- Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi
Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi ( _ua. Переяслав-Хмельницький, translit. "Pereyaslav-Khmel′nyts′kyi"; also referred to as Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy) is a town located where
Alta River flows intoTrubizh River in theKiev Oblast (province) in centralUkraine . Serving as the administrative center of thePereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Raion (district), the town itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. Resting some 95 km south of the nation's capital,Kiev , Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi can sometimes be confused with the Khmelnytskyi, a city on theSouthern Buh River, also in Ukraine.With its current estimated population around 30,000 Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi is often described as a living
museum [http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20073/28 Pereyaslav Khmelnytsky — a town of museums] ] .History
Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi played a significant role in the history of Ukraine. It was mentioned for the first time in the text of the Rus' treaty with the
Byzantine Empire [http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20073/28 Pereyaslav Khmelnytsky — a town of museums] ] (911) as Pereyaslav-Russki, to distinguish it fromPereyaslavets inBulgaria .Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev built here in 992 the large fortress to protect the southern limits ofKievan Rus' from raids of nomads fromsteppe s of currently Southern Ukraine. It was a capital of thePrincipality of Pereiaslavl' from the middle of the 11th century until its demolition byTatars in 1239, during theMongol invasion of Kievan Rus' .In the second half of the 16th century it became a center of the Ukrainian
Cossacks .Bohdan Khmelnytsky called here the "Council of Pereyaslav", where the Ukrainian Cossacks had voted for a military alliance withMuscovy and accepted theTreaty of Pereyaslav . This event led finally to the unification of the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia. The town known as "Pereiaslav" as that time, and later as "Pereiaslav-Poltavskyi" was renamed to "Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi" in 1943 to honour this event.Tourist attractions
The whole town was proclaimed a historical sanctuary. The largest tourist attractions are:
* The museum of folk architecture, presenting the architecture and traditions ofUkrainians from ancient times up to the 19th century, including a notable collection of wind mills from the 17–19th centuries.
* Excavated ruins of buildings from the 10–11th centuries.
* St. Michael's church (1646-66) and Ascension monastery (with cathedral built in 1695-1700).Among its well-known museums are: Museum of
Bread , Museum of Land Transportation, Museum of Ukrainian Decorative Towels, Museum ofSholem Aleichem (Solomon Rabinowitz, a nineteenth-century Yiddish humorist), Museum of Space Exploration, Museum ofPost al Services, Museum ofBeekeeping , Museum of Applied and Decorative Arts, Museum of Ukrainian Traditional Rituals, Museum ofArcheology , Museum of theCossack Glory, Museum of Trypillya Culture, Museum of Ukrainian Traditional Dress, etc.Notable residents
*
Sholem Aleichem
*Bohdan Khmelnytsky References
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