Kherson Governorate, known until 1803 as Nikolayev Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kherson. It encompassed 71,936 square kilometres (27,775 sq mi) in area and had a population of 2,733,612 inhabitants. At the time of the census in 1897, it bordered Podolia Governorate to the northwest, Kiev Governorate to the north, Poltava Governorate to the northeast, Yekaterinoslav Governorate to the east, Taurida Governorate to the southeast, Black Sea to the south, and Bessarabia Governorate to the west. It roughly corresponds to what is now most of Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Odesa Oblasts in Ukraine and some parts of Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts.
Cathedral dedicated to Saint Catherine (Russian: Свято-Екаерининский Собор) in Kherson that was the governorate's seat at the tim
Kherson is a port city in Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-building industry and is a regional economic centre. At the beginning of 2022, its population was estimated at 279,131.
Clockwise from top: St Catherine's cathedral, Memorial in Park Slavy, view of the Dnieper in Kherson, the clock tower of the Kherson Regional Art Museum, a monument to Potemkin in Potomkinskyi Garden Square.
Kherson in 1855
An aerial view of the city in 1918
Kherson in 2021