Sviatohirsk

Sviatohirsk Святогірськ
City
View of the St. Nicholas Church and the St. Andrew Chapel of the Holy Mountains Lavra
Flag Seal
Coordinates: 49°02′N 37°34′E / 49.033°N 37.567°E / 49.033; 37.567Coordinates: 49°02′N 37°34′E / 49.033°N 37.567°E / 49.033; 37.567
Oblast	Donetsk
First mentioned	16th century
Population (2013)
• Total	4,654

Sviatohirsk (Ukrainian: Святогі́рськ) or Svyatogorsk (Russian: Святого́рск) is a town in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. A part of the Sloviansk Municipality, it stands on the banks of the Seversky Donets River, 30 kilometers (19 mi) from the city of Sloviansk. Population: 4,654 (2013 est.); 5,136 (2001 est.).

A settlement in the area of the Holy Mountains was first mentioned in written sources in the 16th century. In 1624, a monastery was established here, but in the end of the 18th century all monastic lands were secularized and passed on to private owners. One of the new owners built a bathing house on the nearby lake, which led to the settlement being called Banne (Ukrainian: Банне)/Bannoye (Russian: Банное) or Bannovskoye (Банновское); literally bathing. Proximity of a nearby selo of Tatyanovka lead to the both places sometimes being collectively referred as Bannoye-Tatyanovka (Банное-Татьяновка).

During the Soviet times, the selo was officially known as Bannoye. In 1938, it was granted urban-type settlement status and renamed Bannovsky (Банновский). The settlement served as a resort destination and steadily grew in size, until in 1964 it was granted town status and renamed Slovianohirsk (Ukrainian: Слов'яногірськ)/Slavyanogorsk (Славяного́рск), with the first part of the name (Sloviano-/Slavyano-) being after the nearby city of Sloviansk (Slavyansk), and the second part (-hirsk/-gorsk) being after the Holy Mountains. In 2003, the name was changed to Sviatohirsk, after the monastery itself.