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Korostyshiv: City on the Teteriv City of Granite
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| Korostyshiv is a city of 27,000 people and a region of
about 68 villages. It is located about 115 kilometers west of Kyiv in
the Zhytomer Oblast. The city is built on the hills overlooking the
Teteriv River--beautiful until the summer when algae from all the
pollution covers a great deal of it with a light green slime and the
bottom silts up. The area was at one time 97% mixed forests, but over
cutting and land reclamation have reduced that to 47%.
Korostyshiv began as a small village with mineral springs that were visited often by a Polish prince, Gustav Olizar who established a resort here in the early 1800's. The region is famous for its granite. The base of Lenin's tomb in Moscow was quarried and sculpted here. The town grew and prospered up until the dissolution of the USSR,1991, when Soviets and Ukrainian bankers took the money and ran, leaving the economy and the infrastructure in ruins all over Ukraine. The old glory and elegance can be seen throughout the town and in the central plaza where I live, the memorial plaza shown below and in the parks and the granite sculpture garden. There are 5 public schools in Korostyshiv; a teacher's college; and a vocational college that has an electric, culinary and metal fabrication. In the "house of culture" there is a performing arts center, a dance school, an art school and the Korostyshiv historical museum. The latter is lovingly cared for by an extremely knowledgeable curator who gives wonderful personal tours. There are also schools of sport, and crafts. There are many churches here--Catholic, Ukrainian Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox among others. Besides 400 granite companies, the community is home to a door and flooring plant. The paper plant is closed now and its future is uncertain.. |
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