he city is situated on the right bank of the Kremenchuk Reservoir, on the Dnieper. The total area of the city is 75 km2. Its population is 297 200. The city consists of two regions. Cherkasy was first mentioned in documents in the 13th century as a fortified city in the Kiev principality of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Later it became a county centre of Kyiv gubernia. The historical monuments are the building of the former zemstvo council (1907—1912), the building of the “Slavianskaya” Hotel (the beginning of the 20th century), the building of the former commercial bank (1904).

Today Cherkasy is an important economic and cultural-educational centre. The main branches of industry are the chemical industry, the machine-building industry, the food industry and light industry. The famous plants are “Photopribor”, “Impulse”, the scientific-industrial association “Rotor”, meat processing and packing factory, a silk complex, and many others.

Cherkasy is a very green city. Plants occupy 2470 hectars of its territory, among them there are 6 parks. The places of interest are the Museum of Nature, the zoo, and a regional museum. Theatre-goers and music-lovers have an opportunity to visit the Drama Theatre named after T. Shevchenko, the puppet theatre and the philharmonic society. Cherkasy is the home of

a Pedagogical University, the branch of the Kyiv Civil Engineering University, 8 technical secondary

schools and 19 branches of scientific-research and planning institutions. There is the river port, the airport, the railway station and the bus station in the city.