Kirovohrad Region

Kirovohrad Oblast is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kirovohrad. Population: 995,171 (2013 est.).

Geography

The area of the province is 24,600 km2 (9,498.11 sq mi).

The city of Dobrovelychkivka is the geographical center of Ukraine.

History

The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on January 10, 1939 out of the northern raions of Mykolaiv Oblast. In 1954 the oblast lost some raions to the newly created Cherkasy Oblast, but later that year received its western raions from the Odessa Oblast.

Points of interest

The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine:

• Khutir Nadia
• Saint Elizabeth fortress
• Oblast art museum

Nomenclature

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (Ukrainian: обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Kirovohrad is the center of the Kirovohrads’ka oblast’ (Kirovohrad Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Kirovohrad Oblast, Kirovohradshchyna.