Uzhhorod

Uzhgorod is located in the very south-west corner of Ukraine, literally at the border with Slovakia and not too far from Hungary, Poland and Romania aren’t too far away either. The river Uzh goes through the city.

According to the archeological evidence the site was inhabited as early as the Stone Age. A Slavic tribe of White Croatians founded a fortified settlement there in the 8th or 9th century. Early in the 10th century it was controlled by the Hungarians and then by Kyivan Rus’. Hungary regained control of the town in the 11th century and remained the dominant influence there until the 20th century. Uzhhorod was sacked by the Tatars in 1242, and its fortress was destroyed. Its economy was initially based on wine-making industry, agriculture, and animal husbandry. Trade and manufacturing, stimulated by the town's military and administrative needs, developed through the 15th to 18th centuries. The religious struggle of the 17th century culminated in the Uzhhorod Union of 1646. In the late 1770s Bishop Andrii Bachynsky transferred the seat of Mukachevo eparchy to Uzhhorod. By the end of the century a theological seminary and teachers' seminary had been established there.

The Austrian Habsburg dynasty won control of Uzhhorod in 1691, and the city became involved in Hungarian attempts to throw off Austrian rule—in the Rákóczi uprising of 1703–11 and the Revolution of 1848–9 in the Habsburg monarchy. With the defeat of the revolution the Ukrainian cultural movement in Uzhhorod gained strength for a time. The Society of Saint Basil the Great, the Uniia publishing society, and Ukrainian schools were established. Most of the movement's leaders worked in Uzhhorod, although they found little support there, for the city was inhabited mostly by Hungarians, Jews, and Slovaks.

In 1848 the city was granted self-government, and began the process of modernization. A sewage system was built in 1855, and a railway link with Chop was established in 1872. A new gymnasium was erected in 1894. The wine-making industry was expanded, and new manufacturing industries (furniture-making, woodworking, brick-making) were introduced. Trade and commerce increased. The population grew from 3,000 in 1800 to 9,750 in 1860 and 14,700 in 1900.

With Transcarpathia's incorporation into Czechoslovakia after the First World War, Uzhhorod became the capital of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, the seat of the governor and the administration, and a center of Ukrainian life. Ukrainian cultural organizations, such as the Prosvita society, the Russophile Dukhnovych Society, and the Ruthenian People's Theater, and economic institutions, such as the Subcarpathian Bank and the Co-operative Union, set up their regional centers in Uzhhorod. In the 1930s a new administrative district was developed on the right bank of the Uzh River. There was a Ukrainian gymnasium (see Uzhhorod gymnasium) in the city.

When Uzhhorod was transferred to Hungary in accordance with the Vienna award of 2 November 1938, the government of autonomous Carpatho-Ukraine moved to Khust. In 1939–44 the city continued to be a center of Ukrainian cultural and civic life.

Uzhhorod was occupied by Soviet forces in November 1944 and became the seat of the People’s Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine, which called for the territory's unification with the Ukrainian SSR. In January 1946 it became the capital of Transcarpathia oblast. New cultural institutions, many of them regional in scope, were established in the city, including a philharmonic orchestra, a folk-song and -dance ensemble, a theater company, a regional studies museum, a picture gallery, Uzhhorod University, and a publishing house (later renamed Karpaty). Later the Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Folkways was set up.

Uzhhorod features

Today, Uzhhorod, located in the extreme south-west of Ukraine, is a developed cultural and industrial center, with universities, museums, medieval churches and cathedrals. The main attraction is the old castle located in the historical part of the city.

The climate is temperate continental. Uzhhorod is protected from cold winds from the north by the Carpathians. The local climate is one of the most favorable in all Ukraine with short mild winters and long cool summers. The average temperature in January is minus 1.7 degrees Celsius, in July - plus 20.9 degrees Celsius.

Urban transport is represented by minibuses and taxis. Uzhhorod is the only regional center of Ukraine, in which there is no electric transport (trolley buses).

Uzhhorod belongs to the category of cities with significant architectural heritage. There are a lot of preserved architectural ensembles and unique houses - architectural monuments of state and local significance. In the 1930s, Czech architects created the architectural ensemble of the center of Uzhhorod in the forms close to constructivism.

There are a lot of parks and public gardens in Uzhhorod including one botanical garden of national importance, 10 parks-monuments of landscape art, as well as two botanical monuments of nature and two hydrological monuments of nature. The total area of green massifs and plantations is more than 1,500 hectares

Uzhhorod is surrounded on all sides by forests. A significant part of the city is located on the right-bank part (Old Town). The banks of the Uzh River are connected by 7 bridges: 6 pedestrian-transport and 1 railway.

The City Day of Uzhhorod is celebrated on the last Saturday of September.

Museums

Museum of Transcarpathian History (Uzhhorod Castle) - one of the best preserved medieval fortifications on the territory of Ukraine. In its current form, the castle was rebuilt after 1322, when the town became a possession of the noble family of Drugeths.

In the museum you can see exhibitions devoted to folk art, spiritual culture, ethnography, firearms. In the basement, you can find the “torture room” (the exhibits are recreated from medieval drawings, engravings). There is a restaurant with a summer terrace and a wine tasting room. Kapitul’na Street, 33. Opening hours: 10:00-17:00. Day off: Monday.

Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life - a stylized ethnic village located in the heart of Uzhhorod. The museum has interesting examples of monuments of wooden architecture of different peoples of Transcarpathia. Kapitul’na Street, 33A. Opening hours: 10:00-18:00 (10:00-17:00 in winter). Day off: Tuesday.

Transcarpathian Regional Museum of Art named after Joseph Boksha. This massive building on a hill in the center of Uzhhorod was originally built to house the local administration (“zhupanat”). The exhibition includes works created by Ukrainian, Hungarian, Russian, and Western European artists. Zhupanats’ka Square, 3. Opening hours: 10:00-17:00. Day off: Monday.