Zhytomyr is the regional center of the Zhytomyr Oblast (Region). Legend holds that Zhytomyr was established about 884 by Zhytomyr, prince of a Slavic tribe of Drevlians. This date, 884, is cut in the large stone of the ice age times, standing nowadays on the hill where Zhytomyr was founded. The first records of the town date from 1240 when it was sacked by the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan. In 1444 it received Magdeburg rights.
Zhytomyr lies in a unique natural setting; the city are surrounded by ancient forests through which flow the Teteriv, Kamyanka, Yaroshenka and Putiatynka rivers.
Zhytomyr is a major transportation junction. The city lies on a historic route linking the city of Kiev with the west through Brest. Today it links Warsaw with Kiev, Minsk with Izmail, and several major cities of Ukraine. Zhytomyr was also the Cold War strategic aircraft base located 11 km southeast of the city.
Important economic activities of Zhytomyr are lumber milling, food processing, granite quarrying and the manufacture of musical instruments.
There are slightly under 300 thousand inhabitants. The city gives a provincial feel however there are lots of interesting places to see.

What to see
There are a lot of parks, churches and squares in the city.
Zhytomyr surprises with a very radial type of street net with the centre at the main public square of the city, named Sobornyi Maidan (which means Cathedral Square). There you can see courts and some other institutions, which are located in the west of the square. During Soviet times these buildings contained Zhytomyr Oblast Committee of the Communist Party. Behind the building (that is to the west of Soborny Square) a small park is located, containing a monumental stone with inscription telling that this is a place where Zhytomyr was founded.
The most known street in the central part of Zhytomyr is Mykhaylivska street , named after St. Michael's Church located at the end of the street. The street is located about 500 metres to the east of Soborny Maydan. Mykhailivska Street is pedestrian one, traffic is forbidden in it. At the southern end of Mykhailivska Street there is the building of the Zhytomyr City Council. If one crosses Velyka Berdychivska Street from the southern end of Mykhailivska Street, then one finds oneself at Korolyov Square containing the building of the Zhytomyr Oblast Council. Crossing Kyivska Street from the opposite northern end of Mykhailivska Street, one can continue to go along Shchors Street being another important large street of Zhytomyr.
The most known park of Zhytomyr is one named after Yuriy Gagarin. The park is located in the south of the city, at the left bank of the Teteriv river. It is a former property of baron de Chaudoir.


Zhytomyr deserves a full-day trip or overnight trip from Kiev, perhaps in combination with surrounding towns, for example St.Varvara Roman-Catholic church in Berdychiv, where were married famous French writer Onore de Balzak and Evelina Hanska, architectural memorials of the period of the Kyiv Rus in Ovruch, Novograd-Volynsky, landscape art, museum of porcelain in Baranivtsi, country estate and landscape park in the town of Verkhivnyansky , where the prominent French writer O. de Balzak lived and worked.

How to get to Zhytomyr:
Zhytomyr is a two hour drive from Kiev. Buses from Kiev leave every 20 or 30 minutes from outside of Sviatoshyno and Akademgorodok metro stations on the west end of town.

Services:
HR Leader consult: Kafedralna 8 Zhytomyr 10014 Tel: + 380 412 446197 EBA discounts