Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the

Vorskla River The Vorskla (; ) is a river that runs from Belgorod Oblast in Russia southwards into northeastern Ukraine, where it joins the Dnieper. Geography The river's source is on the western slopes of the Central Russian Upland north of Belgorod. Wit ...

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 ...

. It serves as the administrative center of

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

as well as

Poltava Raion Poltava Raion () is a raion (district) in Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. The raion's administrative center is the city of Poltava. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Poltava ...

within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of

Poltava urban hromada Poltava urban territorial hromada () is one of the hromadas of Ukraine, located in Poltava Raion, Poltava Oblast. Its administrative centre is the city of Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Centr ...

, 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. Poltava has a population of

History

It is still unknown when Poltava was founded, although the town was not attested before 1174. However, municipal authorities chose to celebrate the city's 1100th anniversary in 1999. The settlement is indeed an old one, as archeologists unearthed an ancient

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

dwelling, as well as

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

remains, within the city limits.

Middle Ages

The present name of the city is traditionally connected to the settlement

Ltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

, which is mentioned in the ''

Hypatian Chronicle The ''Hypatian Codex'', also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis, is a compendium of three Rus' chronicles: the ''Primary Chronicle'', ''Kievan Chronicle'' and '' Galician-Volhynian Chronicle''. It is the most important source of histori ...

'' in 1174.Poltava: chronicles of the most important events
"History of Poltava" website. According to the chronicle, on Saint Peter's Day (12 July) of 1182,

Igor Sviatoslavich Igor Svyatoslavich (3 April 1151 – ), nicknamed the Brave, was Prince of Novgorod-Seversk (1180–1198) and Prince of Chernigov (1198–1201/1202). Life The son of Sviatoslav Olgovich, prince of Chernigov, in 1169 Igor took part in the war agai ...

, chasing hordes of the Cuman khans Konchak and Kobiak, crossed the

near ''Ltava'' and moved towards

Pereiaslav Pereiaslav is a historical town in Boryspil Raion, Kyiv Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located near the confluence of the Alta and Trubizh rivers some southeast of the capital Kyiv. It was one of the key regional centers of power during the ...

), where Igor's army was victorious over the Cumans. During the

Mongol invasion of Rus' The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered much of Kievan Rus' in the mid-13th century, sacking numerous cities such as Principality of Ryazan, Ryazan, Principality of Yaroslavl, Yaroslavl, Principality of Pereyaslavl, Pereyaslavl and Vladimi ...

in 1238–39, many cities of the middle Dnipro region were destroyed, possibly including Ltava. In the mid-14th century the region was part of the Duchy of Kyiv, which was a vassal of the

Algirdas Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the pre ...

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. According to the Russian historian Aleksandr Shennikov, the region around modern Poltava was a Cuman Duchy belonging to Mansur, who was a son of

Mamai Mamai (Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, Mongolian Cyrillic: Мамай, ; 1325?–1380/1381) was a powerful Turco-Mongol tradition, Turko-Mongol military commander in Beylerbey rank of the Golden Horde from Kiyat clan. Contrary to popular misconcep ...

.Duchy of the Mamai's descendants
Zarusskiy.org. 29 June 2008 Shennikov also claims that the Mansur Duchy joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as an

associated state An associated state is the minor partner or dependent territory in a formal, free relationship between a political territory (some of them dependent states, most of them fully sovereign) and a major party—usually a larger state. The details ...

rather than a

vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...

, and that the city of Poltava already existed at that time. In 1399, Mansur's army assisted the

Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Navy, the Lithuanian Air Force and the Lithuanian Special Operations Force. In wartime, the Lithuan ...

in the

battle of the Vorskla River The Battle of the Vorskla River was fought on August 12, 1399, between the Tatars of the Golden Horde, under Edigu and Temür Qutlugh, and the armies of Tokhtamysh and a large Crusader force led by Grand Duke Vytautas the Great of Lithuania. ...

. According to legend, after the battle, the Cossack Mamay helped

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

to escape death. The city is mentioned for the first time under the name of Poltava no later than 1430. Supposedly, in 1430 the Lithuanian duke

gave the city, along with Glinsk (today a village near the city of

Romny Romny (, ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, northern Ukraine. It is located on the Romen River. Romny serves as the administrative centre of Romny Raion and hosts the administration of , one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: History The city w ...

) and Glinitsa, to Murza Olexa (Loxada Mansurxanovich), who moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

. In 1430 Murza Olexa was baptized as Alexander Glinsky, who was a progenitor of the

Glinsky family The House of Glinski (Polish: Gliński) was an ancient Russian princely family, part of the Russian nobility, originted in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, whose ancestors were members of the Lipka Tatar clan who claimed descent from the Mongol ruler ...

. According to Shenninkov, Alexander Glinsky must have been baptized in 1390 by Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kyiv, who had just regained his title of Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Russia (rather than the Metropolitan of Russia Minor and Lithuania). On 6 March 1390 Cyprian permanently moved to

Muscovy Muscovy or Moscovia () is an alternative name for the Principality of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 *Muscovy duck (''Cairina mosch ...

. In 1482, Poltava was razed by the Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray.

Early modern period

In 1537 Ografena Vasylivna Glinska (Baibuza) passed Poltava to her son-in-law Mykhailo Ivanovych Hrybunov-Baibuza. After the

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin (; ) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingd ...

in 1569, the territory around Poltava became part of the

Crown of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the pa ...

. In 1630 Poltava was passed to a Polish magnate, Bartholomew Obalkowski. In 1641 it changed ownership again, to Alexander Koniecpolski. In 1646 Poltava became part of Wiśniowiecki Ordynatsia (a large Wiśniowiecki estate in Left-bank Ukraine centered in

Lubny Lubny (, ) is a city in Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Lubny Raion. It also hosts the administration of , one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: History Lubny is reputed to be one of the oldes ...

), governed by the Ruthenian-Polish

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

Jeremi Wiśniowiecki Prince Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, nicknamed ''Hammer on the Cossacks'' (), was a notable member of the aristocracy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince of Vyshnivets, Lubny and Khorol in the Crown of the Kingdom of Pola ...

(1612–51). In 1648, the city became the base of a distinguished regiment of Ukrainian

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, 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 borde ...

, and served as a Cossack stronghold during the

Khmelnytsky Uprising The Khmelnytsky Uprising, also known as the Cossack–Polish War, Khmelnytsky insurrection, or the National Liberation War, was a Cossack uprisings, Cossack rebellion that took place between 1648 and 1657 in the eastern territories of the Poli ...

. In 1650, to commemorate a victory of the Cossack Host over the Polish army at the

Poltavka River Poltavka may refer to: *Poltavka, name of Aranlı, Imishli, a village in Azerbaijan, until 1999 *Poltavka, Russia, several inhabited localities in Russia *, a village in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine *Poltavka culture, an early to middle Bronze Age a ...

, the Metropolitan of Kyiv, Sylvester Kossov, ordered the establishment of the Holy Cross Exaltation Monastery in Poltava. The project was financed by a number of prominent local residents, including

Martyn Pushkar Martyn Pushkar (; died 1 June 1658) was a Ukrainian Cossack military leader. From 1648 he was polkovnik of Poltava regiment. After Bohdan Khmelnytsky's death, Pushkar, being one of the senior colonels in the Hetman State, was considered a candid ...

Ivan Iskra Ivan Ivanovych Iskra () (died July, 14, 1708) was a renegade colonel of Poltava regiment of Ukrainian cossacks (1696–1703). Iskra belonged to the anti-Cossack Hetmanate, Hetmanate coalition led by Vasily Kochubey. In late 1707, Kochubey and Iskra ...

, Ivan Kramar and many others. During the 1654 Pereyaslav Council, the Poltava city delegates pledged their allegiance to the Czar of Muscovy, after which

stolnik Stolnik (, , , , ) was a court office in Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia, responsible for serving the royal table, then an honorary court title and a district office. It approximately corresponds to English term wikt:pantler, "pantler". S ...

Andrei Spasitelev arrived in Poltava and recorded 1,335 residents who had pledged their allegiance. In 1658 Poltava became a center of anti-government revolt led by

, who contested the legitimacy of

Ivan Vyhovsky Ivan Vyhovsky (; ; date of birth unknown, died 1664), a Ukrainian military and political figure and statesman, served as hetman of the Zaporizhian Host and of the Cossack Hetmanate for three years (1657–1659) during the Russo-Polish War (1654 ...

's election to the post of

Hetman of Zaporizhian Host The Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host (, ) was the head of state of the Cossack Hetmanate. The office was abolished by the Russian government in 1764. Brief history The position was established by Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the Cossack Hetmanate in ...

. The uprising was extinguished with the help of

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

. On the issue

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

Vasily Borisovich Sheremetev Vasily Borisovich Sheremetev () (1622 - 24 April 1682)Chukhlib, Taras. Vasily Borisovich Sheremetev (ШЕРЕМЕТЄВ ВАСИЛЬ БОРИСОВИЧ)'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. 2013 was a Russian military commander and state offic ...

wrote to

Alexei Mikhailovich Alexei Mikhailovich (, ; – ), also known as Alexis, was Tsar of all Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. He was the second Russian tsar from the House of Romanov. He was the first tsar to sign laws on his own authority and his council ...

on 8 June 1658: "... the ''Cherkas'' ossackcity of Poltava is ravaged and burned to the ground and only if the Great Sovereign orders to rebuild on the Tatar Sokma (pathway) of Bakeyev Route and protect many his sovereign cities from Tatar visits. And if the Great Sovereign allows to place a

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

in the city and rebuilt the city until the fall that in Poltava ''Cherkasy'' ossacksand residents built their houses and stock-piled their food". With the signing of the 1667

truce of Andrusovo The Truce of Andrusovo (, , also sometimes known as Treaty of Andrusovo) established a thirteen-and-a-half year truce, signed on between the Tsardom of Russia and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had fought the Russo-Polish War sin ...

, the city was finally subjected to the

Tsardom of Muscovy The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. From 1550 to 1700, ...

, while remaining part of the

Cossack Hetmanate The Cossack Hetmanate (; Cossack Hetmanate#Name, see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (; ), was a Ukrainian Cossacks, Cossack state. Its territory was located mostly in central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwest ...

. The city suffered from the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War () or The Last Crusade, also called in Ottoman sources The Disaster Years (), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League (1684), Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lith ...

when in 1695 Petro Ivanenko led an anti-Muscovite uprising with the help of

, who ravaged the local monastery. The same year the

Poltava Regiment The Poltava Regiment () was one of ten territorial-administrative subdivisions of the Cossack Hetmanate. The regiment's capital was the city of Poltava, now in Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. The Poltava Regiment was founded in 1648 during the ...

actively participated in the

Azov campaigns Azov (, ), previously known as Azak (Turki/Cuman language, Kypchak: ), is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River (Russia), Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name ...

which resulted in the taking of the Turkish fortress of Kyzy-Kermen (today the city of

Beryslav Beryslav (, ) is a city in Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Beryslav Raion, housing the district's local administration buildings. Beryslav hosts the administration of Beryslav urban hromada, one of ...

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...

). On 8 July (New Style) or 27 June (Old Style) 1709 the

Battle of Poltava The Battle of Poltava took place 8 July 1709, was the decisive and largest battle of the Great Northern War. The Russian army under the command of Tsar Peter I defeated the Swedish army commanded by Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld. The battle would l ...

took place near the city during the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

. The battle ended in a decisive victory of

Peter I of Russia Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. From this year, ...

over the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

forces and had great historical importance for the Russians. In 1710 there was a plague in the city and its surrounding area. In the mid-18th century the Kolomak Woods near Poltava became a base of

haidamak The haydamaks, also haidamakas or haidamaky or haidamaks ( ''haidamaka''; ''haidamaky'', from and ) were soldiers of Ukrainian Cossacks, Ukrainian Cossack paramilitary outfits composed of commoners (peasants, craftsmen), and impoverished nob ...

s (Cossack paramilitary bands). By 1770, Poltava had several brick factories, a regimental doctor, and a pharmacy; that same year the city conducted four fairs. In 1775 it became a city of

Novorossiysk Governorate Novorossiya Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, which existed in 1764–1783 and again in 1796–1802. It was created and governed according to the "Plan for the Colonization of New Russi ...

, guarded by the 8th Company of the Dnieper Pike Regiment headquartered in

Kobeliaky Kobeliaky (, ) is a city in Poltava Raion, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kobeliaky urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: History During World War II, Kobeliaky was under German occupation from 15 ...

. In 1775 Poltava's Holy Cross Exaltation Monastery became the seat of bishops of the newly created

Eparchy Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an Ecclesiology, ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administra ...

(

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

) of Slaviansk and Kherson. This large new diocese included the lands of the

Novorossiya Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...

Governorate and the

Azov Governorate Azov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, which existed from 1775 to 1783. Its capital was in Belyov Fortress and later in Yekaterinoslav. Geography and history Azov Governorate was loca ...

north of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

.Никифор Феотоки
(Nikephoros Theotoki's biography) Since much of that area had only recently been seized from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

by Russia, and a large number of Orthodox Greek settlers had been invited to settle in the region, the

imperial government The name imperial government () denotes two organs, created in 1500 and 1521, in the Holy Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation to enable a unified political leadership, with input from the Princes. Both were composed of the empero ...

selected a renowned Greek scholar,

Eugenios Voulgaris Eugenios Voulgaris or Boulgaris (; ; 1716–1806) was a Greek Orthodox cleric, author, educator, mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and philosopher. He wrote about every discipline: legal, historical, theological, grammatical, linguistic, ...

, to preside over the new diocese. After his retirement in 1779, he was replaced by another Greek theologian,

Nikephoros Theotokis Nikephoros Theotokis or Nikiforos Theotokis (; or Никифор Феотокис; 1731–1800) was a Greek scholar and theologian, who became an archbishop in the southern provinces of the Russian Empire. A polymath, he is respected by the Gree ...

.Евгений Булгарис
(Eugenios Voulgaris's biography) Poltava 1850 Main Square

In 1779 the city established the Poltava county school, which became its first secular educational institution. In 1787

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

stopped in Poltava on the way from

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, escorted by

Grigori Potemkin Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (A number of dates as late as 1742 have been found on record; the veracity of any one is unlikely to be proved. This is his "official" birth-date as given on his tombstone.) was a Russian mi ...

Alexander Suvorov Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy () was a Russian general and military theorist in the service of the Russian Empire. Born in Moscow, he studied military history as a young boy and joined the Imperial Russian ...

and

Mikhail Kutuzov Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky (; – ) was a Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as a military officer and a diplomat under the reign of three Romanov monarchs: Empress Catherine II, and Emperors Paul ...

. In Poltava, on 7 June 1787, before another

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

, Potemkin received his title "Prince of Taurida", while Suvorov received a

snuffbox A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging, both commercially and privately. Historical objects are u ...

with monogram. In 1802 the city became the seat of the newly established

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

. The city's population in 1802 consisted of some 8,000 residents. That same year Poltava opened a government-funded hospital of 20 beds.

19th century

On 2 February 1808, the Poltava Male Gymnasium was established. On 20 June 1808 some 54 families of craftsmen were invited to the city from German principalities and settled in the newly established German Sloboda neighborhood with about 50 clay-made houses. In 1810 there were 8,328 people living in Poltava; that same year, the city's first theater was built. In August 1812, on orders of Little Russia Governor General

Lobanov-Rostovsky Lobanov-Rostovsky (), feminine: Lobanova-Rostovskaya () is a Russian surname of noble origin, associated with the House of Lobanov-Rostovsky. Notable people with the surname include: * Aleksandr Lobanov-Rostovsky (disambiguation), multiple persons ...

, the famed Ukrainian writer and statesman Ivan Kotlyarevsky formed the 5th Poltava Cavalry Cossack Regiment. By 1860, Poltava had around 30,000 inhabitants, a district school, a gymnasium, an

Institute for Noble Maidens An Institute for Noble Maidens () was a type of educational institution and finishing school in late Imperial Russia. It was devised by Ivan Betskoy as a female-only institution for girls of noble origin. Those were "Closed female institutes of th ...

, a spiritual academy, a cadet corps, a library and a number of schools. In 1870, Poltava railway station was opened, leading to rapid economic growth in the region. However, by 1914 the Population of Poltava (around 60,000) was mostly working in small enterprises. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Poltava became an important cultural centre, where many representatives of

Ukrainian national revival The Ukrainian National Revival () took place during a period when the territory of modern Ukraine was divided between the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Russian Empire after the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th centur ...

were active.

20th century

During the events of 1917–1920, Poltava was under the rule of a number of governments, including the

Central Rada The Central Rada of Ukraine, also called the Central Council (), was the All-Ukrainian council that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputies as well as few members of political, public, cultural and professional organizations o ...

, Hetmanate,

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...

White Movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

and

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, ...

s. From 1918 to 1919 there was Occupation of Poltava by the Bolsheviks. After becoming a part of

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic 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. ...

, Poltava experienced accelerated industrial growth, and its population increased to 130,000 by 1939. 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

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

'' occupied Poltava from 18 September 1941 until 23 September 1943, when it was retaken during the Chernigov-Poltava Strategic Offensive of the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Ov ...

. During the Nazi occupation the Jewish population (9.9% of the total population in 1939) was imprisoned in a

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

before being murdered during mass executions perpetrated by an

Einsatzgruppe (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the impl ...

and buried in mass graves in the area. By the summer of 1944, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

conducted a number of

shuttle bombing Shuttle bombing is a tactic where bombers fly from their home base to bomb a first target and continue to a different location where they are refuelled and rearmed. The aircraft may then bomb a second target on the return leg to their home base. So ...

raids against Nazi Germany under the name of

Operation Frantic Operation Frantic was a series of seven shuttle bombing operations during World War II conducted by American aircraft based in Great Britain and southern Italy, which landed at three Soviet airfields in the Ukrainian SSR. From there, the planes ...

. Poltava Air Base, as well as Myrhorod Air Base, were used as eastern locations for landing

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

heavy bombers involved in those operations. The post-war restoration of Poltava continued in the 1950s and 1960s. The city became an important centre of military education in 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 ...

, where missile and communications officers were prepared, and was also home to a

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

division of heavy bombers. Until 18 July 2020, Poltava was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Poltava Raion even though it was the center of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Poltava Oblast to four, the city was merged into Poltava Raion.

Population

ImageSize = width:900 height:300 PlotArea = left:50 right:20 top:25 bottom:30 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = late Colors = id:linegrey2 value:gray(0.9) id:linegrey value:gray(0.7) id:cobar value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.8) id:cobar2 value:rgb(0.6,0.9,0.6) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:320000 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:40000 start:0 gridcolor:linegrey ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10000 start:0 gridcolor:linegrey2 PlotData = color:cobar width:19 align:left bar:1775 from:0 till:7527 bar:1802 from:0 till:7975 bar:1840 from:0 till:15521 bar:1851 from:0 till:20819 bar:1867 from:0 till:31900 bar:1897 from:0 till:53703 bar:1913 from:0 till:64200 bar:1923 from:0 till:84580 bar:1926 from:0 till:89391 bar:1939 from:0 till:128456 bar:1959 from:0 till:143097 bar:1970 from:0 till:219873 bar:1979 from:0 till:278931 bar:1989 from:0 till:314740 bar:2001 color:cobar2 from:0 till:317998 bar:2014 from:0 till:295950 bar:2017 from:0 till:291963 bar:2020 from:0 till:284110 PlotData= textcolor:black fontsize:S bar:1775 at: 7527 text: 7527 shift:(-14,5) bar:1802 at: 7975 text: 7975 shift:(-14,5) bar:1840 at: 15521 text: 15.521 shift:(-17,5) bar:1851 at: 20819 text: 20.819 shift:(-17,5) bar:1867 at: 31900 text: 31.900 shift:(-14,5) bar:1897 at: 53703 text: 53.703 shift:(-17,5) bar:1913 at: 64200 text: 64.200 shift:(-17,5) bar:1923 at: 84580 text: 84.580 shift:(-17,5) bar:1926 at: 89391 text: 89.391 shift:(-17,5) bar:1939 at: 128456 text: 128.456 shift:(-17,5) bar:1959 at: 143097 text: 143.097 shift:(-17,5) bar:1970 at: 219873 text: 219.873 shift:(-17,5) bar:1979 at: 278931 text: 278.931 shift:(-17,5) bar:1989 at: 314740 text: 314.740 shift:(-17,5) bar:2001 at: 317998 text: 317.998 shift:(-17,5) bar:2014 at: 295950 text: 295.950 shift:(-17,5) bar:2017 at: 291963 text: 291.963 shift:(-11,5) bar:2020 at: 284110 text: 284.110 shift:(-11,5)

Language

Distribution of the population by 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, 75 % of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, and 12 % spoke Russian.

Geography

Climate

Poltava has a warm-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfb''), with four distinct seasons, it is one of the coldest cities in

. The annual precipitation is fairly evenly distributed, with the highest concentration in summer, and which falls as snow in winter.

Government and subdivisions

Poltava is the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the

(

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

) as well as of the Poltava Raion housed within the city. However, Poltava is a city of oblast subordinance, thus being subject directly to the oblast authorities rather to the raion administration housed in the city itself. Poltava's government consists of the 50-member Poltava City Council () which is headed by the Secretary (currently Oleksandr Kozub). The city's current mayor is Oleksandr Mamay, who was sworn in on 4 November 2010 after being elected with more than 61 percent of the vote. In 2015 he was re-elected as a candidate of

Conscience of Ukraine Conscience of Ukraine () is a political party in Ukraine registered in March 2005. Electoral history The party did not participate in the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary elections, in the 2007 elections, the party failed as part of the All-Ukrainia ...

with 62.9% in a second round of Mayoral election. The territory of Poltava is divided into 3 urban districts: # Shevchenkivskyi District, to the south-west with an area of 2077 hectares and a population of 147,600 in 2005. It is a largely residential area and includes the city centre. # Kyivskyi District, is the largest by area, comprising 5437 hectares, or 52.8% of the city total situated in the north and north-west. Its census in 2005 was 111,900. This district has a large industrial zone. # Podilskyi District, to the east and south-east, in the valley of the Vorskla river, with an area of 2988 hectares and a population of 53,700 in 2005. The village of

Rozsoshentsi Rozsoshentsi () is a village in Poltava Raion, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine. It belongs to Shcherbani rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Demographics According to the 1989 census, the population of Rozsoshentsi was 6,115, of which 2,961 w ...

, Shcherbani, Tereshky,

Kopyly Kopyly () is a village in Poltava Raion, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine. It belongs to Tereshky rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The village has a population of 2,525. The village is located 3 km southeast of Poltava, within Tereshky, ...

and Suprunivka are officially considered to be outside the city, but constitute part of the Poltava agglomeration.

Culture

The centre of the old city is a semicircular Neoclassical square with the

Tuscan column The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...

of cast iron (1805–11), commemorating the centenary of the

and featuring 18 Swedish cannons captured in that battle. As

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

celebrated his victory in the Saviour church, this 17th-century wooden shrine was carefully preserved to this day. The five-domed city cathedral, dedicated to the

Exaltation of the Cross The Feast of the Holy Cross, or Feast of the Cross, commemorates True Cross, the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. In the Christianity, Christian liturgical calendar, there are several different celebrations which honor and celebrate the ...

, is a superb monument of

Cossack Baroque Ukrainian Baroque (), also known as Cossack Baroque () or Mazepa Baroque, is an artistic style that was widespread in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result of a combination of local traditions and European Baroque. History ...

, built between 1699 and 1709. As a whole, the cathedral presents a unity which even the Neoclassical belltower has failed to mar. Another frothy Baroque church, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, was destroyed in 1934 and rebuilt in the 1990s. A

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

2983 Poltava Year 983 (Roman numerals, CMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – 983 royal election, Diet of Verona: Emperor Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto II (the Red) decl ...

discovered in 1981 by

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 ...

astronomer

Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...

is named after the city.

Sports

The most popular sport is

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. Two professional football teams are based in the city:

Vorskla Poltava FC Vorskla Poltava ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Poltava. The team set to compete in Ukrainian First League, the second tier of Football in Ukraine, Ukrainian football after relegation from Ukrainian Premier League in ...

in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

and

FC Poltava FC Poltava () was a Ukrainian association football, football club based in Poltava in 2007–2018. History The club was created by the newly elected mayor of the Poltava city Andriy Matkovsky (2006–2010) who was the club's Honorary President ...

in the Second League. There are 3 stadiums in Poltava:

Butovsky Vorskla Stadium Oleksiy Butovsky Vorskla Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Poltava, Ukraine. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches, and is the home of FC Vorskla Poltava. The stadium holds 24,795 people. Located near the city' ...

(main city stadium),

Dynamo Stadium Dynamo Stadium or Dinamo Stadium is a stadium that often associated with the Dynamo (sports society). It may also refer to: Albania *Selman Stërmasi Stadium, Tirana, formerly "Dinamo Stadium" Belarus * Dinamo Stadium (Brest), Belarus *Dinamo St ...

are situated in the city centre and

Lokomotiv Stadium Lokomotiv Stadium may refer to: Belarus * Lokomotiv Stadium (Minsk) Bulgaria * Lokomotiv Stadium (Gorna Oryahovitsa) * Lokomotiv Stadium (Mezdra) * Lokomotiv Stadium (Plovdiv) * Lokomotiv Stadium (Sofia) * Lokomotiv Stadium (Stara Zagora) Ge ...

which is situated in Podil district.

Notable people

Marie Bashkirtseff Marie Bashkirtseff, born Maria Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva (; – 31 October 1884), was an émigré artist who was born into a noble family on their estate near the city of Poltava. She lived and worked in Paris, and died at the age of 25. L ...

(1858–1884) Parisian painter and diarist. *

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ( ''Yitshak Ben-Tsvi''; 24 November 188423 April 1963; born Izaak Shimshelevich) was a historian, ethnologist, Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist leader and the longest-serving president of Israel. He was 1952 Israeli presidential elec ...

(1884–1963) historian, longest-serving

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Israel, pr ...

from 1952 to 1963. * Hanka Bielicka (1915–2006) a Polish singer and actress, known by the name ''Hanna'' * Oleksandr Bilash (1931–2003) composer of lyric songs, ballads, operas, operettas and oratorios * Sofya Bogomolets (1856–1892) a Russian revolutionary and political prisoner. *

Boris Brasol Boris Leo Brasol, born Boris Lvovich Brazol (; ; March 31, 1885 - March 19, 1963), was a Russian lawyer and literary critic. After the October Revolution he settled in the United States. Biography Boris Brasol was born in Poltava (today in Ukrai ...

(1885-1963), lawyer and literary critic and a White Russian immigrant to the United States. *

Moura Budberg Maria Ignatievna von Budberg-Bönninghausen (, ''Maria (Moura) Ignatievna Zakrevskaya-Benckendorff-Budberg'', née Zakrevskaya; February 1892 – 1 November 1974), also known as Countess von Benckendorff and Baroness von Budberg, was a Russian ...

(1892–1974), a Russian adventuress and suspected double agent of

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

. *

Semion Braude Semion Yakovlevich Braude (; 28 January 1911 – 29 June 2003) was a Soviet and Ukrainian physicist and radio astronomer. Of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, Braude was born in Poltava, Ukraine, and pursued his higher education at the National Universi ...

(1911-2003) was a Soviet and Ukrainian physicist and radio astronomer *

Nat Carr Nat Carr (August 12, 1886 – July 6, 1944, born Natan Krechevsky ) was an American character actor of the silent and early talking picture eras. During his eighteen-year career, Carr appeared in over 100 films, most of them features. Lif ...

(1886–1944) an American character actor of the silent and early talking picture eras. *

Gregori Chmara Gregori Mikhailovich Chmara ( Ukrainian: Григорій Михайлович Хмара, Russian: Григорий Михайлович Хмара; 29 July 1878 – 3 February 1970) was a Ukrainian-born stage and film actor whose career spanne ...

(1878–1970) a stage and film actor whose career spanned six decades. *

Marusia Churai Maria or Marusia Churai (; 1625–1653) was a mythical Ukrainian Baroque composer, poet, and singer. She became a recurrent motif in Ukrainian literature and the songs ascribed to her are widely performed in Ukraine. According to the legend sh ...

(1625–1653) a semi-mythical Ukrainian Baroque composer, poet, and singer. * Andriy Danylko (born 1973) stage name ''Verka Serduchka''; a Ukrainian comedian, actor, and singer. * Sam Dreben (1878–1925), a highly decorated soldier in the US Army and a mercenary * Vladimir Gajdarov (1893–1978) a Russian film actor and star of Russian and German silent cinema. *

Yuliy Ganf Yuliy Abramovich Ganf () (8 June 1898 – 21 May 1973) was a Soviet Russian graphic artist, a People's Artist of the USSR, especially known for his satirical cartoons in the ''Krokodil'' magazine. He was furthermore active as a caricaturist, illu ...

(1898–1973) a graphic artist, caricaturist, illustrator and poster designer. *

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

(1809–1852), a novelist, short story writer and playwright. * Alexander Gurwitsch (1874–1954) biologist and medical scientist; originated

Morphogenetic field In the developmental biology of the early twentieth century, a morphogenetic field is a research hypothesis and a discrete region of cells in an embryo. The term ''morphogenetic field'' conceptualizes the scientific experimental finding that ...

theory *

Oksana Ivanenko Oksana Dmytrivna Ivanenko (; March 31, 1906 – December 16, 1997) was a Ukrainian children's writer and translator. In 1974, she was the winner of the Lesia Ukrainka Literary Prize for the novels ''Рідні діти'' (Native Children), '' ...

(1906-1997) – Ukrainian children's writer and translator *

Vladimir Ivashko Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko (; , ''Volodymyr Antonovych Ivashko''; 28 October 1932 – 13 November 1994) was a Soviet Ukrainian politician, briefly acting as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the perio ...

(1932-1994), politician, acting General Secretary of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

* Philip Jaffe (1895–1980) a left-wing American businessman, editor and author. *

Ernst Jedliczka Ernst Jedliczka (24 May 1855 – 3 August 1904) was a Russian-German pianist, piano pedagogue, and music critic. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition'' stated that Jedliczka "did much to spread Russian music in Germany, placing Russian co ...

(1855–1904) a Russian-German pianist, piano pedagogue, and music critic. * Mykola Karpov (1929–2003), Ukrainian playwright. * Dmitri Kessel (1902–1995), photojournalist,

Life magazine ''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly publi ...

1944–1972 and war correspondent *

Vera Kholodnaya Vera Vasilyevna Kholodnaya (née Levchenko; ; ; 5 August 1893 – 16 February 1919) was a Russian cinema actress. She was the first star of Imperial Russian silent cinema. Only five of her films still exist, and the total number she acted in is ...

(1893–1919) an actress of the early Imperial Russian cinema. *

Yuri Kondratyuk Yuri Vasilyevich Kondratyuk (; ), real name Aleksandr Ignatyevich Shargei (; ; 21 June 1897 – February 1942), was a Soviet engineer and mathematician. He was a pioneer of astronautics and spaceflight, a theoretician and a visionary who, in the ...

(1897–1942), astronautics and spaceflight pioneer; foresaw reaching the Moon *

Ivan Kotliarevsky Ivan Petrovych Kotliarevsky (; – ) was a Ukrainian writer, poet, playwright, and social activist, regarded as the pioneer of modern Ukrainian literature. His main work is the mock-heroic poem '' Eneida''. Biography Kotliarevsky was born on ...

(1769–1838) a Ukrainian writer, poet and playwright and social activist *

Anatoly Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born ''Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov''; – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissariat for Education, People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well ...

(1875–1933) Russian Marxist revolutionary; Bolshevik Soviet people's

Commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and ...

Anton Makarenko Anton Semyonovich Makarenko (, Ukrainian: Антон Семенович Макаренко, romanized: ''Anton Semenovych Makarenko''; 13 March Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 1 March188 ...

(1888–1939), educator, social worker and writer and top educational theorist *

Yuri Levitin Yuri Abramoviсh Levitin (''Yuriy'', ''Youri''; ''Levitine'') (; in Poltava – 26 July 1993 in Moscow)Shostakovich, Dmitri; Glikman, Issak; Phillips, Anthony (ed.) (2001). , page 331. . was a Soviet Russian composer of classical music. Early ...

(1912–1993) a Soviet Russian composer of classical music. *

Mykola Lysenko Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko (; 22 March 1842 – 6 November 1912) was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and ethnomusicologist of the late Romantic period. In his time he was the central figure of Ukrainian music, with an ''oeuvre'' tha ...

(1842–1912) composer, pianist, conductor; founder first Ukrainian classical music school *

Patriarch Mstyslav Patriarch Mstyslav, secular name Stepan Ivanovych Skrypnyk (10 April 1898 – 11 June 1993), was a Ukrainian Orthodox Church hierarch. He was a nephew of Symon Petliura. Biography Born in Poltava (Russian Empire, now Ukraine), Skrypnyk ...

(1898–1993), Ukrainian Orthodox Church

hierarch An ordinary (from Latin ''ordinarius'') is an officer of a church or civic authority who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute laws. Such officers are found in hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ...

Matvei Muranov Matvei Konstantinovich Muranov (; 11 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/> O.S. 29 November1873 – 9 December 1959) was a Ukrainian Bolshevik">Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 29 November1873 – 9 December 19 ...

(1873–1959) a Ukrainian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician and statesman. * Panas Myrny (1849-1920) a Ukrainian prose writer and playwright *

Jensen Noen Jensen Noen (born Yevhen Nozhechkin, April 20, 1987) is a Los Angeles-based Film director, director and writer. Noen was born in Poltava, Ukraine. Noen was named Best Director at the 2018 Mediterranean Film Festival Cannes and 2019 Flathead Lake ...

(born 1987) a Los Angeles-based filmmaker, cinematographer and writer. *

Oleksiy Onyschenko Oleksiy Semenovych Onyschenko (in ) is a philosopher and culture theorist, Honoured Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1997), Recipient of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science ...

(born 1933) a philosopher, academic and culture theorist *

Mikhail Ostrogradsky Mikhail Vasilyevich Ostrogradsky (; 24 September 1801 – 1 January 1862), also known as Mykhailo Vasyliovych Ostrohradskyi (), was a Russian Imperial mathematician, mechanician, and physicist of Zaporozhian Cossacks ancestry. Ostrogradsky was a ...

(1801–1862), a Ukrainian mathematician, mechanic and physicist *

Olena Pchilka Olha Petrivna Kosach (birth name, née Drahomanova 29 June 1849 – 4 October 1930), better known by her pen name Olena Pchilka (), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian publisher, writer, ethnographer, interpreter, and civil activist. She was the ...

(1849–1930), a Ukrainian publisher, writer, ethnographer and civil activist. *

Ivan Paskevich Count Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich-Erevansky, Serene Prince of Warsaw ( – ) was a Russian military leader who was the ''namiestnik'' of Poland. Paskevich is known for leading Russian forces in Poland during the November Uprising and for a s ...

(1782-1856), Ukrainian military leader in Imperial Russian service. *

Symon Petliura Symon Vasyliovych Petliura (; – 25 May 1926) was a Ukrainian politician and journalist. He was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army (UNA) and led the Ukrainian People's Republic during the Ukrainian War of Independence, a pa ...

(1879–1926) a Ukrainian politician, journalist and military leader of Ukraine's struggle for independence following the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917. * Vladimir Picheta (1878 – 1947), a Belarusian historian, first rector of the Belarusian State University *

Zhanna Prokhorenko Zhanneta "Zhanna" Trofimovna Prokhorenko (, ; 11 May 1940 – 1 August 2011)Death notice ...

(1940–2011) a Soviet and Russian actress * Sasha Putrya (1977–1989) Ukrainian artist, died aged 11 from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

. *

Svitlana Pyrkalo Svitlana Pyrkalo (born 1976, in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR) is a London-based writer, journalist and translator who writes in Ukrainian, English and Russian. Early life and education Svitlana Pyrkalo was born in 1976, in Poltava, Ukrainian SSR. She s ...

(born 1976) a London-based writer, journalist and former

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio producer * Boris Schwanwitsch (1889–1957) a Russian

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

who specialised in

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

. *

Moshe Zvi Segal Moshe Zvi (Hirsch) Segal (; born 23 September 1875; died 11 January 1968) was an Israeli rabbi, linguist and Talmudic scholar. Biography Segal was born in Maishad, Lithuania in 1875. In 1896, he moved with his family to Scotland and subsequent ...

(1904–1985), rabbi and activist in Israeli organizations, including Etzel and Lechi. *

Bert Shefter Bert Shefter (May 15, 1902 – June 29, 1999) was a Russian-born film composer who worked primarily in America. Biography He was born in Poltava, Russian Empire (now Ukraine.) After emigrating to the USA he attended the Carnegie Institute, P ...

(1902–1999) a film composer who worked primarily in America. *

Avraham Shlonsky Avraham Shlonsky (; ; March 6, 1900 – May 18, 1973) was a Russian-born Israeli poet and editor. He was influential in the development of modern Hebrew and its literature in Israel through his many acclaimed translations of literary classics, ...

(1900–1973), Israeli poet and editor *

Hryhorii Skovoroda Hryhorii Skovoroda, also Gregory Skovoroda or Grigory Skovoroda (; , ; , ; 3 December 1722 – 9 November 1794), was a philosopher of Ukrainian Cossack origin who lived and worked in the Russian Empire. He was a poet, a teacher and a composer ...

(1722–1794) a Ukrainian poet, philosopher and composer * Ivan Steshenko (1873–1918), a Ukrainian civic and political activist, writer and Govt. minister. * Maria Tarnowska (1877–1949),

femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...

, famously convicted of murder in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1910. *

Elias Tcherikower Elias Tcherikower (; July 31, 1881 – August 8, 1943) was a Ukrainian Jewish historian and co-founder of the Yiddish Scientific Institute (YIVO). Biography Tcherikower was born and raised in Poltava, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), where his fat ...

(1881–1943), a Jewish historian of Judaism and the Jewish people. *

Alina Treiger Alina Treiger (born March 8, 1979, Poltava, Ukraine) is the first female rabbi to be ordained in Germany since World War II. Biography Treiger was born in Poltava, Ukraine and grew up in the Jewish community there. Her father is Jewish, wasn't ...

(born 1979) the first female rabbi to be ordained in Germany since WWII. * Yelena Ubiyvovk (1918–1942) a partisan and leader of a

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

cell during WWII. *

Paisius Velichkovsky Paisius Velichkovsky or Wieliczkowski (''Paisie de la Neamţ'' in Romanian language, Romanian; Паисий Величковский in Russian language, Russian; Паїсій Величковський in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian; 20 Decembe ...

(1722–1794),

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

and theologian, promoted

starets A starets ( ; ''fem.'' ) is an elder of an Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic monastery or convent who functions as venerated adviser and teacher. ''Elders'' or ''spiritual fathers'' are charism ...

dom *

Nikolai Yaroshenko Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko (; ; – ) was a Russian painter of Ukrainian origin. Yaroshenko painted many portraits, genre paintings, and drawings. His genre paintings depict torture, struggles, fruit, bathing suits, and other hardships ...

(1846–1898) a Ukrainian painter of portraits, genre paintings and drawings.

Sport

Leonid Bartenyev Leonid Vladimirovich Bartenyev () (10 October 1933 – 17 November 2021) was a Soviet athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres. Bartenyev was born in Poltava in October 1933. Athletic Career He trained at Burevestnik in Kiev. ...

(1933–2021) a 100 metre team silver medallist at the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

and

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

* Viktor Buhaievskyi (1939–2009), Soviet and Ukrainian professional footballer * Sergei Diyev (born 1958) a Russian football manager and former player with over 600 club caps * Serhiy Konovalov (born 1972) a football coach and former footballer with 270 club caps and 22 for

* Oleksandr Melaschenko (born 1978) a football striker with over 320 club caps and 16 for

Ruslan Rotan Ruslan Petrovych Rotan (; born 29 October 1981) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer and current manager of Polissya Zhytomyr. He was a member of the Ukraine national team. Club career Rotan's career started off for Dnipro in the 19 ...

(born 1981) a former professional footballer with 382 club caps and 100 for

; now manager of the

Ukraine national under-21 football team The Ukraine national under-21 football team is also known as Youth ootballteam of Ukraine () is one of junior national Association football, football teams of Ukraine for participation in under-21 international competitions. The team is manage ...

* Ivan Shariy (born 1957) is a former Soviet and Ukrainian footballer with over 500 club caps

Economy and infrastructure

Transportation

Poltava's transportation infrastructure consists of two major train stations: Poltava-Pivdenna and Poltava-Kyivska, with railway links to

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, and Kremenchuk. Poltava-Kyiv line is electrified and is used by the Poltava Express. The electrification of the Poltava-Kharkiv line was completed in August 2008. The Avtovokzal serves as the city's intercity bus station. Buses for local municipal routes depart from "AC-2" (autostation No. 2 – along Taras Shevchenko, Shevchenko Street) and "AC-3" (Zinkivska Street). Local municipal routes are parked along the Taras Shevchenko Street. Marshrutka minibuses serve areas where regular bus access is unavailable; however, they are privately owned and cost more per ride. In addition, a 10-route trolleybus network of runs throughout the city. On the routes of the city go more than 50 units of trolleybuses. Poltava is also served by an International Airport, situated outside the city limits near the village of Ivashky. The international highway International Highways (Ukraine), M03, linking Poltava with Kyiv and Kharkiv, passes through the southern outskirts of the city. There is also a regional highway P-17 crossing Poltava and linking it with Kremenchuk and Sumy.Poltava – Plan. Kyiv Army-Cartographic Fabric.

Education

Poltava has always been one of the most important science and education centres in Ukraine. Major universities and institutions of higher education include the following: * Poltava V.G. Korolenko National Pedagogical University, Poltava National Pedagogical University named after Vladimir Korolenko, V. G. Korolenko * National University "Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic" * Poltava Agrarian State Academy * Poltava State Medical University * Poltava University of Economics and Trade * Poltava Military Institute of Connections * Poltava Law Institute of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University *Poltava branch of the State Academy of Statistics, region and audit to the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine Astronomy * Poltava gravimetric observatory (PGO) is situated a bit north from city centre (27–29 Miasoyedov St.). Its main work directions are measurements of Earth rotation, latitude variations (applying zenith stars observations, lunar occultation observations and other) * Observational station of PGO in rural area, some 20 km east along the M03-E40 highway. Radiotelescope URAN-2 (Ukrainian: ''УРАН-2'') is situated there too.

Twin towns – sister cities

Poltava is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with: * Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria (1963) * Filderstadt, Germany * Ostfildern, Germany * Irondequoit, United States * Kristianstad, Sweden * Kouvola, Finland

Gallery

File:Poltava Dvoryanske zibrannya.JPG, Building of the Noble Assembly File:Poltava City Hall.JPG, State administrative building (Russian Empire) File:PoltavaSpasskajaCerkov.jpg, Church of the Savior File:P1230516 Вул. Жовтнева, 23.jpg, Poltava Theatre of Music and Drama File:"Грандъ Отель" купця І. Гінсбурга.JPG, Merchant Ginzburg's "Grand Hotel" File:Poltava Ivan Kotlyarevsky Obelisk.JPG, Obelisk at the Ivan Kotlyarevsky's burial File:Poltava Mansion of Bahmackiy.JPG, Moorish architecture, Moorish-styled mansion of Bakhmatsky File:Poltava Monastery 03.jpg, Exaltation of the Cross nunnery File:Poltava Well (Memorial - Estate writer I.P.Kotlyarevsky).JPG, Traditional Ukrainian well, ''krynytsia'' (Kotlyarevsky's estate) File:Будинок земства P1230868 пл. Конституції, 2.jpg, Poltava Governorate Zemstvo Building, Former Regional Administration building File:Інститут шляхетних дівчат,Полтава, Проспект Першотравневий, 24 061.jpg, Former Institute of Noble Maidens (today - National Technical University) File:Братська могила 1345 російських воїнів (Поле Полтавської битви),.jpg, Mass burial of 1345 Russian soldiers (perished at the

) File:Poltava2.jpg, Main pedestrian street of Poltava File:Poltava selansky bank SAM 7645 53-101-0521.JPG, Security Service of Ukraine, State security office File:Корпусный парк.jpg, Round square in central Poltava

References

External links

* * * * * * *
The murder of the Jews of Poltava
during

, at Yad Vashem website.
An English-language city guide to Poltava
{{Authority control Poltava, Cities in Poltava Oblast Cities of regional significance in Ukraine Holocaust locations in Ukraine Oblast centers in Ukraine Populated places established in the 9th century