Vinnytsia

Vinnytsia
Вінниця

The former water tower in the center of Vinnytsia, Ukraine (now the War Veterans' Museum). View in the winter evening.

Flag
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): pearl of Podolia

Map of Ukraine with Vinnytsia highlighted.
Coordinates: 49°14′N 28°29′E / 49.233°N 28.483°E / 49.233; 28.483Coordinates: 49°14′N 28°29′E / 49.233°N 28.483°E / 49.233; 28.483
Country
Oblast
Raion		 Ukraine
Vinnytsia Oblast
Vinnytsia City Municipality
Founded 1363
Government
 • Head of City
Council		 Serhiy Morhunov (Vinnytsia European Strategy)[1]
Area
 • City 113,2 km2 (437 sq mi)
Population (2015)[2]
 • City 372,484
 • Density 5,066/km2 (13,120/sq mi)
 • Metro 660,000
Time zones UTC+2
UTC+3
Postal code 21000-
Area code(s) +380 432
Sister cities Birmingham, Kielce, Peterborough, Rybnytsia
Website www.vmr.gov.ua

Vinnytsia (Ukrainian: Ві́нниця, pronounced [ˈvʲinːɪt͡sʲɐ], Vinnytsia; Russian: Ви́нница Vinnitsa; Polish: Winnica; German: Winniza, and Romanian: Vinnița) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. Vinnytsya - wrong of the city name. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast and the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. Administratively, it is incorporated as a town of oblast significance. It also serves as an administrative center of Vinnytsia Raion, one of the 27 districts of Vinnytsia Oblast, though it is not a part of the district. Population: 372,484 (2015 est.)[2]

A historic town known since Middle Ages and a former Soviet Cold War-airbase, Vinnytsia is now an industrial center (particularly, dominated by the Roshen corporation), a growing international IT-outsource center and the headquarters of the Ukrainian Air Force. The city is also home to the RPC Fort, the largest Ukrainian firearms manufacturer.

Vinnytsia is considered the long-time political base for the current Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. He owns a local confectionery (as part of the Roshen Corporation) and was elected member of parliament from the local constituency for several convocations. However, contrary to some speculations, Poroshenko has never lived in the city.

Geography

Vinnytsia is located about 260 km (160 mi) southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, 429 km (267 mi) north-northwest of the Black Sea port city of Odessa, and 369 km (229 mi) east of Lviv.

It is the administrative center of the Vinnytsia Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Vinnytsia Raion (district) within the oblast. The city itself is directly subordinated to the oblast.

The current estimated population is 370,100.

Climate

A long lasting warm summer with a sufficient quantity of moisture and a comparatively short winter is characteristic of Vinnytsia. The average temperature in January is −5.8 °C (21.6 °F) and 18.3 °C (64.9 °F) in July. The average annual precipitation is 638 mm (25 in).

Over the course of a year there are around 6–9 days when snowstorms occur, 37–60 days when mists occur during the cold period, and 3–5 days when thunderstorms with hail occur.

Climate data for Vinnytsia, Ukraine
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 11.6
(52.9)		 17.3
(63.1)		 22.3
(72.1)		 29.4
(84.9)		 32.2
(90)		 35.0
(95)		 37.8
(100)		 37.3
(99.1)		 31.5
(88.7)		 28.6
(83.5)		 19.9
(67.8)		 15.4
(59.7)		 37.8
(100)
Average high °C (°F) −1.4
(29.5)		 −0.3
(31.5)		 5.1
(41.2)		 13.4
(56.1)		 20.1
(68.2)		 22.7
(72.9)		 24.8
(76.6)		 24.3
(75.7)		 18.7
(65.7)		 12.4
(54.3)		 4.7
(40.5)		 −0.4
(31.3)		 12.0
(53.6)
Daily mean °C (°F) −4.1
(24.6)		 −3.3
(26.1)		 1.2
(34.2)		 8.3
(46.9)		 14.5
(58.1)		 17.4
(63.3)		 19.2
(66.6)		 18.6
(65.5)		 13.4
(56.1)		 7.8
(46)		 1.7
(35.1)		 −2.8
(27)		 7.7
(45.9)
Average low °C (°F) −6.7
(19.9)		 −6.1
(21)		 −2.2
(28)		 3.7
(38.7)		 9.1
(48.4)		 12.3
(54.1)		 14.1
(57.4)		 13.4
(56.1)		 8.9
(48)		 4.0
(39.2)		 −0.8
(30.6)		 −5.2
(22.6)		 3.7
(38.7)
Record low °C (°F) −35.5
(−31.9)		 −33.6
(−28.5)		 −24.2
(−11.6)		 −12.7
(9.1)		 −2.8
(27)		 2.5
(36.5)		 5.2
(41.4)		 1.5
(34.7)		 −4.5
(23.9)		 −11.4
(11.5)		 −24.6
(−12.3)		 −27.2
(−17)		 −35.5
(−31.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 29
(1.14)		 28
(1.1)		 30
(1.18)		 45
(1.77)		 50
(1.97)		 94
(3.7)		 86
(3.39)		 67
(2.64)		 61
(2.4)		 31
(1.22)		 38
(1.5)		 35
(1.38)		 594
(23.39)
Average rainy days 7 6 10 13 14 15 15 10 12 11 12 9 134
Average snowy days 16 16 11 3 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 8 14 69
Average relative humidity (%) 85 83 78 68 66 72 72 71 76 80 86 88 77
Mean monthly sunshine hours 58 70 114 171 248 255 267 261 194 132 58 41 1,869
Source #1: Pogoda.ru.net[3]
Source #2: NOAA (sun only 1961–1990)[4]

History

Historical affiliations

Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1363–1569
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1672
Ottoman Empire 1672–1699
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1699–1793
 Russian Empire 1793–1917
Russia Russian Republic 1917
Ukraine Various Ukrainian states 1917–1920
Soviet Ukraine 1920–1922
 Soviet Union 1922–1991 (Occupied by Nazi Germany between 1941-1944)
 Ukraine 1991–present

Vinnytsia has been an important trade and political center since the fourteenth century, when Fiodor Koriatowicz, the nephew of the Lithuanian Duke Algirdas, built a fortress (1363) against Tatar raiders on the banks of the Southern Bug. The original settlement was built and populated by Aleksander Hrehorovicz Jelec, hetman under Lithuanian Prince Švitrigaila. Aleksander Hrehorowicz Jelec. He built the fort, which he commanded as starosta afterwards. In the 15th century, Polish King Alexander Jagiellon granted Winnica Magdeburg city rights. In 1566, it became part of the Bracław Voivodeship. Between 1569 and 1793 the town was a part of Poland and in this period, for a short time between 1672 and 1699 was a part of the Ottoman Empire. During period of Polish rule, Winnica was a Polish royal city. On March 18, 1783, Antoni Protazy Potocki opened in Winnica the Trade Company Poland. After Second Partition of Poland in 1793 the Russian Empire annexed the city and the region. Russia moved to expunge the Roman Catholic religion – Catholic churches in the city (including what is now the Transfiguration Cathedral) were converted to Russian Orthodox churches.

Vinnytsia on a 1910s postcard

According to the Russian census of 1897, Vinnytsia with a population of 30,563 was the third largest city of Podolia after Kamianets-Podilskyi and Uman.

It was occupied by German troops in 19 July 1944 during World War II. In 1943, the invading Germans exhumed almost 10,000 people, mostly male Ukrainians, from mass graves in Vinnytsia. The majority of the executions happened during the Stalinist Great Purge between 1937–1938 in the Vinnytsia massacre.

Adolf Hitler sited his easternmost headquarters Führerhauptquartier Werwolf near the town and spent a number of weeks there in 1942 and early 1943.

Nazi atrocities were committed in and near Vinnytsia by Einsatzgruppe C. Estimates of the number of victims run as high as 28,000. This included the virtual extinction of the town's large Jewish population. In 1942 a large part of the Jewish quarter of Yerusalimka was destroyed by Germans. One infamous photo, The Last Jew of Vinnytsia, shows a member of Einsatzgruppe D about to execute a Jew kneeling before a mass grave.[5] The text The Last Jew of Vinnytsia was written on the back of the photograph, which was found in a photo album belonging to a German soldier. It was liberated by Red Army in 20 March 1944. Speculations have raised over a number of things in the photograph. For example, one soldier is wearing a uniform with no collar insignia at all, while another is wearing the "swallows nests" on his shoulders, indicating him being in the Music Corp or Army Band. Such insignia was not worn outside of parades or ceremonies.

In 1959, the United States Government reported that the Soviet Union had built a school in Vinnytsia for training KGB infiltrators in how to live in the United States. A mock-up of an entire American small town was built, complete with American-style stores, movie theater, houses, restaurants, American vehicles, and a small college campus that served as the classrooms of the school.[6][7]

Constructions

Mansion-museum[8] of Nikolay Pirogov.
Fountain Roshen[9] is the only one in Ukraine and the largest floating fountain in Europe, built in the river Southern Buh in Vinnytsia City near Festivalny Isle (Campa Isle)
Vinnitsa Regional Museum and Vinnitsa Regional Art Museum[10] (on the right)

Transport

Old diesel locomotive TEM2M-063 in Vinnitsa railway station, Ukraine

Air

Havryshivka International Airport (IATA: VIN, ICAO: UKWW) is situated near Vinnytsia.[13][14] Since the end of World War II, Vinnytsia has been the home for major Soviet Air Forces base, including an airfield, a hospital, arsenals, and other military installations. The headquarters of the 43rd Rocket Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces was stationed in Vinnytsia from 1960 to the early 1990s.[15] The 2nd Independent Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps, which later became 24th Air Army, was also stationed in Vinnitsa from 1960 to 1992. The Ukrainian Air Force Command has been based in Vinnytsia since 1992. Currently from the airport there are regular flights to Israel, Montenegro and Moscow.

Notable people from Vinnytsia

The house where Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky was born.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Vinnytsia is twinned with:[16]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ Acting mayor Morhunov wins Vinnytsia election runoff – exit polls, Interfax-Ukraine (16 November 2015)
  2. 1 2 "Чисельність наявного населення України (Actual population of Ukraine)" (PDF) (in Ukrainian). State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Pogoda.ru.net" (in Russian). May 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Vinnica (Vinnytsia) Climate Normals 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "The last Jew in Vinnitsa [1941", World's Famous Photos, Retrieved on 2010-08-26.
  6. ↑ Author Unknown, (1959, April 27), RUSSIA: Iowa in the Ukraine, 'Time Magazine', Retrieved from http://content.time.com/
  7. ↑ "Small Town Espionage – 1960 Soviet Spy School / CIA Educational Documentary – WDTVLIVE42". YouTube. 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  8. ↑ "The national Pirogov's estate museum". Pirogov.com.ua. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  9. ↑ "About fountain :: Europe’s largest floating fountain". Fountainroshen.com. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
  10. ↑ Vinnitsa Regional Art Museum
  11. ↑ "Roshen Fountain in Vinnitsa was opened! :: Confectionery Corporation ROSHEN". roshen.com. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  12. ↑ "Roshen Fountains (Vinnytsia, Ukraine): Address, Top-Rated Attraction Reviews – TripAdvisor". www.tripadvisor.ie. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  13. ↑ IATA: Airline and Airport Code Search. Enter code VIN in Search by Location Code, accessed 7 November 2011.
  14. ↑ Information about the airport at airport-data.com. Accessed 7 November 2011.
  15. ↑ "43rd Missile Army". Ww2.dk. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  16. ↑ "Vinnytsia Twin Cities".
  17. ↑ "Kardeş Şehirler". Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi Basın Koordinasyon Merkez. Tüm Hakları Saklıdır. Retrieved 2013-07-27.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vinnytsia.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Vinnytsya.
Look up vinnytsia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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