Classical splendour
Famed as the most industrialised city in the Ukraine, and the third largest by population, Dnepropetrovsk has always been a place to reckon with. Designed by Catherine the Great’s lover, counsellor and husband Grigoriy Potemkin to mirror the full power and glory of Imperial Russia, the city whose original name was “Yekaterinoslav” (“Catherine’s glory”) still carries the marks of its splendid past. The main boulevard is a showcase of neo-Classical elegance. Broad, shady avenues and parks lead past eighteenth-century masterpieces such as Potemkin’s palace (now the National University) and the Museum of History, and neo-Classical mouldings and statues recall the Imperial age. Some treasures, such as the city’s two cathedrals (St. Alexander and the Holy Trinity) are newly restored; others still wait their turn. Dnepropetrovsk is an architect’s treasure-trove. It’s worth a visit just to see it.

Many memories
But Dnepropetrovsk owes its modern name and fame to the Soviets. Named after Grigoriy Petrovsky, the first leader of the Ukrainian Soviet, and the mighty river Dniepr, still one of the most important trading arteries in Europe, the city is a living museum to the Soviet past. The great main boulevard is named after Karl Marx. The city’s riverfront walkway, said to be the longest in Europe, is named after Lenin, and the Bolshevik leader’s statue still graces the city centre. All across the city, monuments great and small recall the achievements of the Soviet era.

In those days, Dnepropetrovsk was a closed city, one of the key players in the Soviet military-industrial complex. Its monuments still commemorate that military past, but now they are a playground for local children. From two-thousand-year-old statues of Scythian steppe dwellers to post-war installations of tactical missiles, Dnepropetrovsk carries its history proudly.

Modern boom
For all that, this is a city that looks to the future: as if symbolic of the changes that have come in the last ten years, the Lenin statue overlooks a giant McDonald’s sign. Linchpin of eastern industry, it is now looking to the west as never before. Construction sites ring the historic centre, and the sight of cranes and the sounds of building are an ever-present reminder of the economic boom. With the emergence of a dynamic business class, luxury apartment blocks are rising alongside prestigious office blocks and state-of-the-art leisure complexes. The riverside estate called Bartolomeo – based on the career of Portuguese explorer Bartolomeo Diaz – sets a new standard in themed entertainment, with a whole network of pubs and restaurants housed in a larger-than-life replica of a treasure galleon. Along the waterfront, the city council has opened one of the tallest fountains in the world, a fifty-metre jet flanked with smaller ones like a swan’s wings. From heavy industry to ecological water management, Dnepropetrovsk’s entrepreneurs are revelling in the new investment climate. This is very clearly a city on the move.

Key to the East
But Dnepropetrovsk is more than just the city. Three hours’ drive from Ukraine’s second city, Kharkov, and the industrial heartlands of the Donbas region, Dnepropetrovsk is the gateway to the industrial powerhouse of the eastern Ukraine. Unrivalled in its connections and influence – former president Leonid Kuchma and new prime minister Iurii Yekhanurov are just two of the many Ukrainian power-brokers to have links with the city – this is a region which has proven crucial time and again in Ukraine’s history. AirBaltic’s new flight is a ground-breaking venture, opening the enormous potential of this area to direct flights from northern Europe for the first time. Another exciting stage in Dnepropetrovsk’s history looks about to begin.