Independence Day. A selection of interesting facts about Ukraine and Ukrainians

Subsequently, on 1 December, more than 90 per cent of Ukrainians said yes to independence in a referendum. On Independence Day, Socialportal has collected for you a number of interesting facts about Ukraine and Ukrainians.

There are 1384 monuments to Taras Shevchenko in Ukraine and in the world. This is the largest number of monuments erected to the cultural figure in the world.

Chumatsky Shlyah. Ukrainians have retained their own name for the galaxy in which the solar system is located.

On the territory of Ukraine is concentrated 1/4 of all reserves of black soil on the planet.

In Ukraine, in the town of Rakhiv, surrounded by the picturesque Carpathian Mountains, is the geographical centre of Europe.

Ivan Datsenko, a Ukrainian pilot from near Poltava, travelled to Canada, married the daughter of an Iroquois chief and later became a chief himself. Their children spoke Ukrainian. It all started with the war, when in 1944 Datsenko was wounded and captured near Lviv. He escaped from the hospital into the forests, which were controlled by UPA units. There is an opinion that Datsenko could have ended up in the ranks of the rebels, and already through them got to Canada.

The oldest mention of the Ukrainian language was in 858. After the publication of Ivan Kotliarevsky's Aeneid, Ukrainian was equated to a literary language. Ivan Kotliarevsky is rightly considered the founder of the new Ukrainian language.

Opening of the first university in Eastern Europe. The Ostroh Academy is the oldest scientific and educational institution in Ukraine and the first higher education institution in Eastern Europe. The Slavic Greek-Latin Academy was founded in Ostrog in 1576 by Prince Konstantin-Vasil of Ostrog.

The first prototype of magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) was created by Ukrainian scientist Andrey Zworykin in the 1970s.

Askania Nova Reserve is the world's oldest steppe reserve. It is home to 500 species of plants and 3000 species of animals.

Ukraine is home to Europe's only open-air museum dedicated to forests - the Forestry Museum in Lisichansk.

Kiev's Motherland statue is twice as tall as New York's Statue of Liberty and Brazil's Christ the Redeemer statue.

The currency of Ukraine is the hryvnia. This name comes from the gold or silver jewellery in the form of a hoop (pectoral), which was worn around the neck, i.e. on the back of the neck, hence the name.

Ukrainian wind instrument "Trembita" - is the longest musical wind instrument in the world.

Ukrainian Mykola Syadrystiy has forged a flea. The board can be viewed at the Museum of Miniatures in Kiev.

One of the world's most famous Christmas songs is Shchedryk, a folk song recorded by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych. The world knows it as Carol of the Bells or Ring Christmas Bells.

Ostromad Monastery is located on a small island on the Dnieper River, this monastery is one of the oldest in Ukraine.

The Zaporizhian Sich, the socio-political and military-administrative organisation of the Ukrainian Cossacks, is rightly considered one of the first democratic formations in the world.

Ukraine is famous for its salt lakes. Especially popular are the Sivash salt lakes in the Kherson region.

The system of underground passages under Odessa is one of the largest in the world, surpassing even the Paris catacombs.

The longest pedestrian tunnel in Europe "Lyubyanka" in the city of Rivne is the longest pedestrian tunnel in Europe, its length is almost 2 kilometres.

Not far from the city of Klevan is the famous "Tunnel of Love" formed by trees and bushes along the railway track. It has become popular among couples from all over the world.

The first alphabet book published in Ukraine was "Bukvar" ("ABC"), printed in 1574 in Lviv by Ivan Fedorov, a pioneer printer.

Khreshchatyk Street in Kiev is the shortest and at the same time the widest main city street in the world. Its length is 1.2 kilometres.

Kharkiv has the largest city square in Europe. It is Freedom Square, 125 metres wide and 750 metres long.

Dnipro has one of the longest and most picturesque embankments in the world. It stretches for 23 kilometres.

Ivano-Frankivsk used to be called Stanislaviv and was the capital of the West Ukrainian People's Republic in 1919. It received its modern name in 1962 on the 300th anniversary of the city.

Kiev has the deepest metro station in the world - "Arsenalna". It takes more than five minutes to descend to the station by escalator.

Kropivnitsky has changed 6 names in its history. Now it is the only regional city in Ukraine.

Lutsk has the longest residential building in Europe. Its total length is more than 2.5 kilometres, and there are 120 entrances in total.

On Ukraine's Independence Day on 24 August 2023, famous Ukrainians read the Act of Proclamation of Independence of Ukraine.

The recording was attended by blogger Anatoliy Anatolich, Mariupol defender Kirill Masalitin, actress Nataliya Denysenko, AFU volunteer Nazar Grabar, Olympic champion Olga Harlan, TV presenter Olena Kravets, volunteer Denys Hristov, chef Yevhen Klopotenko, singer Vitaliy Kozlovskyy and other famous Ukrainians.