Hlukhiv

Infobox City
official_name = Hlukhiv
settlement_type = Town
subdivision_type = Country
native_name = Глухів
subdivision_name = Ukraine
image_

subdivision_type1 = Oblast
region_type_local = Raion
subdivision_name1 = Sumy
region_link = Sumy Oblast
region_name_local = Hlukhivsky Raion
population_total = 36100
population_as_of = 2005
area_total =
established_date = 1174
established_title =Founded
elevation =
latd = 51| latm = 13
latNS = N
longd = 33
longm = 13
longEW = E
website = http://hlukhiv.com.ua/

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Hlukhiv, ( _uk. Глухів, _ru. Глухов, Glukhov), is a historic town in Sumy region of Ukraine, just south from the Russian border (see .

History

First noticed by chroniclers as a Severian town in 1152, Hlukhiv became the seat of a branch of the princely house of Chernigov following the Mongol invasion of Rus. The area (1320-1667) had been part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (in the Czernihów Voivodeship of the Crown of Poland) since before the Union of Lublin. Was granted Magdeburg Rights in 1644 by Władysław IV Vasa. The town was revived by Peter the Great who transferred the hetman's capital from Baturin to Hlukhiv in 1708. It served as the capital of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1708-22 and 1727-34. Under the last hetmans of Ukraine, the town was remodeled in the Baroque style. Subsequently it declined in consequence of frequent fires, so that very few of its architectural gems survive.

Since the first school of singing in the Russian Empire was established there in 1738, the town has a rich musical heritage. Composers Dmytro Bortniansky and Maksym Berezovsky, whose statues grace the Bortniansky Square of Hlukhiv, are believed to have studied there.

Sights

The oldest building in the town is the church of St. Nicholas (1693), modeled after traditional wooden churches and executed in the Ukrainian Baroque style. The church, repaired and renovated in 1871, has three pear-shaped domes and a two-storey bell tower ( [http://sumy.ukrgold.net/files/image/ce9842e903a520599182e59e2e7697c8 picture] ).

The church of the Savior's Transfiguration (1765) straddles the line between Baroque and Neoclassicism, while the massive Neo-Byzantine cathedral (1884-93) resembles St. Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev.

Probably the best known landmark of modern Hlukhiv is the conspicuous water tower (1927-29), though more historical interest attaches to the triumphal arch, dated either to 1744 or 1766. It has been suggested that the architect of this rather plain structure was Andrey Kvasov. The arch, the oldest in Ukraine, sustained damage during World War II but was subsequently restored.

Agricultural research

Due to the traditional cultivation of industrial hemp in the area, Hlukhiv has become home to the Institute of Bast Crops ( _ru. Научно-исследовательский институт лубяных культур) of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences, working on breeding improved hemp and flax cultivars. In the 1970s, the institute developed low-THC hemp varieties for industrial cultivation. [ [http://news2000.org.ua/print?a=%2Fpaper%2F5463 Hemp will help Ukraine to grow wealthy] ru icon] [ [http://mojo.calyx.net/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/jiha5111.html Interview with Dr. V. G. Virovets, the head of the Hemp Breeding Department at the Institute of Bast Crops] (1998) ]

External links

* [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/H/L/Hlukhiv.htm Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Hlukhiv]
* [http://hlukhiv.com.ua/ Unofficial information site about Hlukhiv]