Interesting facts about Kiev and Ukraine
1. The third of the most visited Mcdonald’s is situated in Kiev, near the railway station. This restaurant is always included in the list of the world’s most popular Mcdonald’s. People made there 2 millions 283 thousand 399 orders last year.
2. The subway station ‘Arsenalnaya’ in Kiev has the biggest depth all over the world. It’s depth lasts 105 meters. It was one of the first stations, which were built in 1960 next to the parlament building. Pursuant to some information, there are some secret refuges for the political top in the tunnels near the station ‘Arsenalnaya’. On the second place is the station ‘Park Pobedy’; it’s depth lasts 84 meters (now it’s depth is biggest in Russia).
3. Scientists have found the most ancient map and settlement of the Homo Sapiens at the territory of modern Kiev. Wonderful finds were made in Mezhyrechje, Rivnenska oblast. They are about 14-15 years old. This map is beaten on the mammoth’s bones, and the material, which settlement is built of, is the same.
4. The first constitution of the world was created by the Ukrainian statesman Pylyp Orlyk. On April 5, 1710 he was elected Hetman of the Zaporozhia Army. This very day, Pylyp Orlyk announced the “Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Army”, at that time it was a super-progressive document which meant the separation of power into three branches and regulated the rights and responsibilities of the government and citizens. In fact it was a contract between the hetman, the Cossacks and the Ukrainian people. Some researchers believe that this document is one of the world’s first constitutions. For example, the Constitution of the USA was adopted in 1787 while French and Polish only in 1791.
5. The center of Europe is in Ukraine. The geographical center of Europe is in the western Ukraine in the small town of Rahov which is in a picturesque place among the Carpathians mountains.
6. You can see the famous shod flea in the Museum of Miniatures, Kiev. The work was made by a well-known Ukrainian craftsman of miniatures Nikolay Syadristy.
7. The Ukrainian language took the second place in the world on melodic criteria after Italian. Also, it was ranked as the third most beautiful language in the world on the following criteria: phonetics, lexicon, phraseology and sentences structure after French and Persian languages at the linguistic contest which was held in Paris in 1934.
8. 56 thousand hectares is an area of green space within the city (but some 50 years ago, Kiev was the greenest city in the world)
9. Most of all words in the Ukrainian language starts with the letter «п». «О» is the most frequently used letter of the Ukrainian alphabet. The letters «ф» and «ґ» are least often used.
10. George Gershwin wrote one of the world’s most famous songs “Summertime” after being inspired by an old Ukrainian lullaby called “Sleep Is Tiptoeing About” that was performed by the Ukrainian National Chorus.
11. Ukrainians are the fifth most-drinking nation in the world. Only Moldavians, Russians, Hungarians and Czechs drink more. An average Ukrainian older than 15 drinks 15.6 liters of alcohol a year — it’s a liter more than an Irishman drinks and almost two liters more than a Norwegian).
12. The Ukrainian national anthem consists of only six lines — four in a verse and two in a chorus. The other verses of the anthem written by poet Pavel Chubinsky and composer Mikhail Verbitsky were not approved as considered politically incorrect. (“We’ll stand, brothers, in bloody battle, from the Syan to the Don” implies a claim to the territories of Russia and Poland).
13. 30-40% of crimes are solved in Europe, 90% — in Ukraine. Human rights activists explain that this unnaturally good statistics is the result of the reluctance to record “hopeless” cases (like thefts of mobile phones) and knock confessions out of suspects.
14. Ukraine is rich in manganese ore, 2.3 billion tons or about 11% of all deposits of the world. There is a lot of iron ore too — 7% of the world reserves.
15. A plane with the largest freight-carrying capacity in the world – the An-225 “Mriya” was invented by Ukrainians, namely the Antonov Design Bureau. Originally, it was designed for spacecraft transportation. Now “Mriya” specializes in commercial freight.
16. One of the world’s most famous Christmas songs is “Schedrik”, a folk song written by a Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych. The world knows it as “Carol of the Bells” or “Ring Christmas Bells”. Different versions of «Shchedryk» are gaining millions of views on Youtube.
17. Ukraine, on its own initiative, refused the third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. In response, Ukraine received the money for disarmament, plus security guarantees from the nuclear powers.
18. In Ukraine, unlike the rest of the world, batteries are not recycled separately. They contain toxic elements which heavily pollute water and soil.
19. At the moment of the declaration of independence, there were 19.4 million pigs in Ukraine, today there are only 8.3 million. Despite its reputation of a major lard eater, an average Ukrainian eats only 18 kg of pork a year. This is three times less than a typical German eats.
20. The Ukrainian powerlifter, Dmitry Khaladzhi, is author of more than twenty Guinness records . For example, he sustained so called “The Devil’s Forge”, lying on a bed of nails and was covered with 700-kg plates which were broken with sledgehammers.
21. Ukrainian » Yuzhmash » (Dnepropetrovsk) produces the most environmentally friendly launch vehicles in the world. With the help of them commercial freights are sent in space within the international project «Sea Start».
22. The official Guinness world record: Ukrainians recently made the world’s largest glass of champagne – 56.25 liters.
