Ivano-Frankivsk

Ivano-Frankivsk lies in the Precarpathian plain where fast waters of the Bystrytsia Nadvirnianska and Bystrytsia Solotvynska join together. Ivano-Frankivsk is the regional centre and one of the largest economic and cultural centres in the west of Ukraine.

The first mention of the city named Stanyslaviv refers to 1662 when the city received a Magdeburg right. In 1962 the city celebrated its 300-anniversary. It was renamed after a famous writer and public figure Ivan Franko who would come here more than once, made good friends, wrote and recited his works.

Built in the mid 17^th century as a private fortress of the Pototskys family, with the partition of Poland in 1772 it was passed to the Habsburg Empire, after which it became a property of the State authorities of the Austrian Empire. It was during that time that the fortress was transformed into one of the most prominent cities at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.

After World War I for a short period it served as a temporary capital of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic (ZUNR), after the fall of which Stanyslaviv became part of the Second Polish Republic.

At the dawn of World War II the city was “liberated” by the Soviet forces which were soon overran by Nazi Germany. With the liberation of Ukraine in 1944, Soviet regime was established in the city for the next 45 years. A few years before the fall of the Soviet Union the blue-yellow flag was raised in the city as the symbol of independent Ukraine.

Ukrainians constitute the major part of the population. They care about the national culture and their language. Among the city’s architectural monuments are the city hall (now the regional museum, rebuilt in 1870), the former Jesuit college and church, the former Armenian baroque church with two steeples.

There are a lot of monuments in the city, the monuments to Ivan Franko and Adam Mitskevytch are among them. Tourists can visit different museums and cultural centres. Among them – the Academic Regional Music-Drama Theater of Franko, the Academic Regional Puppet Theater of Pidhirianka, Regional Concert Philharmony, different clubs and cinemas.

The main educational institutions in Ivano-Frankivsk are the Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, the National University of Oil and Gas, the Precarpathian National University named after V. Stefanyk.

The city is the third in population amongst other cities in the Carpathian Euroregion, yielding only to Lviv and Košice.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-21