Містами України.
Ukraine has an ancient history. There are many places worth sightseeing on its territory.The State of Kyiv Rus was set up in the 9th century. It was a powerful feudal state with highly developed culture. Kyiv Rus was widely known throughout Europe.Chernigiv is one of the oldest towns in our country. Old Slavs inhabited this area in the 8-9th centuries. It was one of the most important centres of Kyiv Rus. In the 12th century it had close commercial links with West Europe, the Byzantine Empire. In Chernigiv there are 5 out of 25 architectural landmarks of the 11-12th centuries preserved on the territory of Ukraine. One of them is the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral. In the Cathedral interior there remained originals of frescoes of the 11th century, the stone sepulcher of Glib, the Prince of Chernigiv.One more interesting place in Ukraine is Vinnytsia. The Old Slav tribes settled on the present territory of the town as long ago as the 1st millennium B.C. But the first records of the town date back to 1363 when it is mentioned as a fortress. Numerous monuments and memorial sites of the town give account of life and activity of prominent men of national culture. Vinnytsia is the birth place of M. Kotsyubinsky, a well-known Ukrainian writer. On the outskirts of Vinnitsa there is the estate-museum of N. Pirogov, a noted surgeon who lived here his last 20 years and was buried in 1881 in a vault by the church.The old town of Kaniv is situated on the high right bank of the Dnieper. The first mention of the town was recorded in 1144. At that time it was a frontier guard of the Old Russian State. Nowadays, Kaniv is famous not only in Ukraine. This town is world-known for its Tarasova gora. Taras Shevchenko, the great Ukrainian poet, artist and philosopher is buried here.Another place in Ukraine which attracts a lot of visitors is Uman. This Ukrainian town is famous for its dendrological park-reserve "Sofiivka". This park was set up in the period of 1796-1801 by Count Pototsky for his wife, Greek-born beauty Sofia, and was called after her name "Sofiivka". The park is one of the most outstanding monuments of garden architecture in, Ukraine, a model of the free landscape composition. One can find here a collection of plants from many countries of the world, romantic-style pavillions and exotic summer houses, stone grottos, waterfalls and fontains, the underground tunnel with the river Stiks.Travelling across Ukraine one can have an excellent opportunity to learn its history and culture, to see its ancient monuments and picturesque views Ukraine has always been famous for.
