Poltava - the 1709 Battlefield Between Cossacks and Swedes - a Place Still in History?
The city is located between Kharkiv and Kyiv in Ukraine, Poltava is not much of a tourist destination.Archaeological evidence dates the city from the 8th to the 9th century, although the first documentary reference is from 1174, when it was variously known as Oltava or Ltava. Destroyed by the Tatars in the early 13th century, it was the centre of a Cossack regiment by the 17th century.
The city is probably best known as the site of a 1709 battle between a coalition of Cossacks, led by Mazepa, and the Swedes (Charles XII) against the Russian army of Czar Peter I. The subsequent Russian victory in battle established Russiað€™s prominent position in Europe and consequently Ukraineð€™s decline. The battle ended Sweden"s status as a major power and marked the beginning of Russian supremacy in Eastern Europe. The battle was fought north and west of Poltava, west of the Vorskla River, in the Ukraine, between 80,000 Russian troops under Peter the Great and the general Prince Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov and 17,000 Swedes under Charles XII.
The battlefield and its monuments are the major draw. The centre of the old city is a semicircular Neoclassical square with the Tuscan column of cast iron (1805-11), commemorating the centenary of the Battle of Poltava and featuring 18 Swedish cannons captured in that battle.A museum displays the rather large uniform of Czar Peter, who was unusually tall. In town, visit the October Park, the gun-barrel-shaped Column of Glory and the Spassky Church, which is actually an outer shell protecting an earlier, wooden church inside.
As Peter the Great celebrated his victory in the Saviour church, this 17th-century wooden shrine was carefully preserved to this day. The five-domed city cathedral, dedicated to the Exaltation of the Cross, is a superb monument of Cossack Baroque, built between 1699 and 1709. As a whole, the cathedral presents a unity which even the Neoclassical bell tower has failed to mar. Another frothy Baroque church, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, was destroyed in 1934 and rebuilt in the 1990s.
The climate of Poltava is temperately continental, the average temperatures of January and July, the coldest and the warmest months of the year are accordingly: 19,2° F (-7,1°C) and 66,7° F (+18,7°?).
You travel easiest to Poltava by arriving at the Borispol airport in Kiev and take a bus, taxi to Poltava. The taxi ride will cost you around 100-150 USD. Be sure to discuss the price of taxi ride and agree on it before embarking on the trip itself. The trip will take around 5 hours from Kiev, so be sure to make room for pitstops or to have some food with you on the ride. Several cafes on the way to Poltava serve good and cheap food if you do not want to bring your lunch with you.