Today Kharkiv s unfortunate geographical position on the eastern edge of Europe makes it a frequent target for the Russian army s relentless shelling and airstrikes. Yet, not long ago, Ukraine s second-largest city was a vibrant centre of student life, progressive art, intellectual thought, and techno-logical innovation, all spiced by the tough post-industrial identity of its citizens. Born from waves of migration, modernisation, industrialisation, and revolution, Kharkiv trod a stormy path from its origins as a Cossack military fortress to a period (1919 1934) when it was the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. This decade and a half was a golden age, marked by a dramatic construction boom that turned Kharkiv into a legendary Modernist city. In this publication author Ievgeniia Gubkina takes the reader on a journey through the city s history and architecture, from its Old Centre to its New Centre, home to Derzhprom, a Constructivist gem which was also the embodiment of a new model of social and economic relations. This architectural guide is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of freedom of Kharkiv s citizens. But it is also an important act of remembering and resistance: in documenting the city s buildings in words and photographs even as many of them are, day after day, being destroyed by Russian bombs, it keeps them intact and alive in our minds as a model for the city s future.
