Bila Tserkva

Bila Tserkva is a city in central Ukraine on the Ros River, in the historical region of right-bank Ukraine. It is the largest city of Kyiv Oblast, not counting Kyiv itself, and it is the administrative centre of Bila Tserkva Raion and of the Bila Tserkva urban hromada. The settlement was founded in 1032 as a border fortification of Kievan Rus' and was first called Yuriiv after Yaroslav the Wise, whose Christian name was Yuri. Its present name means White Church. The oldest surviving document that mentions the city is the Hypatian Codex, dated 1115. Over the centuries it passed to Polish nobility and became an important commercial centre, and from the nineteenth century industry and tourism shaped its economy. In the Soviet period it was a centre of agricultural education and held a major air force base. The population was estimated at 207,273 in 2022.