Nizhyn
Encyclopedia
Nizhyn is a city located in the Chernihiv Oblast
(province
) of northern Ukraine
, along the Oster River
, 150 km (93 mi) north-east of the nation's capital, Kiev
. It is the administrative center
of the Nizhynsky Raion, though the city itself is also designated as a district in the oblast. Once a major city of the Chernigov Governorate
today has estimated population of 76,625 (as of the 2001 census).
, Nizhyn was granted Magdeburg rights
(1625) as a self-governing town. Nizhyn was once a major center of Hasidic Judaism
and is the site of the Ohel
(tomb) of the Hasidic master
, Rabbi Dovber Schneuri
of Chabad-Lubavitch
. It was also the seat of a major Cossack
regiment (until 1782) and of the thriving Greek community, which enjoyed a number of privileges granted by Bogdan Khmelnytsky.
In the 19th century Nizhyn became an uyezd
capital of the Chernigov Governorate
and the biggest city in the guberniya
. In 1805, the Bezborodko Lyceum
was established there; its graduates include Nikolai Gogol
, whose statue graces one of city streets. Nizhyn has also long been noted for its famous cucumber
s.
of Poland
. The town grew to become a center for the Habad Hasidim
of Ukraine. By 1847, 1,299 Jews had registered as residents. In 1897, 24% of the population, or 7,361 residents, were Jewish.
A wave of pogrom
s severely affected the Jewish population in 1881 and 1905. During their retreat from the Germans in the spring of 1918, the Red Army
carried out additional pogroms. During World War II
, the region was occupied by Germany, who exterminated all Jews in the area. Only those who escaped survived.
In 1959, 1,400 Jews lived in Nezhin, about 3% of the town's population. In 2005, Nezhin population reached 80,000. Only about 300 Jewish families lived in the city.
aircraft from the nearby air base collided in mid-air. The crew ejected and the plane flew on unpiloted for 52 minutes, threatening the city of Nezhin before crashing 0.5 km from the city's railway station.
The city boasts 38 libraries with the total fund of 1736,5 thousand books, which caters for 44 429 readers, more than a dozen of museums, including Nizhyn Regional museum with the following sections: art, history, Nizhyn Post Station, with about 31 thousand of exhibits of the main fund, the Museum of the History of School No.3, the Museum of the History of School No.7 with a room of M.V.Nechkina, the Korolyov Museum in School No.14, the Glory Museum of Agrarian and Technical Institute, the Museum-Chemists shop named after M.Ligda. The following institutions function at Nizhyn State Pedagogical Institute named after Gogol: The Museum of Gogol, Art Gallery, the Museum “Rare book”, zoological museum, and botanical museum.
Nizhyn is a well-known industrial center, where 16 industrial enterprises, which belong to 8 branches, operate.Nizhyn is also an attractive tourist city. It is included into the tour “Necklace of Slavutych”.
Architecturally Nezhin was shaped in the 18th century. Foremost among its buildings must be mentioned its seven Baroque
churches: Annunciation Cathedral (1702–16, modernised 1814), Presentation Cathedral (1788), St. Michael's Church of the Greek community (1719–29), St John's Church (1752, illustrated, to the right), Saviour's Transfiguration Church (1757), Intercession Church (1765), and the so-called Cossack Cathedral of St. Nicholas (1658, restored 1980s), a rare survival from the days of Nezhin's Cossack glory, noted for its octagonal vaults and drums crowned by archetypal pear-shaped domes (picture). Other notable buildings include the Trinity Church (1733, rebuilt a century later), the Greek magistrate (1785), and the Neoclassical complex of the Nizhyn Lyceum
(designed by Luigi Rusca
, built in 1805-17, expanded in 1876-79).
(the Mirror Weekly), July, 2005. in Russian, in Ukrainian Nizhen/Nizhyn in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine History of Nezhin
Chernihiv Oblast
Chernihiv Oblast is an oblast of northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv.-Geography:The total area of the province is around 31,900 km²....
(province
Administrative divisions of Ukraine
Ukraine is subdivided into 24 oblasts , one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status".- Overview :...
) of northern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, along the Oster River
Oster River
The Oster River is a river in the northern Ukrainian oblast of Chernihiv. The river is the left branch of the Desna River. It is approximately 199 km long and its basin area is 2,950 km². It is connected by canals and streams with the Trubizh River, which flows southwest from Kiev into...
, 150 km (93 mi) north-east of the nation's capital, Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. It is the administrative center
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the Nizhynsky Raion, though the city itself is also designated as a district in the oblast. Once a major city of the Chernigov Governorate
Chernigov Governorate
The Chernigov Governorate , also known as the Government of Chernigov, was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian Empire, which was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Malorossiya Governorate with an administrative centre of Chernigov...
today has estimated population of 76,625 (as of the 2001 census).
History
The earliest known references to the location go back to 1147, when it was briefly mentioned as Unenezh. In the times of the Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
, Nizhyn was granted Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of the German city of Magdeburg and developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was...
(1625) as a self-governing town. Nizhyn was once a major center of Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
and is the site of the Ohel
Ohel (Chabad)
The Ohel is the name of a religious shrine in Queens, New York, to which thousands of people make a pilgrimage each year. The last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson and his father-in-law Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn are interred there...
(tomb) of the Hasidic master
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
, Rabbi Dovber Schneuri
Dovber Schneuri
Dovber Schneuri was the second Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic movement. Rabbi Dovber was the first Chabad rebbe to live in the town of Lyubavichi , the town for which this Hasidic dynasty is named...
of Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch
Chabad-Lubavitch is a Chasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's larger and best-known Chasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York...
. It was also the seat of a major Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
regiment (until 1782) and of the thriving Greek community, which enjoyed a number of privileges granted by Bogdan Khmelnytsky.
In the 19th century Nizhyn became an uyezd
Uyezd
Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...
capital of the Chernigov Governorate
Chernigov Governorate
The Chernigov Governorate , also known as the Government of Chernigov, was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian Empire, which was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Malorossiya Governorate with an administrative centre of Chernigov...
and the biggest city in the guberniya
Guberniya
A guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire usually translated as government, governorate, or province. Such administrative division was preserved for sometime upon the collapse of the empire in 1917. A guberniya was ruled by a governor , a word borrowed from Latin ,...
. In 1805, the Bezborodko Lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...
was established there; its graduates include Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
, whose statue graces one of city streets. Nizhyn has also long been noted for its famous cucumber
Cucumber
The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
s.
Jewish population
Jews first settled in Nezhin at the beginning of the 19th century after the partitionPartitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The town grew to become a center for the Habad Hasidim
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
of Ukraine. By 1847, 1,299 Jews had registered as residents. In 1897, 24% of the population, or 7,361 residents, were Jewish.
A wave of pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s severely affected the Jewish population in 1881 and 1905. During their retreat from the Germans in the spring of 1918, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
carried out additional pogroms. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the region was occupied by Germany, who exterminated all Jews in the area. Only those who escaped survived.
In 1959, 1,400 Jews lived in Nezhin, about 3% of the town's population. In 2005, Nezhin population reached 80,000. Only about 300 Jewish families lived in the city.
Aircraft crash
In July 1969 two Tupolev Tu-22Tupolev Tu-22
The Tupolev Tu-22 was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with the Soviet military in the 1960s, and the last examples were retired during the 1990s...
aircraft from the nearby air base collided in mid-air. The crew ejected and the plane flew on unpiloted for 52 minutes, threatening the city of Nezhin before crashing 0.5 km from the city's railway station.
Modern times
The city of Nizhyn is one of the ancient cities of Ukraine. The architectural complex of the city forms an expressive ensemble of an ancient trade city. The experts’ estimates distinguish more than 300 ancient buildings, where 70 are of a great cultural and historical value. The expressive 200 years ensemble of Post Station (the only one preserved in Ukraine) deserves special mention. Nizhyn is a city of students (each fifth inhabitant of Nizhyn is a student). The following educational establishments operate in Nizhyn – State University named after Gogol; Agro-technical College, faculty of Kremenchyk Institute of Economy and New Technologies, College of Culture and Arts named after Zankovetska, Medical College, Nizhyn Professional Lyceum of Services, Nizhyn Agrarian Lyceum, vocational college, Lyceum at the University. There are four club institutions, the Drama Theater named after Kotsyubinskiy, the Choreographic school and park landscapes in the city.The city boasts 38 libraries with the total fund of 1736,5 thousand books, which caters for 44 429 readers, more than a dozen of museums, including Nizhyn Regional museum with the following sections: art, history, Nizhyn Post Station, with about 31 thousand of exhibits of the main fund, the Museum of the History of School No.3, the Museum of the History of School No.7 with a room of M.V.Nechkina, the Korolyov Museum in School No.14, the Glory Museum of Agrarian and Technical Institute, the Museum-Chemists shop named after M.Ligda. The following institutions function at Nizhyn State Pedagogical Institute named after Gogol: The Museum of Gogol, Art Gallery, the Museum “Rare book”, zoological museum, and botanical museum.
Nizhyn is a well-known industrial center, where 16 industrial enterprises, which belong to 8 branches, operate.Nizhyn is also an attractive tourist city. It is included into the tour “Necklace of Slavutych”.
Sights
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
churches: Annunciation Cathedral (1702–16, modernised 1814), Presentation Cathedral (1788), St. Michael's Church of the Greek community (1719–29), St John's Church (1752, illustrated, to the right), Saviour's Transfiguration Church (1757), Intercession Church (1765), and the so-called Cossack Cathedral of St. Nicholas (1658, restored 1980s), a rare survival from the days of Nezhin's Cossack glory, noted for its octagonal vaults and drums crowned by archetypal pear-shaped domes (picture). Other notable buildings include the Trinity Church (1733, rebuilt a century later), the Greek magistrate (1785), and the Neoclassical complex of the Nizhyn Lyceum
Nizhyn Lyceum
Nizhyn Gogol State University is an academic institution in Ukraine, located in Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Ukraine. It was originally established as the Nizhyn Lyceum of Prince Bezborodko; since then it has changed its name for several times...
(designed by Luigi Rusca
Luigi Rusca
Luigi Rusca was a Neoclassical architect from Ticino who worked in St. Petersburg, Russia between 1783 and 1818. He was apprenticed to Georg Veldten and Giacomo Quarenghi, then went on a successful career on his own...
, built in 1805-17, expanded in 1876-79).
People
- Semyon DesnitskySemyon DesnitskySemyon Efimovich Desnitsky was a disciple of Adam Smith who introduced his ideas to the Russian public. He was also the first academic to deliver his lectures in Russian language rather than in Latin....
, a disciple of Adam SmithAdam SmithAdam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
who introduced his ideas to the RussianRussiansThe Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
public. - Sergey KorolyovSergey KorolyovSergei Pavlovich Korolev ; died 14 January 1966 in Moscow, Russia) was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s...
, the father of the SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
space program - Olga KhokhlovaOlga KhokhlovaOlga Stepanovna Khokhlova was a Ukrainian-Russian dancer, better known as the first wife of Pablo Picasso and the mother of his son, Paulo.- Biography:Olga was born in Nizhyn, Russian Empire, now Ukraine....
, Pablo PicassoPablo PicassoPablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
's wife - Jacob Pavlovitch AdlerJacob Pavlovitch AdlerJacob Pavlovich Adler , born Yankev P. Adler, was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and New York City....
, Jewish actor - Israel RosenbergIsrael RosenbergIsrael Rosenberg founded the first Yiddish theater troupe in Imperial Russia....
, founded the first Yiddish theater troupe in Imperial RussiaRussian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. - Sonya AdlerSonya AdlerSonya Adler , born Sonya Oberlander, early stage name Sonya Michelson, was one of the first women to perform in Yiddish theater in Imperial Russia...
, one of the first women to perform in Yiddish theater in Imperial Russia. - Mark BernesMark BernesMark Naumovich Bernes was a Soviet actor and singer of Jewish ancestry , who performed some of the most poignant songs to come out of the World War II, including Tyomnaya noch and Zhuravli...
, a Soviet actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and singer of Jewish ancestry - Nestor KukolnikNestor KukolnikNestor Vasilievich Kukolnik was a Russian playwright and prose writer of Carpatho-Rusyn origin. Immensely popular during the early part of his career, his works were subsequently dismissed as sententious and sentimental. Today, he is best remembered for having contributed to the libretto of the...
, a Russian playwrightPlaywrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and proseProseProse is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
writerWriterA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. - Zhanna Pintusevich-BlockZhanna Pintusevich-BlockZhanna Pintusevich-Block is a sprinter who has competed in the Olympic Games....
, a sprinterSprint (race)Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...
who has competed in the Olympic GamesOlympic GamesThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
. - Yuri LisyanskyYuri LisyanskyYuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and explorer of Ukrainian origin....
, headed the first Russian circumnavigationFirst Russian circumnavigationThe first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth took place from August 1803 to August 1806. It was sponsored by Count Nikolay Rumyantsev and was headed by Adam Johann von Krusenstern.-Events:...
of the globe - Elina BystritskayaElina BystritskayaElina Avraamovna Bystritskaya is a Soviet and Russian actress best known for her role of Axinia in Sergei Gerasimov's epic screening of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel And Quiet Flows the Don ....
, a Soviet film actress, People's Artist of the USSRPeople's Artist of the USSRPeople's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...
.
External references
/ "A city, glorious and tender, loved by all", in Zerkalo NedeliZerkalo Nedeli
Zerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine’s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital. It was founded in 1994, and as of 2006 its print circulation was 57,000. It offers political analysis, original...
(the Mirror Weekly), July, 2005. in Russian, in Ukrainian Nizhen/Nizhyn in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine History of Nezhin