Sevastopol is one of two cities with special status in Ukraine (the other being the capital, Kiev), located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimean Peninsula. It has a population of 379,000. Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa. There are many historical buildings in the central and eastern parts of the city and Balaklava, some of which are architectural monuments. The Western districts have modern architecture. More recently, numerous skyscrapers have been built. Balaklava Bayfront Plaza (On Hold), currently under construction, will be one of the tallest buildings in Ukraine, at 173 m (568 ft) with 43 floors. The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city’s harbours make Sevastopol a strategically important naval point. It is also a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The city continues to be the home of the Russian—formerly Soviet—Black Sea Fleet, and is now home to a Ukrainian naval base and has Russian naval facilities leased from Ukraine through 2042. The headquarters of both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet are located in the city.
The trade and shipbuilding importance of Sevastopol’s port has been growing since the fall of the Soviet Union, despite the difficulties that arise from the joint military control over its harbours and piers. Sevastopol is also an important centre of marine biology research. In particular, dolphins have been studied and trained in the city since the end of World War II. This was originally done as a secret naval programme to use the animals for special undersea operations.
After World War II, Sevastopol was entirely rebuilt. Many top architects and civil engineers from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other cities and thousands of workers from all parts of the USSR took part in the rebuilding process which was mostly finished by the mid-1950s. The downtown core situated on a peninsula between two narrow inlets, South Bay and Artillery Bay, features mostly Mediterranean-style, three-story residential buildings with columned balconies and Venetian-style arches, with retail and commercial spaces occupying the ground level. Some carefully restored landmarks date back to the early 20th century (e.g., the Art Nouveau Main Post Office on Bolshaya Morskaya St and the Art Museum on Nakhimovsky Prospect). It has been a long-time tradition for the residents of surrounding suburbs to spend summer evenings by coming to the downtown area for a leisurely stroll with their families along the avenues and boulevards encircling the Central Hill, under the famous Sevastopol chestnut trees, and usually ending up on the waterfront with its famous Marine Boulevard. Due to its military history, most streets in the city are named after Russian and Soviet military heroes. There are hundreds of monuments and plaques in various parts of Sevastopol commemorating its military past.
