Culture & Language

The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian. Written Ukrainian is a variant of Cyrillic script with 33 letters, it is a phonetic and melodious language.Based on the results of the languages competition that took place in Paris in 1934, Ukrainian is the third most beautiful by its phonetics, vocabulary, phraseology, and sentence structure after French and Persian.

Ukraine, a nation of approximately 40 million people is a nation with a rich cultural heritage.

Ukrainian culture dates back to pre-Christian times; to Trypillian settlements, mammoth hunters and cave dwellers. These ancient civilizations laid the foundations of Ukrainian culture.

Throughout history, Ukrainians developed a rich cultural identity. A deeply spiritual country, many arts and customs are associated with the seasons, religious holidays and family celebrations.

Ukrainians are known for their beautifully decorated Easter eggs, pysanky. colorful embroidery, vyshyvanky, intricate woodworking with inlays of mother of pearl and seed beads, kylym rug weaving, ceramics from the Kosiv region of the Carpathian mountains and Petrykivka painting, from central Ukraine, the latter two recognized as UNESCO world heritage crafts. Ukrainians have a wealth of folk songs, music and carols. A popular carol – Carol of the Bells, was written by Ukrainian Mykola Leontovych, and is now known throughout the world. The bandura, a unique Ukrainian instrument, was played by bards who sang about the glorious past of Ukraine.

Ukrainians have a rich and deep connection with the earth, Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and provides forty percent of the world’s grain.The rich, fertile Ukrainian soil provides the ingredients for a delicious and varied cuisine with borscht recognized by Unesco, as an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. Ukraine is a country of many surprises.