Bakhchisaray Khan’s Palace, the former residence of the Crimean Khans, is a historical and cultural monument of world importance, the world’s only example of the Crimean Tatar palace architecture. The palace is part of Bakhchisaray Historical and Cultural Reserve located in Bakhchisaray town, Crimea.

Entry to the museum is free, but you need a guided tour to get inside the palace. The territory of the palace complex is 4.3 hectares. The architectural style of the palace continues the tradition of Ottoman architecture of the 16th-17th centuries. Photos by Alexander Lipilin

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Tags: Crimea Republic

Chernihiv is an ancient Slavic city. In the 9th century the settlement was the center of Eastern-Slavic tribe of the Northerners. At the end of the 9th century, Chernihiv joined the Kievan Rus state.

Present day Chernihiv, with the population about 300.000, is an important industrial center of Ukraine. The city has a number of sights mostly related to its past – churches of the 11th-13th centuries, architectural monuments of the 17th-20th centuries.

Tags: Chernihiv city · time-lapse

During your visit to the Crimea, you can go in the foothills or mountains, swim in the sea, but it is not so easy to find a place that is below sea level. Let’s look at one of the lowest points of the Crimea (-14 meters below sea level).

Kadykovsky abandoned quarry, rusty-orange pile rising high among the surrounding hills, is located in the outskirts of Sevastopol. The quarry is called by the name of the area – Kadykovka.

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Tags: abandoned · Crimea Republic · Sevastopol city

Sevastopol, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimean peninsula, is a city of national importance of Ukraine, Hero City.

Founded by the order of the Russian Empress Catherine II in 1783, the city is one of the primary administrative units of present Ukraine (along with the 24 provinces, Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the state capital – Kiev).

The city is a major seaport, industrial, scientific, recreational, cultural, and historical center of Ukraine. Naval bases of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy are located there.

Tags: Sevastopol city · time-lapse

Mariupol, with a population of half a million, is one of the 10 largest cities in Ukraine. Because of the stable operation of steel plants, the city constantly deals with various environmental problems.

Currently Mariupol is the first city in terms of air pollution from stationary sources in Ukraine and Europe. Quite frankly it is a very dubious achievement.

Dust and gas emissions form heavy dark purple haze containing impurities in concentrations many times greater than the maximum allowable level. And here is how it looks in reality. The video was shot October 12, 2012.

Tags: Mariupol city

Kharkiv (Ukrainian spelling Kharkiv) is the largest city in eastern Ukraine, the capital of the Kharkiv region. It is the second largest city in Ukraine; main scientific, industrial, transport, and student center.

The great destruction of the Second World War made it possible for contemporary Kharkov to be rebuilt as a city of broad streets, large apartment blocks, imposing, often ponderous administrative and office buildings, and large industrial plants.

Tags: Kharkov city · time-lapse

On the first anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs, a monument to him was installed in Odessa. More precisely, it is a sculpture dedicated not so much to Steve Jobs himself but to his brainchild, the company Apple. Two-meter hand was made from scrap metal by local craftsman Cyril Maksimenko.

The author used numerous gears, screws, bearings and other small parts of bicycles, motorcycles, and cars. The whole process took almost a year. This is the first monument to Steve Jobs and Apple in the CIS (former USSR countries). Photos by Vitaliy Milevich

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Tags: Odessa city

Boryspil International Airport is the largest airport in Ukraine. The airport is located 18.5 km east of the entrance to Kyiv, in Boryspil city. The airport serves about 60% of international air transportation in Ukraine.

The airport has several terminals: one of the main terminals is terminal “F” (international flights, mainly charter and low cost airlines), which was opened recently, in late 2010. Photos by Oleg Stelmakh

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Tags: Boryspil city

Lutsk is one of the oldest cities in Ukraine. The first written mention of the city dates back to 1085. Today Lutsk with population of about 213 thousand inhabitants is the capital of Volyn region.

The city has a lot of architectural sights – churches and monasteries of the 13th-18th centuries, the 14th-century castle and others. The following short video shows some of them as well as other places of interest in Lutsk.

Tags: Lutsk city · time-lapse

Zakarpattia (Transcarpathian) region is located in the south-western slopes and foothills of the Eastern Carpathians, and also includes the Carpathian lowland. In the south the region borders on Romania, in the south-west – Hungary, in the west – Slovakia and in the north-west – Poland.

Thus, the region is a kind of Ukrainian “window to Europe.” About 80% of the area are the Carpathian Mountains. Transcarpathian region is Ukrainian key tourist area of national importance. It is also one of the centers of winter sports in Ukraine. Photos by l_z_foto

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Tags: landscapes · Zakarpattia oblast