Prosvita ( uk, просвіта, 'enlightenment') is a society for preserving and developing Ukrainian culture and education among population that created in the nineteenth century in the Austria-Hungary

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...

. By the declaration of its founders, the movement was created as a counterbalance to anti-Ukrainian colonial and

Russophile Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), History of Russia, Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Anti-Russian se ...

trends in Ukrainian society of the period.

History

Prosvita was founded in 1868 in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

by 65 delegates from different regions and groups of intellectuals, mostly from the same city.

Anatole Vakhnianyn Anatole Vakhnianyn ( uk, Анатоль Вахнянин ; September 19, 1841 – February 11, 1908), was a Ukrainian political and cultural figure, composer, teacher, and journalist. Biography Family Background Vakhnianyn was born in Sieniawa ...

was elected the first head of the Prosvita Society. By the end of 1913, Prosvita had 77 affiliate societies and 2,648 reading rooms. In 1936 alone, when Western Ukraine with the city of Lviv were part of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

, the Prosvita Society opened over 500 new outlets with full-time professional staff.Prosvita
at the

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was creat ...

, vol. 3 (1993). By the end of the interwar period, Prosvita has grown to include 83 affiliates, 3,210 reading rooms, 1,207 premises, 3,209 libraries (with 688,186 books), 2,185 theater clubs, 1,115 choirs, 138 orchestras, and 550 study groups. In 1939 the society was shut down and banned by the newly arrived Soviet rulers. Prosvita operated only in Western Europe and America up to 1988. The first Prosvita society established in the United States was in Shenandoah,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1887. The Prosvita Society was renewed in Ukraine during the Soviet period of

Glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...

of 1988–89 as the Shevchenko Association of Ukrainian Language, and since then takes an active part in social life of independent Ukraine. In modern times it was headed by

Dmytro Pavlychko Dmytro Pavlychko ( uk, Дмитро Васильович Павличко; born September 28, 1929) is a Ukrainian poet, translator, scriptwriter, culturologist, political and public figure. Biography Dmytro Pavlychko was born on September 2 ...

and

Pavlo Movchan ''Pavlo Movchan'' ( uk, Павло Михайлович Мовчан; born 13 July 1939 in Velyka Vilshanka (in Kyiv Oblast)) is a Ukrainian poet and public figure, head of the "Prosvita" Society. Pavlo Movchan is a former deputy of the Ukrainian ...

(at present). Currently, almost all higher education institutions in Ukraine have Prosvita affiliations with teachers and students as members. Also active are the Young Prosvita youth organizations. During the

2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the succes ...

two Prosvita members were kidnapped and one was murdered by pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.Caught by militants died in Luhansk historian, leader of the "Prosvita"

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...

(1 July 2014)

Tasks

Official goals of the Prosvita Society: * Promoting Ukrainian language as the only state language in Ukraine * Maintaining principles of humanity, mutual understanding, religious and civil consent in society * Contributing to building and strengthening of Ukrainian state and its economic development * Propagating economic, legal and other kind of knowledge * Contributing to raising of Ukrainian language and culture authority abroad * Preserving and revitalizing natural environment and biodiversity

Leaders

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria

* 1868-????

* 1906-1906

Yevhen Olesnytsky Yevhen ( uk, Євге́н, Jevhén ), also spelled Evhen, is a common Ukrainian given name. Its Old Church Slavonic form ''Евгении'' came from the Greek ''Eugenios'' (masculine form), names derived from the Greek adjective , literally " ...

* 1906-1910 Petro Ohonovsky * 1910-1922 Ivan Kyvelyuk

Poland

* 1922-1923 Ivan Bryk * 1923-1931 Mykhailo Halushchynsky * 1931-1939 Ivan Bryk

Chernigov Governorate

* 1906-1911

Mykhailo Kotsyubynsky Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky ( uk, Михайло Михайлович Коцюбинський), (September 17, 1864 – April 25, 1913) was a Ukrainian author whose writings described typical Ukrainian life at the start of the 20th centur ...

Kharkov Governorate

* 1912-???? (as ''Kvitka-Osnovianenko Association)

Yekaterinoslav Governorate

* 1905-???? (as Ukrainian Association of Literature and Arts)

Podole Governorate

Don Host Oblast

* 1907-1913 Zakhar Barabash

Ukraine

* 1989-1990

(as Shevchenko Association of Ukrainian Language) * 1990–present

(originally as Shevchenko Association of Ukrainian Language and since 1991 – Prosvita)

References

{{Authority control Educational organizations established in 1868 Cultural organizations based in Ukraine Ethnic organizations based in Austria-Hungary Establishments in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Nationalism and the arts Stateless nationalism in Europe Language activists Second Polish Republic Resistance to the Russian Empire Progressivism