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Kirovohrad is a city in central Ukraine. It is located on the Inhul river. It is a railway and a motorway junction. Pop. 239,400 (2004 est.). Developed around a military settlement the city got to prominence in the 19th century when it became an important trade centre enjoying the rights of the Ukrainian culture promoter with the first professional theatrical company both in Central and Eastern Ukraine being established here in 1882. In Soviet times the city rose to the status of an agricultural and light industry centre whose fame was due to such enterprises as Chervona Zirka Agricultural Machinery Plant (which once provided more than 50% of the USSR need in tractor seeders), Hydrosila Hydraulic Units Plant, Radiy Radio Component Plant, Pishmash Typewriter Plant (de facto defunct nowadays) etc. The recent history of Kirovohrad saw the imminent decline of the city's industrial potential and general socioeconomic value. The latter plus the poor reputation of local authorities with the city's population led to the widespread settled opinions that Kirovohrad belongs to the group of the low-developed regional capitals of Ukraine. Since 2002 the economics of Kirovohrad has been slowly reviving. During the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004 the city got the country-wide notoriety because of mass election fraud committed by local authorities and long after that was known as District 100 (the community number according to Central Elections Committee).

The history of Kirovohrad starts from that of Fort of St. Elizabeth. This fort was built in 1754 by the order of empress Elizabeth of Russia and it played a pivotal role in the new lands added to Russia by the Belgrad Peace Treaty of 1739. In 1764 the settlement received status of the center of the Elizabeth province, and in 1784 the status of chief town of a district, when it was renamed after the fort as Yelizavetgrad.

The Fort of St. Elizabeth was located on the crossroads of trade routes, and it eventually became a major trade center. The city has held regular fairs 4 times a year. Merchants from all over the Russian Empire have visited these fairs. Also, there were a lot of foreign merchants, especially from Greece.

The first Ukraine theater was built in Kirovohrad, which was founded by M. Kropyvnyts'ky, I. Karpenko-Karyy, M. Zankovets'ka, P. Saksahans'ky and M. Sadovs'ky.