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Kharkiv

My native city is Kharkov. It is quite an old city. It was found about 350 years ago. The city is situated on the plateau surrounded by the Kharkiv and the Lopan rivers. According to the popular legend the city is named after Cossack Kharko. Kharkiv is the historical capital of Slobidska Ukraine.

Today Kharkiv is the second largest city in the country. About 1.6 million people live here.

With the foundation of Kharkiv University in 1805 the city became an important educational and cultural centre of Ukraine. Such famous people as Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Hulack-Artemovsky, Kostomarov, Repin lived and worked in Kharkiv.

Kharkiv is one of the largest industrial, cultural and scientific centres of Ukraine. There are many plants and factories, schools and higher educational establishments, research institutes here. There is the Scientific Library, the Historical and Natural Science Museums and the Museum of Fine Arts in Kharkiv. The city supports a circus and six professional theatres.

Kharkiv is very beautiful, especially in spring. There are over 2500 streets and 26 squares in the city. The largest parks are Gorky Park, Shevchenko Garden with the Zoo, Artem Park, the Forest Park and some others. The city has got a large number of monuments. The most prominent of them is the one to T. Shevchenko built in 1935.

My favourite place is Gorky Park. There you can escape from the noise of the city streets and enjoy the freshness of air under the canopy of park trees. Gorky Park, is very popular with children. There they can go rollerblading or ride a horse, or take photos with a monkey. There are a lot of differ­ent attractions here. Adults can have a rest in one of the cosy cafes or watch a movie in the «Park» cinema. For sport-fanciers there are tennis-courts, a swimming pool and a stadium.

Sumskaya street is the main street of our city. The most treasured pieces of architecture have been preserved here. Old houses are combined with modern buildings there.

I’m proud to be a Kharkovite. All my life is closely con­nected with this city. I’m happy to live here as I really love this city and I’ll never change it for any other place.