Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast (province) in western Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine. At the time of the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of the city was 240,600..
Many well-known historical figures were born in the city, including poets and writers Paul Celan, Alfred Kittner, the former Speaker of the Parliament Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Vienna Secession artist Oskar Laske, physicist Radu Grigorovici, Maria Forescu. Many other famous people lived and worked in the city, such as Ukrainian national poet Ivan Franko, the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, Romanian national poet Mihai Eminescu, Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi, Aron Pumnul, Ciprian Porumbescu, Sextil Puşcariu, Ion Nistor, Gala Galaction, Joseph Schumpeter, Nikolai Vavilov, Abraham Goldfaden, Avigdor Arikha, and Aharon Appelfeld.
Together with the city of Lviv, Chernivtsi is viewed at present to be a cultural centre of western Ukraine. The city is also considered one of modern Ukraine's greatest cultural and educational centres. Historically, as a cultural and architectural center, Chernivtsi was even dubbed Little Vienna, Jerusalem upon the Prut, or the European Alexandria. Chernivtsi is currently twinned with seven other cities around the world. The city is also a major point of railway and highway crossings in the region, and houses an international airport. |
