements to the commandant of the fortress, the presence in it of the regimental office of the Cossack regiment. The religious center was also located in the fortress of St. Elizabeth, the Trinity Cathedral Church (ruined in 1813). The central trading function also gravitated towards the fortress. Its place of concentration is the main square. The trade function developed with the settlement of lands by artisans and merchants. And their appearance was due to the need to service military units inside a large fortress.
Soviet period
Parallel to the Biayanka river, new streets were formed in the settlement of Balka. New quarters have grown in the village, such as Kushchevka and Novo-Alekseevka. Former village Balashovka merged with the city and organically entered its planning structure. In 1930, a general plan for the development of the city was developed. According to this plan, on the site of the square in front of the former town hall, the main square of the city was formed with a monument to Kirov in its center. In the 50s, The construction of 2-storey buildings began in the areas of Lunacharskogo and Mira streets. Also in the late 40s - early 50s. 3, 5-storey houses are being built on the Marksa Street. From the 60s, construction of massive housing estates was commenced, with Cheryomushki located in the south-west of the city being first such district, designed according to the plan of architect A.A. Sidorenko. Such housing estate was constructed also in Novo-Nikolaevka District. New master plan for the city was developed by the Kharkiv Institute Ukrgorstroyproekt, taking into account the placement of a residential multi-storey buildings in the new territories of the south-west. New residential areas were built along Heroyev Ukrainy Street (formerly Volkova Street). In the 60s, the industrial district along Balashovsky district was developed.
Architecture
From 1878 to 1905 Oleksandr Pashutin served as mayor of the city. Under his administration, advances were made in the areas of education and medicine, construction of the water-supply system and several public buildings, the introduction of the first tram and the establishment of numerous marketplaces. Kropyvnytskyi is noted for the quality of its architecture, with European-style sculptures and antique windows. A range of classical and modern monuments, Moorish and Baroque palaces, and buildings that combine Gothic, Rococo and Renaissance motives are extant to this day. Today a high level of building technology of Kropyvnytskyi's masters encourages further construction and restoration.
File:Кропивницький. Синагога P1480889.jpg, Great Choral Synagogue
File:Вокзальна 20 2019.jpg, Craft school
File:Lisavetgrad Dvortsova 15.jpg, Mansion I.M. Marushchak
File:Kirovograd Chmilenka 84 37 02 (YDS 3319).jpg, Early 20th century ''Art Nouveau'' architecture
File:Площа перед міськрадою Кропивницького.png, Square in front of the city council
File:Kirovohrad city council.jpg, Kropyvnytskyi city council
File:Kirovograd Dvortsova 9 Komplex Budivel' Gostynnogo Dvoru 01 (YDS 3026).jpg, Security service building
File:Кропивницький вул. Велика Перспективна, 60 2019 3.jpg, Art Museum
File:Кропивницький вул. Арх. Паученка, 89.jpg, Osmyorkin museum
File:Kirovograd Velyka Perms'ka 2 Budynok Okruzhnogo Sudu 01 (YDS 5319).jpg, Old court building
Symbols
Three blue stripes crossed in the middle of the fortress plan symbolize the fortification location at the confluence of the Inhul, Suhukleya and Biyanka rivers. The crimson colour favoured by Cossacks refers to the fortress being situated on the lands of the Zaporozhian Cossacks
The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...
. Golden ears together with a golden field on the shield are symbols of the fertile lands and notable agricultural wealth of the region.
The shield is held by storks, which symbolizes happiness, fertility, and love for the native land. The golden tower in the form of a crown expresses that the city is a regional centre. The motto "With peace and good" placed on the azure stripe emphasizes that same idea. All the features of the flag correlate with the principal elements of the escutcheon on the coat of arms of the city.
Population
Language
Distribution of the population by native language
A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
according to the 2001 census:
According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute
The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1983 and funded and supported by the United States federal government. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. Its public mission is to a ...
in April–May 2023, 77% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, and 20% spoke Russian.
Historical dynamic
Ethnic structure of the population according to population censuses:
Notable people
The history of Kropyvnytskyi boasts memorable events and appearances in the biographies of famous people. One of the unsurpassed creators of the modern architectural ensemble of the historical centre of the city of Kropyvnytskyi, was born and lived here. Such noted architects as A. Dostoyevskyi and worked there as well.
P. Kalnyshevsky fought for the freedom of the local cossacks, M. Pirohov laid the foundation of field surgery and M. Kutuzov planned his military operations from the city.
Natives listened to the lectures of the outstanding slavist , and inherited the knowledge of the land from the ethnographer, historian and archeologist .
In different periods of time the history of the region was connected with the names of the famous Ukrainian writer, playwright, publicist and statesman Volodymyr Vynnychenko, the poet, literary and cultural critic Y. Malanyuk, the physicist-theoretician, the Nobel Prize laureate Igor Tamm, the scientist and inventor, one of the creators of the legendary "Katyusha" G. Langeman, the composer Yuliy Meitus, the pianist and pedagogue G. Neigauz, the artist and painter O. Osmiorkin, the poet and translator Arseny Tarkovsky, the public and cultural figure, memoirist, patron of the arts Y. Chykalenko, the composer, pianist, pedagogue, musician and publicist K. Shymanovskyi and the Ukrainian writer, dramatist and scriptwriter Y. Yanovskyi.
* Irina Belotelkin (1913–2009) a Russian-American artist and fashion designer.
* Felix Blumenfeld (1863–1931) a Russian and Soviet composer, conductor and pianist
* Aaron Bodansky (1887–1960), a Russian-born American biochemist
* Israel Fisanovich (1914–1944), a Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...
submarine commander
* Moses Gomberg (1866–1947), a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
.
* Boris Hessen (1893–1936), a Soviet physicist, philosopher and historian of science.
* Oleh Korostelyov (born 1949), a Ukrainian engineer and scientist.
* Boris Kotlyarov (1913-1982), a Soviet ethnomusicologist and violinist
* Zevulun "Zavel" Kwartin (1874–1952), Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
cantor
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...
and composer
* Heinrich Neuhaus (1888–1964), Russian pianist of German and Polish descent
* Yury Olesha (1899–1960), a Russian and Soviet writer and novelist.
* Ivan Olinsky (1878–1962), a Jewish-Ukrainian and American painter and art instructor in New York and Connecticut
* Victor Orly (born 1962), a contemporary French painter
* Platon Poretsky (1846–1907), Russian Imperial astronomer, mathematician and logician
* Issachar Ber Ryback (1897–1935), a Jewish-Ukrainian-French painter and sculptor
* Afrikan Spir (1837–1890), a Russian neo-Kantian philosopher of German-Greek descent
* Arseny Tarkovsky (1907–1989), Russian poet
* Alexander Zaldostanov (born 1963), leader of the Night Wolves; Russia's largest motorcycle club
* Grigory Zinoviev (1883–1936), Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
revolutionary and a prominent member of the CPSU
Sport
* Andriy Pyatov (born 1984), former Ukrainian football player
* Olesya Dudnik (born 1974) a gymnastics coach and former artistic gymnast
* Grigory Gamarnik (1929–2018), Soviet wrestler, Greco-Roman world champion
* Andrei Kanchelskis (born 1969), footballer with 456 club caps and 36 for Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
* Boris Konfederat (born 1943), footballer and referee
* Yevhen Konoplyanka (born 1989), footballer with 275 club caps and 86 for Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
* Dmytro Mykhaylenko (born 1973), footballer with 376 club caps and 23 for Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
* Serhiy Nazarenko (born 1980), footballer with 375 club caps and 56 for Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
* Maurice Podoloff (1890–1985), American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...
and National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
administrator
* Valeriy Porkujan (born 1944), footballer with 240 club caps and 8 for the Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
* Andriy Rusol (born 1983), footballer with 252 club caps and 49 for Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
* Alexei Suetin (1926–2001), Russian chess grandmaster and author
* Don Aminado (1888–1957), Russian Jewish emigre writer
Climate
Kropyvnytskyi is in the central region of Ukraine.
Kropyvnytskyi's climate is moderate continental: cold and snowy winters, and hot summers. The seasonal average temperatures are not too cold in winter, not too hot in summer: in January, and in July. The average precipitation is per year, with the most in June and July.
Gallery
Панорама Єлисаветграда.jpg, Panorama of the city, 1910s
Площа Героїв Майдану , Кропивницький.png, Central square, 2023
Панорама Кропивницького.png, Downhill view
Panorama of Kropyvnytskyi , 2023.png, Panorama of the city, 2023
Inhul Kropyvnytskyi.jpg, Embankment of the Inhul
Набережна м. Кропивницький.jpg, Fishermens
Be brave like Ukraine.jpg, Memorial "Be brave like Ukraine"
Центральноукраїнський інститут розвитку людини (м.Кропивницький).jpg, Central Ukrainian Institute of Human Development
Фотографії загиблих воїнів у Кропивницькому.jpg, Regional State Administration (in front of her are photographs of fallen soldiers)
Memorial to the victims of Holodomor in Kropyvnytskyi , November 2023.jpg, Monument to the victims of the Holodomor
The Holodomor, also known as the Ukrainian Famine, was a mass famine in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–193 ...
Пам'ятник жертвам радянських репресій у Кропивницькому.jpg, Monument to the victims of Soviet repressions
10 years of Euromaidan , Kropyvnytskyi , Ukraine.jpg, Monument to the heroes of Euromaidan
Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...
Remblai de la rivière Inhul, Kropyvnytskyi, centre de l'Ukraine , 25.12.2023.jpg, One of the bridges over Inhul
Postamt in Kropyvnytskyi.jpg, Main post office
Center of Kropyvnytskyi , central Ukraine.jpg, Main street (Velyka Perspektyvna)
Inhul , Kropyvnytskyi , Ukraine.jpg, Inhul river
Remblai de la rivière Inhul, Kropyvnytskyi, 25.12.2023.jpg, Embankment in the city center
See also
* Creative Group
* Kropyvnytskyi Region Universal Research Library
* Remember about the Gas — Do not buy Russian goods!
* Yatran (typewriter)
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
Kropyvnytskyi Daily News
Bez Kupur - News of Kropyvnytskyi and Kirovohrad region without limits on the truth
(in Ukrainian)
Online magazine for young people - "Grechka". News about the cultural life of Kropyvnytskyi young people and Kropyvnytskyi region young people.
Kropyvnytskyi's portal: photos, news, information, etc.
Kropyvnytskyi news, history of the city, photos, science.
Kropyvnytskyi events, history of the city, photos, news and chats with citizen
SKY - News of Kropyvnytskyi and Kirovohrad region
Аn English-language city guide to the Kropyvnytskyi
{{Authority control
Cities in Kirovohrad Oblast
Cities of regional significance in Ukraine
Oblast centers in Ukraine
1754 establishments in the Russian Empire
Populated places established in the Russian Empire
Populated places established in 1754
Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd
Former Soviet toponymy in Ukraine