Zhytomyr, Ukraine

Zhytomyr is a historic town located in northwestern Ukraine on the Teteriv River, about 125 km west of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Zhytomyr is the centre of Zhytomyr Oblast and the largest city as well as the cultural and economic centre of the Volyn region. Over 260 thousand inhabitants live here. The city is one of the oldest in Ukraine and used to be one of the important centres of Kievan Rus. The first mentions date back to 884. In 1320 it became part of Lithuania, and in 1569 of the united Polish-Lithuanian state. At that time, a large Jewish community was also established here. In addition to a literary museum and other institutions, the Victor Kosenko Conservatory operates in Zhytomyr. Many musicians and composers come from the town. There are 10 colleges, mostly of a technical nature.

There are many types of industry in the town, mainly glass, engineering, chemical, shoemaking, fabrics, car parts and machine tools. Zhytomyr is also a fairly important transport hub. It lies at the crossroads of the main road connecting Kiev with western Ukraine and the routes leading from Belarus to Vinnytsia and Moldova. There is an airport here, but it does not currently serve passenger traffic. Five railway lines converge in Zhytomyr, but they are mostly single-track and are not main lines. It was one of the first Ukrainian cities to introduce tram services in 1899. After the addition of trolleybuses in 1962, it underwent a decline; however, one of the main lines survived the economic crisis of the late 20th century and continues to operate. There are 18 trolleybus lines in operation.