22 Interesting Facts About Ukraine You Might Not Know
Ukraine is much more interesting than it seems! Here are some fascinating facts about Ukraine that you might not know.
Interesting Facts About Ukraine
- The "Arsenalna" metro station in Kyiv is the deepest in the world. It goes underground to a depth of 105 meters. Built in 1960 near the parliament building, it was one of the first stations. According to some sources, there are secret hideouts for the political elite in the tunnels near "Arsenalna."
- The third most visited McDonald's in the world is located in Kyiv near the train station. This restaurant consistently ranks among the top five busiest McDonald's in the world.
- Ukraine ranks fourth in the world for the number of citizens with higher education. The population of Ukraine is one of the most educated, with a higher number of people with higher education per capita than the European average.
- One of the most famous Christmas songs in the world is "Shchedryk," a folk song recorded by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych. The world knows it as "Carol of the Bells" or "Ring Christmas Bells." Various performances of "Shchedryk" on YouTube garner millions of views.
- The Dnipropetrovsk Yuzhmash plant produces the world's most environmentally friendly rockets, the Zenit 3SL, making Ukraine a co-owner of the "Sea Launch" project (along with the USA, Russia, and Norway).
- The Oleshky Sands are often called the Ukrainian "Sahara." The sands cover an area of over 160 thousand hectares in several districts of the Kherson region, making it the largest desert in Europe. The Oleshky Sands are visible from space.
- At a language beauty contest in Paris in 1934, the Ukrainian language took third place after French and Persian for criteria such as phonetics, vocabulary, phraseology, and sentence structure. For melodiousness, Ukrainian ranked second after Italian.
- The author of the first constitution in the world was Ukrainian Pylyp Orlyk. On April 5, 1710, he was elected Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host. On the same day, he announced the "Constitution of the Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host." The US adopted its Constitution in 1787, and France and Poland in 1791.
- The longest musical instrument in the world is the Ukrainian trembita. It can reach a length of four meters, and its sounds are audible for over ten kilometers.
- Ukraine has one-fourth of the world's black soil reserves. When properly cultivated, black soils yield the highest crop quantities. During World War II, the Germans even transported black soil by train.
- Among the remarkable achievements of Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing are the world's largest plane, the AN-225 "Mriya," and the most powerful plane, the AN-124 "Ruslan." In 2001, the "Mriya" set 124 records in one flight by taking on board a load of 253 tons.
- Monuments to the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko are located in 1500 places around the world.
- The Ukrainian town of Rakhiv, located in the Carpathians, is officially considered the geographical center of Europe. Ukraine itself is the largest European country entirely geographically located in Europe.
- The oldest tree in Ukraine is considered to be a 1300-year-old oak in the Yosefin forest in the Rivne region.
- Most Ukrainian words start with the letter "P." The most frequently used letter of the alphabet is "O." The letters "F" and "G" are the least used.
- The longest cave in Ukraine is the "Optimistic" cave in Podillya. It is a gypsum cave 20 meters deep and extends for 216 kilometers, making it the longest gypsum cave in the world, second only to Mammoth Cave in the USA.
- The first kerosene lamp was invented in Lviv in 1853, and the same year, the first surgery using a kerosene lamp was performed in one of Lviv's hospitals.
- The oldest Homo Sapiens settlement was found in the village of Mezhyrich in the Cherkasy region. The oldest map, carved on a mammoth bone 14.5 - 15 thousand years ago, was also found there.
- At the time of independence, Ukraine had 19.4 million pigs, but today there are less than half that number - 8.3 million. Despite being known for their love of salo (pork fat), the average Ukrainian consumes only 18 kilograms of pork per year, compared to the average German who eats three times more.
- The Ukrainian National Choir inspired George Gershwin to write the global hit "Summertime" with their performance of the lullaby "Oi Khodyt Son Kolo Vikon."
- The Kyiv Museum of Miniatures features a shod flea, a rose inside a hollowed-out hair, and many other works by master Mykola Syadristy.
