Donetsk is one of the biggest regional centers of Ukraine. Its area is 381 square kilometers. The population of Donetsk is more than one million but at the end of the 19th century less than 30 thousand people lived and worked in a small settlement called Yusovka. The city was founded in 1869 in the place of kazak’s settlements. The beginning to the city was given by coal mines and metallurgical plant of Novorossijskaya company.
And now Donetsk is one of the largest industrial centers of Ukraine with such highly developed branches of industry as coal, metallurgy and machine building. Coal industry is the leading branch of industry in the city. There are 150 industrial enterprises and unions in Donetsk. One sixth of all the production of the Donetsk region is produced in the city.
Donetsk is the city of parks and gardens; it is also famous for its roses, which bloom from early summer till late autumn gladdening the eye of dwellers and guests of the city. It consists of 9 districts, linked with each other by tram, trolley and bus communications. Also it has developed air- and railway communications.
Nowadays the city is an important scientific and cultural center of Donetsk coal basin. There are 3 theatres, the Concert Hall, the circus, cinemas, Palaces of Culture and clubs, museums, a Picture Gallery and Planetarium. Besides, there are architectural monuments of local importance, of sculpture and history, and memorial places. Thanks to its remarkable architecture we have many places of interest in the city: Artyoma street, Lenin Square, the Recreation parks etc.
The inhabitants of Donetsk have places for rest after hard day. At their service there are Central Park of Culture and Rest, and branches of it – Lenin’s Komsomol Park and Sherbakov Park. In the outskirts of city there are Donetsk Botanical Gardens
Though Donetsk looks gloomy and gray in winter, as does every large industrial center, a lot of greenery, beautiful buildings, the Kalmius and numerous lakes make the city wonderful in spring and in summer.
