Kalush, Ukraine

Kalush Калуш
City of regional significance
Flag Coat of arms
Kalush Location of Kalush in Ivano-Frankivsk
Coordinates: 49°02′39″N 24°21′35″E / 49.04417°N 24.35972°E / 49.04417; 24.35972Coordinates: 49°02′39″N 24°21′35″E / 49.04417°N 24.35972°E / 49.04417; 24.35972
Country	Ukraine
Region	Ivano-Frankivsk
Established	March 20, 1972
Subdivisions	List 1 city municipality
Area
• Total	65 km2 (25 sq mi)
Population (2016)
• Total	67,519
• Density	1,000/km2 (2,700/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Area code	380 3472-
Website	http://kalush.net

Kalush (Ukrainian: Калуш, Polish: Kałusz, translit. Kalush) is a city set in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province) of western Ukraine.

It is administratively incorporated as a town of oblast significance and serves as the administrative centre of the surrounding Kalush Raion (district), which it is administratively not a part of. Population: 67,519 (2016 est.)^[1].

Important local industries include chemicals and concrete. The city is notorious for its bleaching products that locally became referred to as kalushanka.

Geography

The city is located in western portion of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, within the region of Western Ukraine at the foothills of Carpathian Mountains. Kalush stands on the Dniester tributary, Limnytsia River that takes its beginning from the slopes of Carpathians. The city is located at the eastern borders of ethnographical region of Boyko Land.

History

1889, Kałusz

The earliest known mention of Kalush is the accounting of a village of that name in a chronicle dated May 27, 1437.^[3] At that time, together with whole Red Ruthenia, the village belonged to the Kingdom of Poland, and was known under its Polish name, Kałusz. Until the mid-16th century Kałusz was part of Halicz Land, Ruthenian Voivodeship. It was known for producing malt, its brewery and salt mining, and was royal village, where in 1469 King Kazimierz Jagiellonczyk founded a Roman Catholic parish church.

In 1549 Kalush was incorporated as a city by Crown Hetman Mikołaj Sieniawski on the authority of the Polish Crown (Magdeburg rights). Already then Kalush became also known as a city of chemical industry specializing in producing nitrate. The contemporary city coat of arms derived from the Leliwa coat of arms of the Sieniawski family and is dedicated to the victory in the Battle of Vienna, while the upper portion of the shield contains three white salt furnaces. In 1595 Kalush, which had 55 houses, was ransacked by Crimean Tatars. Here, two important battles took place. In 1672, forces of Hetman Jan Sobieski clashed with Tatars of Selim I Giray, and three years later, Andrzej Potocki fought here with Turks. In 1772, following the Partitions of Poland, the town was seized by the Habsburg Empire, where it remained until 1918.

Street scene in Kalusz by Heinrich Vogeler, 1915

In 1912-13 prior to World War I near the city of Kalush an oil rig was built. However instead of oil, the rig ended up extracting a natural gas. For long time the gas was not utilized, but later was used for heating a potassium quarry and boilers in Boryslav and Drohobych.

In the Second Polish Republic, Kalush/Kalusz was the seat of a county in Stanislawow Voivodeship. Following the 1939 Invasion of Poland, the town was annexed by the Soviet Union. Occupied by the Third Reich in 1941 - 1944, it returned to the Soviet Union after the war. During World War II the residents of the city witnessed many ethnocides. In 1940, the Soviets forced inhabitants of Kalush to leave the town and forcefully moved them to Siberia, many of whom were people of various nationalities: Poles, Ukrainians and others. Then, in late 1941 and 1942, majority of Kalush's Jewish inhabitants were murdered by the Germans. Since the 16th century, a Jewish community had flourished in the city; however, in 1941, while under Nazi control, that community was virtually eliminated. Polish Home Army (AK) was active in the town and its area. The town itself was captured by the AK in mid-July 1944, during the Operation Tempest. In 1945, Polish residents of Kalush were expelled to the Recovered Territories.

On March 20, 1972 the city of Kalush became a city of regional importance.

Recently several renovations took place of several local temples such as the Temple of All Saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate), the Catholic Saint Valentine Church, and the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas.

Kalush city council in 2010

Note: Percentage indicates correlation to the total number of seats in the city council which is 50. The results of election were taken from kalush.net where they were published on November 4, 2010.^[4][5] Election was half and half, one (25 seats) by the "majority rule", another (25 seats) - by "party-list". There were 15 non-affiliated members, all of which associated themselves with the Ukrainian Party^[6] (2006).

Points of interest

The city still contains an old rathaus which declared as the National Landmark of Architecture #591. The previous rathaus was destroyed during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The new rathaus served as a town hall and a directory of agriculture since the 20th century. The conditions of the landmark in 2010 were terrible and the rathaus required some major renovations. A fire broke out ruins of the rathaus in 2013.^[7]

In the city is a mount Vysochanka named after a colonel of Lysyanka Regiment during the Cossack Hetmanate and a leader of local uprising in 1648 Semen Vysochan.

Gallery

• 
  Kalush Cultural House
• 
  Downtown Kalush
• 
  A church in Kalush
• 
  Kalush Railway Station
• 
  St. Valentine's Catholic Church in Kalush
• 
  Old chemical plant in Kalush
• 
  Thermal power plant in Kalush
• 
  Kalush city rathaus (abandoned)

Notable residents

Near the Kalush City Center

• Stepan Bandera
• August Aleksander Czartoryski
• Jakub Sobieski
• Jan "Sobiepan" Zamoyski
• Tomasz Zamoyski
• Fedir Danylak
• Vlad DeBriansky
• Aryeh Leib HaCohen Heller, Prominent Rabbi and author of the "Ketzos Hachoshen"

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Kalush, Ukraine is twinned with:

Bačka Palanka	Serbia
Grand Prairie, TX	USA

Location

Local orientation

Regional orientation

References

External links

• СТАРИЙ КАЛУШ
• Pre-WWII Jewish History in Kalush
• Helpful Kalush website
• Photographs of Jewish sites in Kalush in Jewish History in Galicia and Bukovina
• Website of the Ukrainian Party