Travel Guide Zhytomyr (Житомир)

This province of province (approximately 270 000 inhabitants) is probably the most Soviet city, located west of the Dnieper. It presents a few attractions, especially the Space Museum, and is a good starting point for visiting the Polésie (Пол i сся) region to the north. Land of fields and forests, as its name indicates, Polésie is not just a region, it is a world apart, a natural, cultural and ethnographic universe that the marshes have always protected wars and invasions, and preserved in its integrity. While the eastern part of the Polésie was heavily hit by the Chernobyl disaster, the West has perfectly preserved its virgin land where it was man who had to adapt to nature and its rhythm rather than to the contrary. The lost meadows are alternating with the thicket, swampy depressions, beautiful submerged oak trees, small lakes. If you are interested in fishing and ornithology, you can satisfy your wishes! Polésie's interest lies not only in its flora and fauna, but also in its civilisation. Exploring its villages is like a journey in the past. Surrounded by the marshes, its inhabitants, the Poleščuki, speak a unique dialect, a mixture of Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian and Polish, and have preserved centuries-old and specific traditions of this region. Sergei Korolev, the founder of the Soviet space programme, and Khaim Byalikle, the Jewish writer, were born and lived in Zhytomyr.