Rivne

Rivne Рівне
City of regional significance
Flag Coat of arms
Rivne Rivne Show map of Rivne OblastShow map of UkraineShow all
Coordinates: 50°37′N 26°15′E / 50.617°N 26.250°E / 50.617; 26.250Coordinates: 50°37′N 26°15′E / 50.617°N 26.250°E / 50.617; 26.250
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Rivne Oblast
Raion	Rivne Raion
First mentioned	1283
Government
• Mayor	[uk][1] (European Solidarity[1])
Area
• Total	63.00 km2 (24.32 sq mi)
Population  (2021)
• Total	244,325
• Density	3,900/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (CEST)
Website	city-adm.rv.ua

Rivne (/ˈrɪvnə/; Ukrainian: Рівне [ˈr⁽ʲ⁾iu̯ne]; Polish: Równe) is a city in western Ukraine. Known under Soviet control as Rovno, the city is the administrative centre of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the surrounding Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.^[2] Administratively, Rivne is incorporated as a city of oblast significance and does not belong to the raion. Population: 244,325 (2021 est.)^[3]

Between World War I and World War II, the city was located in Poland as a district-level (county) seat in Wolyn Voivodeship. At the start of World War II in 1939, Rivne was occupied by the Soviet Red Army and received its current status by becoming a seat of regional government of the Rivne Oblast which was created out of the eastern portion of the voivodeship. During the German occupation of 1941–44 the city was designated as a capital of German Ukraine (Reichskommissariat Ukraine). In the spring of 1919, it also served as a provisional seat of the Ukrainian government throughout the ongoing war with Soviet Russia.

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, Kyiv and Lviv. Among other leading companies there is a chemical factory of (part of Ostchem Holding).

History[]

Rivne was first mentioned in 1283 in the Polish annals "Rocznik kapituły krakowskiej"^[4][5] as one of the inhabited places of Halych-Volhynia near which Leszek II the Black was victorious over a part of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army. Following the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia's partition after Galicia–Volhynia Wars in the late 14th century, it was under the rule of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in 1434 the Grand Duke of Lithuania Švitrigaila awarded the settlement to a Lutsk nobleman Dychko.^[4] In 1461 Dychko sold his settlement to Prince Semen Nesvizh.^[4][5] In 1479 Semen Nesvizh died and his settlement was passed to his wife Maria who started to call herself princess of Rovno.^[5] She turned the settlement into a princely residence by building in 1481^[4] a castle on one of local river islands and managed to obtain Magdeburg rights for the settlement in 1492 from the King of Poland Casimir IV Jagiellon.^[5] Following her death in 1518, the city was passed on to the princes of Ostrog and declined by losing its status as a princely residency.^[4]

Lubomirski Palace, 1945

In 1566 the town of Rovno became part of newly established Volhynian Voivodeship. Following the Union of Lublin in 1569, it was transferred from the realm of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Crown of Poland.^[4][5] The city had a status of privately held by nobles (Ostrogski and Lubomirski families). Following the Second Partition of Poland in 1793 Rivne became a part of the Russian Empire, and in 1797 it was declared to be a county level (uyezd) town of the Volhynian Governorate.

During World War I and the period of chaos shortly after, it was briefly under German, Ukrainian, Bolshevik and Polish rule. During April–May 1919 Rivne served as the temporary capital^{[citation needed]} of the Ukrainian People's Republic. In late April 1919 one of the Ukrainian military leaders Volodymyr Oskilko attempted to organize a coup-d'état against the Petliura's-led Directory and cabinet of Borys Martos and replace them with Yevhen Petrushevych as president of Ukraine. In Rivne, Oskilko managed to arrest most of the cabinet ministers including Martos himself, but Petliura at that time was in neighbouring Zdolbuniv and managed to stop Oskilko's efforts. At the conclusion of the conflict, in accordance with the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 it became a part of Polish Volhynian Voivodeship, a situation which would last until the Second World War.

In 1939, as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the partition of Poland, Rivne was occupied by the Soviet Union. From December of the same year Rivne became the centre of the newly established Rivne Oblast, within the Ukrainian SSR.

On 28 June 1941 Rivne was invaded by the 6th army of Nazi Germany, which later established the city as the administrative centre of Reichskommissariat Ukraine on 20 August. A prison for the Gestapo was created on Belaia Street.^[6] At the time, roughly half of Rivne's inhabitants were Jewish; of these, about 23,000 were taken to a pine grove in Sosenki and killed between 6-8 November. At the same period the well known German actor Olaf Bach was flown over to the city to perform for the German forces, for morale and to support the troops. He remained in Rivne from 8-13 November. A ghetto was established for the remaining 5,000 Jews. In July 1942, its population was sent 70 km (43 mi) north to Kostopil where they were killed; the ghetto was subsequently liquidated.

On 2 February 1944, the city was captured by the Red Army in the Battle of Rovno, and remained under Soviet control until Ukraine regained its independence on the break-up of the USSR in 1991.

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.

On 11 June 1991, the Ukrainian parliament officially renamed the city Rivne according to the rules of Ukrainian orthography, whereas it had previously been known as Rovno.^[7]

In 1992, a memorial complex of 20 thousand square metres was established at the site of the World War II massacre to commemorate the killing of 17,500 Jews there in November 1941 during the Holocaust, commemorating the mass grave with an obelisk inscribed in Yiddish, Hebrew and Ukrainian.^[8]

On 6 June 2012, the World War II Jewish burial site was vandalised, allegedly as part of an antisemitic act.^[9]

Climate[]

Rivne has a moderate continental climate with cold, snowy winters and warm summers. Snow cover usually lasts from November until March.^[10] The average annual precipitation is 598 mm (24 in) June and July being the wettest months and January and February the driest.

Industry[]

During Soviet times the provincial town was transformed into an industrial centre of the republic. There were two significant factories built. The first was a machine building and metal processing factory capable of producing high-voltage apparatus, tractor spare parts and others. The other was a chemical factory and synthetic materials fabrication plant. Light industry, including a linen plant and a textile mill, as well as food industries, including milk and meat processing plants and a vegetable preservation plant, have also been built. In addition the city became a production centre for furniture and other building materials.^{[citation needed]}

Attractions[]

Cathedral of the Intercession

As an important cultural centre, Rivne hosts a humanities and a hydro-engineering university, as well as a faculty of the Kyiv State Institute of Culture,^{[citation needed]} and medical and musical as well as automobile-construction, commercial, textile, agricultural and cooperative polytechnic colleges. The city has a historical museum.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the monument for the Soviet hero D.N.Medvedev was removed, and the 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 "People who died in the honour of Ukraine", and "Soldiers who died in local military battles" were installed.

Buildings[]

• Church of the 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, .

Memorials^[13][]

Monument to the Victims of Fascism

• Monument to the 25th Anniversary of the Liberation of Rivne from the Fascists, Mlynivs'ke Highway
• Monument to the Victims of Fascism, Bila Street Square (1968, by A.I. Pirozhenko and B.V. Rychkov, architect-V.M.Gerasimenko)
• Monument to the 30th Anniversary of the Liberation of Ukraine from German Fascist Occupation, Soborna Street
• Hero of the Civil War—M.M. Bohomolov, Pershoho Travnja Street Square
• Bust on the Tomb of Partisan M. Strutyns'ka and Relief on the Tomb of Citizens S. Yelentsia and S. Kotiyevs'koho, Kniazia Volodymyra Street, Hrabnyk Cemetery
• Monument to the Perished of Ukraine, Magdeburz'koho Prava Plaza
• Communal Grave of Warriors, Soborna Street
  

  Memorial to Warriors' Glory, Dubens'ka Street, Rivne Military Cemetery
• Monument of Eternal Glory, Kyivs'ka Street
• Bust of Olenko Dundych, T.H. Shevchenko Park
• Monument to Taras Shevchenko, T.G. Shevchenko Park; Statue on Nezalezhnosti Plaza
• Memorial to Warriors' Glory, Dubens'ka Street, Rivne Military Cemetery (1975, by M.L. Farina, architect-N.A. Dolgansky)
• Monument to the Warrior and the Partisan, Peremohy Plaza (1948 by I.Ya. Matveenko)
• Monument to Colonel Klym Savura, Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army, Soborna Street
• Monument to Symon Petliura, Symon Petliura Street
• Monument to N.I. Kuznetsov (bronze and granite, 1961 by V.P Vinaikin)
• Monument to the Jewish Victims of the Holocaust - mass grave site (ca. 1991)^[14]
• Monument to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster, Simon Petliura Street
• Statue and Plaza dedicated to Maria Rivnens'ka, Soborna Street

Popular culture references[]

• Rivne was mentioned several times in The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, a 1992 episode of the Canadian-American TV show Are You Afraid of the Dark?, being referred to by a variation of its pre-1991 name (either Ravno or Rovno).
• In Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide, the character of The Old Lady sings an aria "I am easily assimilated", in which she refers to her father having been born in Rovno Gubernya
• In Amos Oz Book "A Story of Love and Darkness" Amos Oz's Mother came from Rovno, and the author describes Jewish life in the city across about 100 pages of the novel.

Notable people[]

• Serhiy Lishchuk, professional basketball player, Valencia BC legend, also nicknamed "the Ukraine Train" and "el Tractor Ucranianio".
• Zuzanna Ginczanka, Polish poet
• Sophie Irene Loeb, U.S. journalist and social-welfare advocate
• Mira Spivak, member of the Senate of Canada representing the province of Manitoba
• Serhiy Honchar, professional road racing cyclist
• Dahn Ben-Amotz, Israeli writer
• Ancestors of U.S. composer Leonard Bernstein. His father Samuel was born in Berezdov, his mother Jennie in Sheptevoka in the Rovno region. In Bernstein's operetta Candide, the character of The Old Lady sings an aria "I am easily assimilated", in which she refers to her father having been born in Rovno Gubernya
• Jan Kobylański, Polish-Paraguayan businessman, founder of the Union of Polish Associations and Organizations in Latin America
• Anna Walentynowicz, trade unionist, member of Solidarity
• Yaroslav Alexandrovich Evdokimov - (born 22 November 1946) is a singer, baritone, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, People's Artist of Belarus.^[15]
• Oksana Markarova is a former Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2020.
• Amos Oz, one of the most popular and outstanding Israeli writers^[16]

International relations[]

Twin towns – Sister cities[]

Rivne is twinned with:

• Zabrze in Poland
• Vidin in Bulgaria
• Zvolen in Slovakia
• Radomsko County in Poland
• Piotrków Trybunalski in Poland
• Gdańsk in Poland
• Lublin in Poland
• Kobuleti in Georgia
• Oberviechtach in Germany

Images[]

• 

  Prospect Miru (Peace Avenue)

• 

  Soborna (Cathedral) Street

• 

  Independence square with cinema and statue of Taras Shevchenko

• 

  Railway terminal

• 

  Monument to the "30th Anniversary of the Liberation of Ukraine"

• 

  Saint Nicholas Monastery of Rivne

See also[]

• Rivne Ukrainian Gymnasium

References[]

Maps[]

• (in Ukrainian) Рівне, план міста, 1:12000. Міста України. Картографія.
• infomisto.com — map of the Rivne, information and reference portal.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rivne.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Rivne.

Look up rivne in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Official website of Rivne City Council and Rivne City Administration (in Ukrainian)
• Rivne Bird webcam (in Ukrainian)
• Rivne Places of Interest (in English)
• Rowno, a Memorial to the Jewish Community of Rowno, Volyn (Rivne, Ukraine) (in English)
• The Jewish Community of Rivne, The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot (in English)
• Rivne, Ukraine at JewishGen