Vinnitsa Ukraine

Vinnitsa (Vinnytsia) is the city of regional significance, the administrative center of the Vinnitsa region of Ukraine. The city is situated on the shores of theSouthern Bug. Through the city flows also the small rivers Tyazhylivka, Vinnichka and Vishenka.

Vinnitsa city today is the center of Vinnitsa region. Here are more than 360 thousand inhabitants. Each year this figure increases in almost 18 thousand.

At the entrance to Vinnitsia there is installed a yellow shield. The blue ribbon cuts it symbolizing the Southern Bug, and the combination of these colors represents the state flag of Ukraine. At the top of the shield there is a half of the pinion and the ear of wheat. So it is symbolically reflected that Vinnitsa (Vinnytsya) is the industrial center and at the same time, the center of the agricultural region.

The foundation of Vinnytsia is associated with the name of Olgerd’s nephew Fedor Koriatovich. In 1363 he founded a wooden fortress on the high steep slope below the confluence of the Bug with its left tributary - the river Vinnichka. The tract Zamkovaya Mountain, which was turned into the quarry hundred years ago, completely disappeared in 1890, and reduced to the foundation of urban buildings and bridges. The name "Vinnitsa" occurs already in the document, signed June 13, 1385 in Cracow by King Wladyslaw Jagiello. There are many versions of explaining of the name of the city, perhaps the most probable ones is based on the following words: "vinnitsa" – distillery, where beer wines were brewed, Old Slavic "v’no" - dowry received by Koriatovich; and Vinnichka - river.

The first castle was built on the highest point of the left bank. In 1558 the new fortress was built on the island Kempa to strengthen protection against enemies. Vinnitsa officially became a city in the XV century.

The most notable historic object of the city, the foundation of which is considered to be in 1363, is a Jesuit monastery. The monks began to build the huge church, collegium and hostel in 1610, surrounding them like a fortress, with thick brick walls with towers at the corners, which even today are called Mury. These walls are the only preserved in the city fortifications. Near there is a museum of local history with mammoth skeleton. Another dominant of the old part of the city is, of course, the Orthodox Transfiguration Monastery, founded in 1616 as opposed to the Jesuits. Now the current Orthodox Cathedral is the majestic and beautiful building. In the first half of XVII century, when Vinnitsa prospered being under the influence of Poland, there were created the majority of Vinnitsa ancient architectural monuments. Most of them are located in New city on the right bank of the Southern Bug. The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Angels (Sobornaya Street, 12) with a lovely courtyard also deserves attention.

Among the other sights of Vinnitsa (Ukraine) the best known is the estate-museum of the founder of the field medicine Pirogov with church-necropolis, where he lived and worked and where already rests for 114 years its embalmed body. The estate is situated in a luxury park on the lake at the very end of the Pirogova Street; church-tomb is in the park in two kilometers from the estate.

Traveling to Vinnitsa you can visit also the other local attraction, covered with the number of legends, - headquarters of Hitler "Werewolf". This is very close - 8 km from the city (near the villages Strizhanovka and Colo-Mykhailivka). The place, where are only the secrets, legends and the crowd of adventurers.