This spring, I visited Zhytomyr, a city in Ukraine founded in the ninth century, around the same time as the invention of gunpowder in China and algebra in Baghdad. Zhytomyr is as old as Beowulf and Alfred the Great, the first king of the English. Unfortunately, Zhytomyr’s location did not allow it to preserve all its historic landmarks, such as a medieval castle, churches and monasteries. The city has been destroyed and burned to ashes by various invaders many times, only to be rebuilt again and again by its perseverant citizens.
