BERDICHEV  , a

town of W . Russia, in the government of Kiev, 116 m . S.W. of Kiev by rail and not far from the borders of Volhynia . The cathedral of the Assumption, finished in 1832, is the principal place of worship . The fortified Carmelite monastery, founded in 1627, was captured and plundered by Chmielnicki, chief of the Zaporogian Cossacks, in 1647, and disestablished in 1864 . An extensive trade is carried on in peltry, silk goods, iron and wooden wares, salt fish, grain, cattle and horses . Four fairs are held yearly, the most important being on the 12th of June and the 15th of August . The numerous minor industries include the manufacture of tobacco, soap, candles, oil, bricks and leather . Pop . (1867) 52,563; (1897) 53,728, Jews forming about 8o% . In the treaty of demarcation between the Lithuanians and the Poles in 1546 Berdichev was assigned to the former . In 1768 Pulaski, leader of the confederacy of Bar, fled, after the capture of that city, to Berdichev, and there maintained himself during a siege of twenty-five days .

The town belongs to the Radziwill

family .