Dnipro is the fourth largest city in Ukraine. It was previously called Dnipropetrovsk for many years until 2016 when the name was abbreviated to Dnipro. It prevails to this day. Dnipro was founded in 1776 in honour of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Situated on both banks of the Dnipro river, the city has been an important location for centuries, since many trade routes ran through the city. In numbers, given the eastern scale, Dnipro falls into a large agglomeration category, as it exceeds one million residents. Only two other Ukrainian cities are more populous: Kiev and Kharkiv.
Typically for a large agglomeration, heavy industry, which is a remnant from the USSR era, is highly developed. Steel industry, metallurgy, machinery, electromechanical, chemical, food, footwear, and wood are the city's core industries in terms of output. Also large-capacity thermal power plant supplies energy for the city. Administratively, Dnipro is incorporated into a much larger agglomeration with almost two million residents.
The city is served by Dnipropetrovsk International Airport and a river port, making it a major transportation hub. Further, the city is a large road and railway junction.
Despite its undoubtedly industrial character, Dnipro has a lot to offer to anybody. Nearby a modern city centre, one can find Monastyrskyi Island – probably a location of the first monastery founded in 870 AD by Byzantine monks. Unfortunately, it did not survive to our times. Nowadays, the island is home to St Nicholas Church as well as a lovely park, a small zoo and a popular town beach. Another place worth visiting is the Saviour's Transfiguration Cathedral, where Empress Catherine II laid the cornerstone by her own hand. Other worth seeing buildings include Students' Palace at the Dnipro National University, the Choral Synagogue and the Dnipropetrovsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Streets of Dnipro not only bear traces of bygone eras but above all strike with contrasts. Old buildings are mixed with modern architecture and post-Soviet blocks of flats.
So-called Balbals (handmade stone statues) are something of a curiosity in the city. They are connected with early Middle Ages, Turkic nomadic people (Polovtsy), who stayed on the Black Sea steppes and frequently invaded neighbouring countries. Balbals were believed to represent dead people. Common folk worshipped them and made offerings. The custom of erecting Balbals was widespread among the peoples of the Great Steppe.
There are many museums, theatres and community centres in Dnipro. Such leisure and rest facilities as fountain White Swan, aqua park Aquadrom, are just few attractions that Dnipro can offer.