Zhovkva is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in Lviv Raion,

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

(

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

) of

western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

. Zhovkva hosts the administration of Zhovkva urban hromada, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. Its population is approximately

History

A village named ''Vynnyky'' was mentioned at the site in 1368 and was part of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

under the

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...

. The town was founded in 1597 as a private fortified town and named ''Żółkiew'' after its founder, one of the most accomplished military commanders in Polish history, hetman

Stanisław Żółkiewski Stanisław Żółkiewski (; 1547 – 7 October 1620) was a Polish people, Polish szlachta, nobleman of the Lubicz coat of arms, a magnate, military commander, and Chancellor (Poland), Chancellor of the Polish Crown in the Polish–Lithuanian C ...

. Like

Zamość Zamość (; ; ) is a historical city in southeastern Poland. It is situated in the southern part of Lublin Voivodeship, about from Lublin, from Warsaw. In 2021, the population of Zamość was 62,021. Zamość was founded in 1580 by Jan Zamoyski ...

, which was founded by Żółkiewski's mentor

Jan Zamoyski Jan Sariusz Zamoyski (; 19 March 1542 – 3 June 1605) was a Polish nobleman, magnate, statesman and the 1st '' ordynat'' of Zamość. He served as the Royal Secretary from 1565, Deputy Chancellor from 1576, Grand Chancellor of the Crown f ...

, Żółkiew was built on an ideal

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

city plan. Due to its strategic location at the intersection of important trade routes, the town prospered.Ruth Ellen Gruber.
For a fortress town, a second renaissance.
January 12, 2009.

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

. In 1603 it was granted town rights by King

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

. From its earliest days, the population was a mix of

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

, and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. Great Jewish scholars from Zhovkva include Ariah Judah Leib Sirkin and Betzalel HaLevi of Zhovkva. In the 17th century, it became the royal residence for King

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and a hub of religious life, arts and commerce. In 1676, King of France,

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, visited Żółkiew and awarded the Polish King with the

Order of the Holy Spirit The Order of the Holy Spirit (; sometimes translated into English as the Order of the Holy Ghost) is a French order of chivalry founded by Henry III of France in 1578. Today, it is a dynastic order under the House of France. It should not be c ...

. The city was the site of celebrations after the victorious

Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Li ...

of 1683, and in 1684 the Polish King was awarded there with papal gifts, sent by Pope Innocent XI. As a private town of Poland, Żółkiew was the property of the Żółkiewski, Daniłowicz, Sobieski and Radziwiłł families. During this period, most of the city's landmarks were built, including the Zhovkva Castle and St. Lawrence's Church, both founded by Stanisław Żółkiewski, the Dominican church, founded by Teofila Sobieska, the fortress-like Great Synagogue, co-financed by King John III Sobieski, and the foundations of the king's sons: the Saint Lazarus church founded by prince James Louis Sobieski and the Holy Trinity Church, founded by prince Konstanty Władysław Sobieski. In 1711, Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian national hero who found refuge in Poland after the fall of the

Rákóczi's War of Independence Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–1711) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Royal Hungary, Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by F ...

against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, visited the town.

Late modern era

From the

First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

in 1772 until 1918, the town (named ''Żółkiew'') was part of the

Austrian monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ( composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it ...

(Austrian part of

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

after the compromise of 1867), head of the district with the same name, one of the 78 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in Austrian Galicia province (Crown land) in 1900. The

West Ukrainian People's Republic The West Ukrainian People's Republic (; West Ukrainian People's Republic#Name, see other names) was a short-lived state that controlled most of Eastern Galicia from November 1918 to July 1919. It included major cities of Lviv, Ternopil, Kolom ...

, established on November 1, 1918, included the whole Zhovkva '' povit'' (county). The town came under Polish control in May 1919, seven months after the re-establishment of independent

, confirmed by the Paris Peace Conference in June 1919 and the

Peace of Riga The Treaty of Riga was signed in Riga, Latvia, on between Poland on one side and Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine on the other, ending the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). The chief negotiators o ...

in 1921. It was a county (

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

) seat located in the

Lwów Voivodeship Lwów Voivodeship () was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939). Because of the Nazi invasion of Poland in accordance with the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, it became occupied by both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army in Septem ...

. In the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

the 6th Cavalry Regiment of the Polish Army, named after hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, was stationed in the town.

World War II and recent times

In 1939, following the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

, Żółkiew, together with the rest of Poland's Kresy Wschodnie, was occupied by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The Soviets destroyed the statue of King

, located in front of the town hall and the statue of the city founder hetman

, located in the park. In June 1941, the Soviets executed 34 people, Ukrainians and Poles, in a prison organized in the former Żółkiewski castle, as part of the NKVD prisoner massacres. A few people managed to escape the massacre, including a German prisoner of war. From 1941 to 1944, Zhovkva was occupied by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. At the beginning of the occupation, Jews numbered around 4500 and were almost half the town's population. Fewer than 100 of the city's

survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. In 1942, Germans, assisted by Ukrainian police, deported 3,200 Jews to the

Belzec extermination camp Belzec (English: or , Polish: , approximately ) was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland. It was built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major p ...

. Many others were killed by Germans, assisted by Ukrainian police, in the vicinity of the city, and the rest were taken to the Janowska concentration camp. The synagogue was blown up by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1941, leaving only the outside walls. In 2000, the building was declared one of the world's most endangered sites by the World Monuments Fund. A restoration campaign began in 2001, supported by WMF's Jewish Heritage Program and other sources, which is ongoing. Zhovkva ploshcha Vicheva-3

From July 1944, it was occupied by the Soviets again and in 1945 it was annexed by the Soviet Union. It became a part of

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

within the USSR in 1944. As a result of the actions of both the Ukrainian nationalists of the UPA and the Soviets, almost all Poles left the city in 1944–1946. In 1951, the town was renamed ''Nesterov'' after the Russian

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

Pyotr Nesterov Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov (; – ) was a Russian pilot, aircraft designer and aerobatics pioneer. Life and career Nesterov was born on 15 February 1887 in Nizhny Novgorod, into the family of an army officer, a cadet corps teacher. In A ...

who became the first to perform aerial ramming in the history of aviation near Zhovkva in 1914. The name Zhovkva, which is the Ukrainian version of the historic Polish name, was restored in 1992, after Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union. Until 18 July 2020, Zhovkva was the administrative center of Zhovkva Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Lviv Oblast to seven. The area of Zhovkva Raion was merged into Lviv Raion.

Population

Language

Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:

Historical sites

The Collegiate Church of St. Lawrence, a domed church from the 17th century founded by

and built by a group of Italian architects, was turned into a warehouse under Soviet rule. After Ukraine declared independence in the early 1990s, the church was restored. The church contains the sarcophagus of the city's founder Stanisław Żółkiewski. The town center of Zhovkva was declared a heritage site in 1994, and restoration work is now under way. Zhovkva Castle, the town's oldest and largest building, former residence of hetman

and King

, is being converted into a culture and conference hall. The wooden Holy Trinity Church built in 1720 by Polish prince Konstanty Władysław Sobieski, was listed in 2013 as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, as a part of the composite site Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine. Relics of Saint Parthenius, 3rd-century Christian martyr from

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

were moved to Zhovkva in 1784. They are kept at the local Church of Holy Heart of Jesus, run by Ukrainian Greek-Catholic monks of the Basilian order. A

Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

fortified synagogue, built between 1692 and 1698, and co-financed by Polish King

, is located in the town.

Notable people

* Aaron Margalita, Jewish scholar who converted to Christianity * Aaron Selig ben Moses of Zolkiev, Jewish scholar * Aaron of Trebowla, Jewish scholar * Ivan Rutkovych, Ukrainian iconographer * Ivan Krypiakevych, Ukrainian historian, academician *

Zbigniew Burzyński Zbigniew Jan Władysław Antoni Burzyński (31 March 1902 in Zhovkva, near Lwów – 30 December 1971 in Warsaw), was a Polish balloonist and constructor of balloons, pioneer of Polish balloons, who twice won the Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooni ...

, Polish balloonist and constructor of balloons, pioneer of Polish balloons * Clara Kramer, Holocaust survivor * Salcia Landmann, researcher of

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

culture * Jakub Ludwik Sobieski, Polish prince, son of King John III Sobieski * Jakub Sobieski, Polish parliamentarian, military leader and father of King John III Sobieski *

Włodzimierz Puchalski Włodzimierz Puchalski (March 6, 1909 – January 19, 1979) was a Polish photographer and film director. He was a pioneer of wildlife film-making in Poland and became famous for publishing his album "Bezkrwawe łowy" (or bloodless hunting) in 1954. ...

, Polish photographer and film director *

, Polish nobleman and military commander, founder of the town * Włodzimierz Stożek, Polish

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

of the

Lwów School of Mathematics The Lwów school of mathematics () was a group of Polish mathematicians who worked in the interwar period in Lwów, Poland (since 1945 Lviv, Ukraine). The mathematicians often met at the famous Scottish Café to discuss mathematical problems, ...

* Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi, Lithuanian

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

* Nachman Krochmal, Jewish philosopher * Jacob ben Wolf Kranz, maggid *

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Meshullam Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (August 28, 1924 – July 3, 2014), commonly called "Reb Zalman" (full Hebrew name: ), was an American Rabbi, writer, and activist, and one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecu ...

, one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecumenical dialogue *

Hersch Lauterpacht Sir Hersch Lauterpacht (16 August 1897 – 8 May 1960) was a British international lawyer, human rights activist, and judge at the International Court of Justice. Biography Hersch Lauterpacht was born on 16 August 1897 to a Jewish family in ...

, member of the United Nations'

International Law Commission The International Law Commission (ILC) is a body of experts responsible for helping develop and codify international law. It is composed of 34 individuals recognized for their expertise and qualifications in international law, who are elected by t ...

* Lubomyr Romankiw, Ukrainian computer scientist

External links

Zholkva/Zhovka
(p. 426) at Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots Foundation.

Notes

References

External links

Żółkiew
(Zhovkva) in the

Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries () is a monumental Polish gazetteer, published 1880–1902 in Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns ...

(1895)
castles.com.ua
- Zhovkva

- Pictures of Zhovkva {{Authority control Cities in Lviv Oblast Populated places established in 1597 Cities of district significance in Ukraine 1590s establishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Historic Jewish communities in Ukraine Holocaust locations in Ukraine

History

Late modern era

World War II and recent times

Population

Language

Historical sites

Notable people

See also

External links

Further reading

Notes

References

External links