Zhytomyr - Ukraine
Zhytomyr (Житомир) - a city of 270 thousand inhabitants located on rivers Teteriv and Kamianka, ca. 130 km west of Kiev. It was founded in 884. The city is located on the Volynsko - Podolska Upland and it is the capital of Zhytomyr Oblast.
Zhytomyr is one of the oldest historical and cultural cities in Ukraine. It is the largest city in the Poleski Region and the main center of the Polish minority in Ukraine (about 40 thousand). In Zhytomyr there is Polish cemetery, one of the largest necropolis outside Polish borders after Lychakivskiy in Lviv and Rossa in Vilnius. Ignacy Paderewski's parents and Stanisław Moniuszko family is buried there. Another remarkable Pole, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, significantly contributed to the construction of the Zhytomyr Philharmonic (former drama theater). He lived in Zhytomyr in the second half of the nineteenth century and held a number of important functions, including a Polish schools' superintendent and the director of the Zhytomyr Theater.
There is the only in Ukraine aerospace museum in Zhytomyr named after Sergey Korolyov. He was the lead rocket engineer and spacecraft designer born in the city. The museum became a showcase of Zhytomyr. Another famous man who was born there is Sviatoslav Richter, a well known pianist.
There are five universities operating in the city. The main industry branches include food processing, light industry, metallurgy and machinery. Zhytomyr has a great tourist potential, which includes architectural monuments, museums, mountain range which is a mecca for climbers and mountaineers, charming city panorama extending from the historic Castle Hill.
Contacts between Płock and Zhytomyr were established in late 2007 thanks to the Consulate General of Poland in Lutsk. Partnership agreement was signed on October 12, 2013 in Zhytomyr.
