Ukraine - Tyras - Bilhorod (Akkerman), on the way from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea

"The remains of the ancient city of Tyras lie on the high cape of the West Coast of the Dniester Liman (within the modern town of Bilhorod-Dnistrovsyi). In the Middle Ages, a new settlement was founded there, and it had different names (Turrys, Bilhorod, Ak-Liba, Akca-Kermen, Moncastro, Akkerman). Tyras was established in the late 6th century BC, and became a major trade port of the Ancient World. The development of Tyras was quite fast due to economic contacts, primarily with the Getae population and nomadic peoples of the Dniester region, as well as the intermediary trade with the Ancient World. The trade was organized by the marine routes along the coastline and by the river Tyras (nowadays called the Dniester). The trade route along this river can be traced back to the Stone Age. The town became an important international port, connecting the Eastern Europe with the Mediterranean. The ancient port was located on the riverbank within the boundaries of the town of Tyras. By the third quarter of the 5th century BC, Tyras becomes the most significant centre of the region. In the second half of the 4th century BC, Tyras begins minting polis coins in order to support the development of trade. The period between the end of the 5th and the first half of the 3rd century BC was the time of growth of Tyras. The city had a developed defense system, stone housing construction, stone-paved streets with a drainage system. According to the sources, the city had temples, an agora, where popular assemblies were held. The port was visited by ships from various ancient cities (Athens, Rhodes, Thasos, Pergamum, Alexandria of Egypt, Sinop, Herakleia, Panticapaeum, Olbia, Chersonesos, Bosphorus and others), bringing wine and olive oil, ceremonial tableware, terracotta, jewellery, metals, glass products, etc., taking away, in exchange, the products of cattle breeding, Getae horses, slaves, salted fish, grain, honey. The products of local craftsmen together with the goods obtained from other antique centers were shipped both to the steppe nomads, and in the northern direction along the river to the agricultural tribes of the Dniester region."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List

Ukraine - Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade Routes. From the Mediterranean to the Black Sea

This selection of "Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade Routes. From the Mediterranean to the Black Sea" includes some of the most significant examples, chosen from a dense network of maritime and mercantile settlements distributed around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In their physical form and variety, these settlements share recognisable urban and architectural features, and represent a strongly individualised system of ancient seaborne trading ports, situated in areas where the Genoese influence is still clearly legible. Genoa's several hundred medieval harbours in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Atlantic, and northern Europe are evidence of its presence in all those areas between the 11 th and 15th centuries. As the outward expression of the strategic activity in which it was engaged during that period, the particular characteristics of these settlements were a product of the uniquely Italian system of comuni (sovereign city-states). The settlements were based on locally modified versions of Genoa's domestic economic model, which was essentially private or public/private (and was only rarely wholly public). From place to place, to a greater or lesser extent, the Genoese allowed these settlements to respond to local conditions. But whilst they were all significantly different, they were also the interdependent parts of a coherent network, designed to ensure maximum mobility and operational flexibility for the ruling class of Genoese and Ligurian families, who had organised themselves into groups of great importance, and had branches all over the world.

Ukraine - The historical surroundings of Crimean Khans’ capital in Bakhchysarai

Khan Palace: N44 34 55 E33 52 55 Chufut-Kale: N44 44 27 E33 55 55 The Bakhchysarai valley has been inhabited by different nationalities and tribes since the ancient times. The oldest cave sites of the Mousterian epoch (50-40 thousand years ago) were located in the territory of Staroselye-Salachik. There are several monuments of the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the valley. A large Taurian settlement dated by the 7th-6th centuries BC and situated in the bottom part of the Maryam-Dere ravine has been the subject of the research. Historically the most dynamic process of the Bakhchysarai valley development is associated with the medieval period. In the 6th century, there appeared a fortress on the Chufut-Kale plateau. It was built by the Byzantine engineers for the Empire’s allies that represented Sarmatian and Germanic (Alani and Goths) tribes. The plateau site that keeps the traces of that period is the Middle defensive wall. Among other ancient period monuments are the guards’ cave rooms, the fragments of architectural details of the Early Christian basilica, huge cemetery of the Early Middle Ages (6th – 9th centuries A.D.) on the Maryam-Dere valley’s north-west slope and the Tik-kuyu well.

Ukraine - National Steppe Biosphere Reserve "Askaniya Nowa"

National Steppe Biosphere Reserve "Askaniya Nowa"

Ukraine - Mykolayiv Astronomical Observatory

The Mykolayiv Astronomical Observatory is a cultural property of national level, the oldest naval observatory in south-eastern Europe. It was founded in 1821 by the Commander-in-chief of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral O.S. Greyg. The Observatory was built to the design of the Chief Architect of the Black Sea Admiralty F.I.Wunsch. Its ensemble consists of the Main Observatory Building built in the style of Classicism in 182 1-1 829, astronomic pavilions of the early 20-th c. where historic astronomic instruments and other museum exhibits are kept. There are also three modem pavilions with working telescopes used for research and observations, outbuildings and service premises for scientific laboratories and management functions and needs, housing of 4 buildings, as well as historic and cultural park landscape. The total area of the ensemble is 7,l hectares including 2,l hectares of built-up area.

Ukraine - Kyiv: Saint Sophia Cathedral with Related Monastic Buildings, St. Cyril's and St. Andrew's Churches, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (extension of Kiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra)

St. Cyril's Church: N 50 29 0, E 30 28 19 St. Andrew's Church: N 50 27 31, E 30 31 05 St. Cyril's Church in Kyiv is an outstanding monument of world culture. It has preserved the 12th century architecture and 12th, 17th and 19th centuries monumental painting. It's a unique East-Christian construction of Kyivan Rus with typical for the epoch of feudal wars peculiarities. The unassertive, firm, fundamental architecture reveals the second after sacral function of this structure - the function of the fortress. St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv is a monument of history, architecture and painting of the 18th century that gained the world significance. The church preserves not only authentic architecture and painting of the Baroque epoch, but also unique decorative stuccowork and woodcarving of the middle of the 18th century. Besides, the painting compositions of the 19th century executed in Classicism are also preserved in the interior of the church

Ukraine - Historic Centre of Tchernigov, 9th -13th centuries

Historic Centre of Tchernigov , 9th -13th centuries (Borissoglebsky Cathedral, 12th century, Preobazhensky Cathedral, 11th century)

Ukraine - Derzhprom (the State Industry Building)

The monument is located on the southwest side of the circular part of the Svobody Square, which is one of the largest in size in the world. Its building is the most prominent architectural complex of 1920-1950. The State Industry Building takes a central position in the ensemble of the square buildings. It is located at the fan-shaped area divided into three cross passages that form the frame of the Zaderzhpromia residential area. The construction consists of three H-shaped 9 buildings radially placed in the plan. Buildings are grouped in three blocks, on three buildings in each. The building height increases from the periphery to the center from 6 to 11 floors. The main focus of the artistic decision is building bridges hanging over the radial passages at the height of 3, 5 and 6 floors. The building composition is dynamic, built on a zigzag rhythmic increase of masses with contrast decline in the center.

Ukraine - Cultural Landscape of “Cave Towns” of the Crimean Gothia

Mangup-Kale: N44 35 32 E33 48 01 Eski-Kermen: N44 36 35 E33 44 22 Crimean Gothia appeared as a specific polity in the 3rd-4th centuries AD as a result of the Gothic tribes' migration to the northern Black Sea area. In the 6th cen­tury, the Goths and the Alans became phoideratoi (allies) of the Byzantine Empire and therefore numerous fortresses and fortified settlements were built in the mountainous Crimean area to protect the local population and the Empire's northern frontiers. During the complicated historical events of the 13th-14th centuries, an autonomous principality of Theodoro appeared in this area. This principality is considered to be the legal successor of the Crimean Gothia. The most important medieval settlements of the Crimean Gothia have acquired a specific naming, that of “cave towns”, due to their specific nature. Today we know about 10 sites of this type that look like monadnocks covered by the remains of the urban buildings and numerous cave constructions that sit on the tops and slopes of the plateaux they occupy. Among the numerous settlements situated in the area there are two - Mangup-Kale and Eski-Kermen, which are the largest in size and the most outstanding in value for the Crimean Gothia, the land with deep historical roots and unique natural landscapes.

Ukraine - Astronomical Observatories of Ukraine

Research Institute (RI) Mykolayiv Astronimical Observatory. N46 58 3 E31 58 5 Astronomical Observatory of Kyiv National University. N50 27 2 E30 29 9 Research Institue (RI) Astronomical Observatory of Odesa National University. N46 28 6 E30 45 5 Research Institute (RI) Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. N44 43 7 E34 01 0 World's Astronomy Monuments is a project of serial transnational group of historico-cultural monuments, which have outstanding universal value and are connected with other observatories, architectural complexes and separate buildings in the world. Within the framework of the thematic initiative "Astronomy and World Heritage", Ukraine represents four observatories: the RI Mykolayiv Astronomical Observatory, the Astronomical Observatory of Kyiv National University, the RI Astronomical Observatory of Odesa National University, the RI Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, which belong to the same historico-cultural group. The history of these observatories is connected with two outstanding achievements in astronomy of the 19th-20th centuries. The first important achievement was a creation of the fundamental celestial coordinate system, which allows us to improve astronomical constants, to answer fundamental cosmological questions related with the origin and evolution of universe. Five fundamental catalogues of stars were created during 200 years as the result of combined efforts of many observatories all over the world. The celestial coordinate system was created on the basis of these catalogues. Since 1935 this system has been used as the reference coordinate system for astronomy and geodesy.

Ukraine - Archaeological Site "Stone Tomb"

The central part of this property presents a mound like hill of 12 m in height and 2,5 ha in area. It is known under the name of "Stone Tomb". This mound is made up of individual somatic sandstone clods or blocks, with a great number of caves and grottoes between them. On the grottoes' stone walls; there are over 1000 petro -- glyphs with symbolic, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images. The oldest of them - a mammoth - without any doubt could be referred to the Late Stone Age. Most of the petroglyphs were created in the Bronze Age. On the whole, the Stone Tomb images represent traces of religious exercises of the hunters and cattle-breeders of this steppe zone of southeast Europe from the 20th c. B.C. to the 17th c. A.D. Sorne caves are of artificial origin; their cultural strata have been fixed as the Neolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Ages as well as of Middle Ages. So we have all the grounds to consider the Stone Tomb one of the oldest megalithic temples of the world which had been functioning many thousand years. The property has survived in a good condition, some caves and grottoes have not been dug up yet. In the vicinity of this rock mound, there are remains of several sites and settlements of the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods making up, beyond any doubts, a single whole.