Kirovohrad (Кіровоград) is a city in Ukraine, population 239,400 (2004). It is the capital of Kirovohrads'ka oblast'.

History

History of Kirovohrad starts from Fort of St. Elizabeth . This fort was built in 1754 by the order of empress Elizabeth Petrovna and it had a role of important pivot on the new lands added to Russia by the Belgrad Peace Treaty of 1739. In 1764 the settlement received status of the center of the Elizabeth province, and in 1784 the status of chief town of a district and was named by the name of fort — Elisavetgrad.

This city changed its name many times:

• 1784 — Elisavetgrad (after empress Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia)
• 1924 — Zinovyevsk (after Grigory Zinoviev)
• 1934 — Kirovo (after Sergei Kirov)
• 1939 — Kirovograd
• 1991 - Kirovohrad (Ukrainian spelling)

Fort of St. Elizabeth was located on the crossroads of trade routes, and became a trade center. City has held regular fairs 4 times a year. Merchants from all Russian Empire have been visiting this fair. Also, there was a lot of foreign merchants, especially from Greece.

First Ukrainian theatre was built in Kirovohrad, founded by M. Kropyvnytsky , I. Karpenko-Karyy , M. Zankovetska, P. Saksahansky and M. Sadovsky.