Velyki Sorochyntsi

Velyki Sorochyntsi (Ukrainian: Великі Сорочинці, Russian: Вели́кие Соро́чинцы or Больши́е Соро́чинцы, translit. Velyki Sorochyntsi; formerly referred to simply as Sorochyntsi) is a village in Myrhorod Raion of Poltava Oblast (province), central Ukraine, formerly a town. It can be translated as the Grand Sorochyntsi. Village is famous as the birthplace of the writer Nikolai Gogol (April 1 [O.S. March 20] 1809) and the location of the Sorochyntsi Fair. In 1925–31 the town was called Neronovychi after the Bolshevik activist Yevhen Neronovych, who was executed by Ukrainian military forces in the town in 1918.

Velyki Sorochyntsi

Великі Сорочинці
Location of Sorochinskiy Fair
Flag
Coat of arms
Velyki Sorochyntsi
Location of Velyki Sorochyntsi within Poltava Oblast
Coordinates: 50°01′24″N 33°56′33″E
CountryUkraine
OblastPoltava Oblast
RaionMyrhorod Raion
Founded1620s
Population
 • Total4,231
Postal code
37645
Area code(s)+380 5355

The population as of 2013 was estimated at 3,809, down from 4,231 in the 2001 Census.[1]

The name of the village came either from the Slavic word Soroka (magpie) or Sorochka (shirt). There are many legends explaining the name of the village as the location of the Magpie's kingdom or of some magical shirt.

History
Transfiguration Church in Velyki Sorochyntsi, 1732

The earliest recorded mention of the settlement (sloboda) is in the 1620s. In 1646, the sloboda became the domain of a Polish Prince from the Wiśniowiecki family. By the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, the sloboda was the location of a Cossack district (sotnia) government. Born here, the future Hetman of Zaporizhian Host Danylo Apostol in 1670 founded the Sorochynski Mikhailovsky Monastery. He went on to build the Ukrainian Baroque Church of the Transfiguration (Ukrainian: Преображенська церква, translit. Preobrazhens'ka tsekrva) in 1732, also in Sorochyntsi, where he was buried two years later. Nikolai Gogol was later baptized in this same church.[2]

Since the middle of the 18th century, the large Sorochyntsi Fair (Ukrainian: Національний Сорочинський ярмарок, translit. Natsiolnal'nyi Sorochyns'kyi yarmarok, Russian: Сорочинcкaя яpмaркa, translit. Sorochinskaya yarmarka) has been held in Velyki Sorochyntsi. Recurring five times a year in the time of the Russian Empire, the fair is now held annually since its revival after a 40-year moratorium during Soviet rule. Since the Presidential Decree of August 18, 1999, the fair bears the status of the National trade fair.[3] The fair is a large showcase for traditional handicrafts made by skilled craftsmen, including Reshetilivka embroidery, rugs, Opishnya ceramics, as well theatrical performers who re-enact scenes of village life from famous Ukrainian stories.

From 1925 to 1931 the city was called Neronovychi after the Ukrainian People's Secretary of Military Affairs, Yevhen Neronovych.

Population

According to the Ukrainian Census of 2001 in village resided 4050 people.[4]

First language of communication[5]
Language No. Percentage
Ukrainian 3968 97.98%
Russian 79 1.95%
Hungarian 1 0.02%
Belarusian 1 0.02%
German 1 0.02%

Famous people
Velyki Sorochyntsi on a postage stamp from the Soviet Union, including the village's statues of Nikolai Gogol

On April 1 [O.S. March 20] 1809, writer Nikolai Gogol was born in Velyki Sorochyntsi. His short story The Fair at Sorochyntsi made the small village, and its fair, world-famous.

On August 23, 1911, a monument to Nikolai Gogol (by the sculptor Ilya Ginzburg) was installed in the village. There is also the Gogol Memorial Museum in the village. In 1983, the Soviet Union issued a postage stamp showing the monument and the museum.

In 1845, Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko visited the village for the archeological commission, compiling the history and architecture of Poltavshchyna. There has been a street named in his honor in this village for over a half a century.

Once being categorized as a town the village is also a birthplace of other notable Ukrainians such as Hetman Danylo Apostol, writer Volodymyr Samiylenko, and many others.

References
  1. "Velyki Sorochyntsi". World Gazetteer. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013.
  2. "кoляди". August 9, 1999.
  3. http://www.ukraine-eu.mfa.gov.ua/eu/ua/publication/content/4225.htm Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Sorochyntsi Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine at the Verkhovna Rada website.
  5. "Division of population by native language, Poltava region (in % to total population)" (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2013-06-23. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
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