Chyhyryn ( ; ) is a city in Cherkasy Raion, Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located on Tiasmyn river not far where it enters the Dnieper.

From 1648 to 1669, the city served as the residence of the hetman of the Zaporizhian Host. After a forced relocation of the Ruthenian Orthodox metropolitan see from Kyiv in 1658, it became a full-fledged capital of the Cossack Hetmanate. Among Metropolitans who served out of Chyhyryn were Dionysius Balaban and Joseph Tukalskyi-Nelyubovych. Chyhyryn also became a traditional place for the appointment to the office of the hetman of the Zaporizhian Host.

Since the 17th century, the significance of the settlement has diminished to a semi-rural populated place. It hosts the administration of Chyhyryn urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population:

Names

Chyhyryn (; Turkish: Çigirin or Çehrin; ; ). On older maps it is often shown in Polish/Turkish-like transcription Czehrin (see Ch (digraph)).

History

Establishment of the city

From 1320 to 1569, the area had been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was ceded to the Kingdom of Poland (in the Kijów Voivodeship of the Crown of Poland) before the Union of Lublin. In 1589, King Sigismund III of Poland granted a privilege to the Starosta of Cherkasy, Aleksander Wiśniowiecki, allowing him to establish a town and build a castle on a deserted site called Czehryn. The castle was erected on a hill surrounded by the Tiasmyn River, and the town was built around it. In 1592, a subsequent royal privilege granted the town Magdeburg rights as well as a coat of arms featuring three arrows. It was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Second Partition of Poland (1793), and became part of the Kyiv region.

In 1917 a congress of Free Cossacks took place in Chyhyryn. At that congress by tradition Pavlo Skoropadsky was elected as the Hetman of the Cossacks (later in 1918 in Kyiv, he was elected the Hetman of Ukraine as well). During the Ukrainian War of Independence, from 1917 to 1920, it passed between various factions. Afterwards it was administratively part of the Kremenchuk Governorate of Ukraine, and after its dissolution of the Kyiv Governorate of Ukraine.

During World War II, Chyhyryn was occupied by the German Army from August 7, 1941 to December 12, 1943.

In 1989 the population of the city was 12,853.

Until 18 July 2020, Chyhyryn served as an administrative center of Chyhyryn Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Cherkasy Oblast to four. The area of Chyhyryn Raion was merged into Cherkasy Raion.

The town hosts an unfinished Chyhyryn Nuclear Power Plant.

Population

Language

Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:

{| class="standard"

|-

! Language

! Percentage

|-

| Ukrainian

| align="right"| 93.14%

|-

| Russian

| align="right"| 5.37%

|-

| other/undecided

| align="right"| 1.49%

|}

Geography

Location

The city is on the banks of Tiasmyn River and lies at an altitude of 124 metres above mean sea level. Minor industries, such as food and furniture factories, are the basis of the town economy in the 21st century.

Climate

Landmarks

The Trinity Monastery, built near Chyhyryn in 1627, was later destroyed by the Soviet authorities. Other historical landmarks, such as the town hall and Khmelnytsky's palace, did not survive either. After Ukraine regained independence, Hetman's residence was restored and became a museum.

Notable people

  • Georgy Danilov, linguist
  • Bohdan Khmelnytsky, hetman
  • Kateryna Yushchenko, scientist

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Chyhyryn is twinned with:

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;"

!width="150" bgcolor=#f9f9f9|City

!width="100" bgcolor=#f9f9f9|Country

!width="100" bgcolor=#f9f9f9|Year of Signing

|-

|Sebastopol, California

|25pxUnited States

|1993

|}

<gallery>

File:Chyhyryn1.jpg|Main square of Chyhyryn

File:Chyhyryn2.jpg|Entrance of the restored Bohdan Khmelnytskyi residence

File:Chyhyryn3.jpg|Bohdan Khmelnytskyi residence

File:Chyhyryn4.jpg|St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Chyhyryn

File:Chyhyryn5.jpg|A statue near the church

File:Chyhyryn7.jpg|View of Chyhyryn from the city's Castle Hill

File:Chyhyryn9.jpg|Remnants of Chyhyryn Fortress on the Castle Hill (reconstructed)

File:Chyhyryn Monument 01.jpg|Bohdan Khmelnytskyi monument in Chyhyryn

</gallery>

See also

  • Perevolochna, former fortress on Dnieper

References

  • Chyhyryn in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  • Soviet topographic map 1:100,000