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Rivne, Rovno is a historic city in western Ukraine

By on 29.07.2007

Рівне, КінотеатрRivne, Rovno is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is
the administrative center of the Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the
administrative center of the surrounding Rivnensky Raion (district) within the
oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own separate raion within the
oblast.

Rivne is an
important transportation hub, with the international Rivne Airport, and rail links to Zdolbuniv,
Sarny and Kovel, as well as highways linking it with Brest,
Kiev and Lviv.

 The current
estimated population is around 249,900 (as of 2004).
 

 History of Rivne

 Rivne was
first mentioned in 1283 as one of the inhabited places of Halych-Volhynia. From
the second half of the 14th century it was under the Great Duchy of Lithuania
and from 1569 in
the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth. In 1492 the
city was granted Magdeburg
rights. Following the partition of Poland, in 1793 Rivne became a part
of Russian Empire, and in 1797 it was declared as a regional town of the Volyn
Guberniya.

 During
World War I and the period of chaos shortly after, it was briefly under German,
Ukrainian, Bolshevik, and Polish forces. In April-May of 1919 Rivne served as
the temporary capital of Ukrainian People's Republic. At the conclusion of the
conflict, in accordance with the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 it became a part of Poland for the
period between the two World Wars.

 In 1939, as
a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the partition of Poland, the Western Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Union and reunited with the Ukrainian SSR, and
from December of the same year Rivne became the centre of the newly established
Rivne Oblast. On June 28, 1941 Rivne was captured by the Nazi German invaders,
who later established the city as the administrative centre of Reichskommissariat
Ukraine.
At the time, roughly a half of Rivne's inhabitants were Jewish; of these, about
23000 were taken to a pine grove in Sosenki and killed between the 6th and the
8th of November. A ghetto was established for the remaining 5,000 Jews. In July
1942, its population was sent some 70 kilometres north
to Kostopol where they were killed; the ghetto was subsequently liquidated.

 Following
the invasion, partisan resistance immediately began, and a whole division under
the command of D.N.Medvedev and espionage agent N.I.Kuznetsov participated in
raids on the Nazi occupiers. Also in the city itself there were underground
patriotic organisations under command of T.F.Novak, P.M.Miryushchenko, and
N.M.Ostafova, and in the Rivno Oblast an underground oblast-committee was
active under the first secretary V.A. Begma. The city was finally liberated by
the Red Army on February 2, 1944.
 In 1958 a TV tower began
broadcasting in the city; in 1969 the first trolley ran through the city; in
1969 Rivne airport was opened. In 1983 the city celebrated its 700th
anniversary.
 

 Industry of
Rivne

 

 During the
Soviet time the provincial town was transformed into a massive industrial
centre of the republic. There were two significant factories built, Machine
building and Metal processing factory, capable of producing high-voltage
apparatus, tractor spare parts and others, and Chemical factory, as well as a
synthetic materials fabric. Light industry, presented by a linen plant and a
textile fabric, as well as food industry, presented by milk and meat factories
and a vegetable preservation fabric have also received development. In addition
the city became a production centre for furniture and other building materials.

 Attractions
of Rivne
 

 Being an
important cultural centre, Rivne hosts a pedagogical, and a hydro-engineering
institutes, as well as a faculty of the Kiev State Institute of Culture, and
Medical and musical as well as Automobile construction, Soviet trade, textile,
agricultural and cooperative polytechnic colleges. The city has a Historical museum
and a museum dedicated to the Hero of the Soviet Union N.I.Kuznetsov.

 

 Following
the fall of the Soviet Union the monument for
the Soviet time hero D.N.Medvedev was removed, and N.I.Kuznetsov monument was
moved to another location within the city. Instead, in order to reflect the
controversial history of the region the monuments for "Soldiers died in
the honour of Ukraine",
and "Soldiers died in military battles" were installed.

 Buildings
 • Ancient Church
of Assumption (1756)
 • Cathedral of the Intercession (2001)
 • Cathedral of the Ascension (1890)
 • A classicism-style gymnasium building
(1839)
 • During Soviet times the centre of the
city from Lenin street
to Peace Avenue
(1963 architects R.D. Vais and O.I. Filipchuk) was completely rebuilt with
Administrative and Public buildings in neo-classical, Stalinist style.
 
Memorials
 • Heroes of the Great Patriotic War
(1948 by I.Ya. Matveenko)
 • N.I. Kuznetsov (bronze and granite,
1961 by V.P Vinaikin)
 • Victims to Fascism (1968 by A.I.
Pirozhenko and B.V. Rychkov, architect-V.M.Gerasimenko)
 • Memorial of Battle glory (1975 by M.L. Farina,
architect-N.A. Dolgansky)
 • Jewish Victims of the Holocaust (ca.
1991)
 

 

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