Sloviansk

Train station, 1917 postcard.

The history of Sloviansk dates back to the beginning of the 16th century when the first settlements formed by Ukrainian peasants appeared on its territory. Later on in 1645 was founded a border fortress against the Crimean attacks and slave raids on the southern suburbs of modern Ukraine and Russia.[7] In 1664 the first salt plant for the extraction of salt was built that caused the appearance of housing for workers.[8] In 1676, a fortress named Tor was built at the confluence of the Kazenyy Torets and Sukhyy Torets Rivers where they form the Torets River, a tributary of Donets River.[9] Shortly thereafter, the town of Tor grew up next to the fortress.[7]

As several salt lakes were located close by, the town became a producer of salt. During the sixteenth century, salt production was the principal local industry, but during the eighteenth century, it became unprofitable and ceased on December 21, 1782.

In 1784, the city was renamed Sloviansk, and it became a part of the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1797. A resort was established on the shores of Lake Ropne in 1832.

In April 1918 troops loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic took control of Sloviansk.[10]

The city was occupied by the Germans on October 28, 1941. In December 1941, SS Einsatzkommando 4b executed more than a thousand Jews who lived in the city.[11] The Red Army temporarily expelled the Nazi occupiers on February 17, 1943. Germans retook it on 1 March 1943. Finally the Red Army retook it on 6 September 1943.

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census:[21]

The climate in Sloviansk is a mild to warm summer subtype (Köppen: Dfb) of the humid continental climate.

Sloviansk Balneological Institute

The principal industry of the city concerns machine building:

• The Slovvazhmash heavy-machinery production plant which produces chemical equipment for coke production and use for the businesses in Lipetsk, Kemerovo and Cherepovets. Companies in Mariupol, Kryvyi Rih, Donetsk, and Kamianske use their products.
• The Betonmash machine-building factory which produces concrete mixing plants, spare parts for mining equipment and metal works, parts for coke ovens. The factory provides foundry services for companies across Donetsk Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
• The Sloviansk mechanical plant which employs approximately four hundred people. It produces chemical equipment for coke production as well as overhead cranes and other machinery.
• The Artem Armature-insulator factory.
• A factory producing high-voltage insulators for hydroelectric power stations and thermal power-stations.

Currently the city is an important health resort providing spa treatments and mud baths using mud from the bottom of salt lakes located nearby.

Sloviansk Railway Station

The city is a nexus of a number of railways and roads. There are three railway stations currently in use, one defunct. Three railway lines leave the city in directions of Lozova, Lyman and Kramatorsk. Ukrainian international highway M03 goes by the edge of the city and the national highway N-20 leaves from the city toward Mariupol. Local population is served by trolleybus network consisting of two permanent routes and one summer route. Marshrutkas are widely used.

Church of the Resurrection of Christ

Christian churches:

• Cathedral of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church
• Church of the Resurrection of Christ
• Church of the Andrew the Apostle
• Church of Oleksandr Nevskyi
• Church of Seraphim Sarovsky
• The "Kind New" Christian Center Church
• Church of Jesus Christ of the Protestant Church of Ukraine

• Mykhaylo Sokolovsky, a Soviet footballer, record holder of the games played for Shakhtar Donetsk

• Murder of Pentecostals in Slaviansk

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sloviansk.

• (in Russian, Ukrainian, and English) Official website
• (in Russian) Unofficial website of Slavjansk Trolleybus system
• Marble sculpture of Nicolai Shmatko