Orikhiv – Worth A Visit
If you travel to southern Ukraine, you will find the beautiful province of Zaporizhia (Zaporizhzhya). Known as the Zaporizhia Oblast (Zaporizhzhya Oblast), this province plays an important role in both industry and agriculture of Ukraine. It covers an area of approximately 27,200 square kilometers and is home to just under 2 million people. Within this oblast there are a lot of great towns, cities and villages that you might drive through while traveling to other attractions. It is usually worth spending a few hours at each one since there is always something interesting worth seeing. One such town is Orikhiv.
Orikhiv is a fairly large city with a population of approximately 18,000 people. It was originally founded in the 17th century as part of a winter camp for Zaporzhians. Then, sometime between 1775 and 1787, a large group of settlers from the Poltava oblast arrived and settled in the camp, making it into an official settlement and giving it the name of Horikhiv. Sometime later in 1801 the settlement officially gained town status and Orikhiv became the town we know it as today.
The town’s flag and coat of arms is quite interesting to look at. It takes the form of a shield which is divided up into four sections by a cross. The cross is made up of a horizontal, pale blue stripe and a red vertical stripe. The shield itself is yellow in color. At the center of the shield you will see a yellow hazelnut complete with argent leaves. The town’s gonfalon is similar, but has some differences. For one thing, it is square in shape and the four sides of the cross meet in the middle at a point. The hazelnut is red in color and is positioned in the top left corner of the gonfalon instead of in the middle as it is on the coat of arms. Orikhiv’s official symbols are quite old and are carried proudly by the town’s people.
