The maritime and shipbuilding city, Nikolayev was Prince Potemkin's favorite creation, founded by him in 1789. The city built in a beautiful place- on a very picturesque peninsula at the junction of the Ingul and the Southern Bug rivers - should have become the "southern capital" of Russia since it gives direct river access to the Black and Mediterranean seas.
Its fate, however, was different. Nikolayev became a shipbuilding town, the cradle of the Black Sea Fleet, a town of craftsmen, one of Russia's, and then USSR's, shipbuilding centers. This specialty left a peculiar imprint on Nikolayev's fate, character, and even appearance. The town grew developing its own way of life. Today it is Ukraine's large regional center with over a half-million population, with powerful industry and developed social infrastructure.
This is an ancient, rich land in the south of Ukraine. This is where the hot steppe meets the sea, the astringent smells of absinth and wild thyme are mixed with sea wind, smelling of salt and fish. The steppes of the Pontic coast remember bearded Scythians and hordes of nomads. This is where hot heavy summer showers still wash out fragments of Greek amphora, coins grown black, ceramic pipes of Cossacks and Turks. Olvia, the onetime Greek polis, and now an archeological sanctuary, is an inexhaustible treasury of scientific discoveries.
Slavic tribes settled in this area since the early centuries A.D. In the late 10th century the territory where Nikolayev lies now became part of Kiev Rus. Many a foreign invader encroached on the Bug land. And it was here, in "Wild Field" at the southern coast that the gallant knights of freedom - Zaporizhian Cossacks - stood to defend their homeland.
The Russian kingdom waged a long and bloody war to break through to the sea. Russia needed its own fleet. So, by Prince Potemkin's order, a new township with a dockyard was founded in 1789 at the mouth of the Ingul River. It got its name a year later, after the victorious capture of the Ochakov fortress by the Russian army led by Alexander Suvorov. The fortress Ochakov fell in December of 1788, on the holiday of St. Nikolay, the patron of sailors, so the new town was named in his honor. The first ship -- the 44-cannon frigate "St. Nikolay"- was launched in August 1790. It can be seen on the town's coat of arms. Since that time hundreds of warships and other vessels have been built in Nikolayev. For almost of century it was the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Naval Fleet. Nikolayev remembers the names of such great admirals as F. Ushakov, P. Nakhimov, V. Kornilov, F. Bellingshausen, O. Greig, M. Lazarev, G. Butakov. Local seamen loved and cherished the beauty of land as well as the sea. It is believed that it was Admiral F. Ushakov who sent the first young plants of acacia and shrubbery from Sevastopol to make Nikolayev look nicer.
Years passed, and sailing vessels grew out of date. Steamships replaced them. New yards and industrial enterprises were built in Nikolayev. The port's freight turnover grew as well to make it the third biggest after Petersburg and Odessa. Today Nikolayev remains a city of shipwrights, the capital of this national industry.
The city, whose destiny is shipbuilding, is full of love for the sea. The yacht Ikarus, designed and built by the students and staffers of Nikolayev Maritime Technical University, became the first Ukrainian yacht to sail around the globe.
The city of Nikolayev has selebrated over 200 anniversaries. Each year brings new hopes. They will surely become reality. This beautiful city shall have a happy fate!
