Nizhyn, city, north-central Ukraine. Nizhyn dates from the 11th century and was incorporated in 1781. It served as a regimental centre in the Cossack-controlled state known as the Hetmanate. It contains several buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries, including the cathedrals of St. Nicholas and of the Annunciation. A minor industrial centre before the Russian Revolution of 1917, it later developed engineering and food industries. The city’s teacher-training institute is named for the novelist Nikolay Gogol, who studied in the once-renowned Nizhyn Lyceum. Pop. (2001) 76,625; (2005 est.) 75,648.