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Kharkiv is quite an old city. It was founded about 350 years ago.
The city is situated on the plateau surrounded by the Kharkiv and the Lopan rivers. According to the popular legend the city is named after Cossack Kharko. Kharkiv is the historical capital of Slobidska Ukraine.
With the foundation of Kharkiv University in 1805 the city became an important educational and cultural centre of Ukraine and the Russian Empire as a whole. Such cultural figures as Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Hulack-Artemovsky, Kostomarov, Repin lived and worked in Kharkiv.
Kharkiv was the capital of Ukraine since 1919 till 1934. Today Kharkiv is the second largest city in the country. About 2 million people live here.
Kharkiv is one of the largest industrial centres in Ukraine. Its numerous enterprises produce planes, tractors, electronic, mining and medical equipment, TV-sets, refrigerators, paints and cosmetics, clothing and textiles. Furniture and printing industries are well developed in Kharkiv.
Kharkiv is one of the major cultural and scientific centres of Ukraine. There are many schools, higher educational establishments, research institutes in Kharkiv. There is the Scientific Library, the Historical and Natural Science Museums and the Museum of Fine Arts in Kharkiv. The city supports a circus and six professional theatres.
Kharkiv is very beautiful, especially in spring. There are over 2500 streets and 26 squares in the city. The largest parks are Gorky Park, Shevchenko Garden with the Zoo, Artem Park, the Forest Park and some others. The city is ornamented with a large number of monuments. The most prominent of them is the one to T. Shevchenko built in 1935.