In the spring of 1919, it also served as a provisional seat of the Ukrainian government throughout the ongoing war with Soviet Russia. 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).
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 Rivne-Azot (part of Ostchem Holding).
Names
Russian: Ровно, romanized: Rovno, also the former spelling in Ukrainian until 1991[a]
Rivne was first mentioned in 1283 in the Polish annals "Rocznik kapituły krakowskiej"[5][6] 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 LithuaniaŠvitrigaila awarded the settlement to a Lutsk nobleman Dychko.[5] In 1461 Dychko sold his settlement to Prince Semen Nesvizh.[5][6] In 1479 Semen Nesvizh died and his settlement was passed to his wife Maria who started to call herself princess of Rivne.[6] She turned the settlement into a princely residence by building in 1481[5] 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.[6] 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.[5]
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 Directorate led by Symon Petliura and the 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 neighboring 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 PolishVolhynian Voivodeship, a situation which would last until the Second World War. Before World War II, Rivne (Równe) was a mainly Jewish-Polish city (Jews constituted about 50% of the city's population, and Poles 35%). When Jews died during the Holocaust, Poles from Rivne were deported to Poland's new borders after 1945.
World War II
In 1939, as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the partition of Poland, Rivne was occupied by the Soviet Union. Starting December of that year Rivne became the center of the newly established Rivne Oblast in the Ukrainian SSR.
On November 6–8, 17,500 Jewish adults from Rivne were shot to death or thrown alive into a large pit in a pine grove in Sosenki, and 6,000 Jewish children suffered the same fate at a nearby site.[8] In November 8–13, German actor Olaf Bach was flown to the city to perform for the German forces.[citation needed] The city's remaining Jews were sent to Rivne Ghetto. In July 1942, they were sent 70 km (43 mi) north to Kostopil and shot to death. The ghetto was subsequently liquidated.
On 2 February 1944, the city was captured by the Red Army in the Battle of Rivne, and remained under Soviet control until Ukraine regained its independence on the break-up of the USSR in 1991.
Post-war era
In 1958, a TV tower began broadcasting in the city; in 1969, the first trolley ran through the city; in 1969, Rivne airport opened. In 1983, the city celebrated its 700th anniversary.
In 1992, a 20,000-square-metre (4.9-acre) memorial complex was established at the site of the World War II massacre to commemorate the 17,500 Jews murdered there in November 1941 during the Holocaust, marking the mass grave with an obelisk inscribed in Yiddish, Hebrew and Ukrainian.[9]
On 6 June 2012, the World War II Jewish burial site was vandalised, as part of an antisemitic attack.[10]
Russo-Ukrainian War
On March 14, 2022, Rivne TV Tower has experienced heavy missile attack by Russian troops. The tower was damaged and an administrative room was destroyed. As a result of attack 20 people were killed and nine injured.[11][12][13]
On June 25, 2022, 4 people were killed by a Russian missile attack in Sarny. Two more attacks in March and August 2022 hit the town, but the damage was not significant.
According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in April–May 2023, 96% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, and 3% spoke Russian.[16]
Geography
Climate
Rivne has a moderate continental climate with cold, snowy winters and warm summers. Snow cover usually lasts from November until March.[17] The average annual precipitation is 598 mm (24 in) June and July being the wettest months and January and February the driest.
Climate data for Rivne, Ukraine (1991–2020, extremes 1951–present)
During Soviet times the provincial town was transformed into an industrial center 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 center for furniture and other building materials. [citation needed]
Landmarks
Cathedral of the Intercession
As an important cultural center, 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 Dmitry Medvedev was removed, and the Nikolai 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 honor 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 center 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.
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)
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 StreetMemorial to Warriors' Glory, Dubens'ka Street, Rivne Military Cemetery
Monument of Eternal Glory, Kyivs'ka Street
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 N.I. Kuznetsov (bronze and granite, 1961 by V.P Vinaikin)
Monument to the Jewish Victims of the Holocaust - mass grave site (ca. 1991) The memorial was desecrated on June 8, 2012, by breaking parts of it and spraying swastikas. The teenagers in charge of the antisemitic action were caught and trialed.[21]
Monument to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster, Simon Petliura Street
Statue and Plaza dedicated to Maria Rivnens'ka, Soborna Street
Popular culture references
In his memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, Israeli author Amos Oz describes Rivne through the memories of his mother and her family, who grew up in the city before emigrating to Israel in the 1930s.[22]
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
Dahn Ben-Amotz (1924–1989), Israeli radio broadcaster, journalist, playwright and author
Ancestors of Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), the American composer include his father, Samuel, who was born in Berezdiv and his mother, Jennie, born 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 as having been born in Rovno Gubernya
Vsevolod Zaderatsky (1891–1953), Russian Imperial and Ukrainian Soviet composer, pianist and teacher
Yana Zinkevych (born 1995), Ukrainian member of parliament and military veteran
Moishe Zilberfarb (1876-1934), Ukrainian politician, diplomat, and public activist
Maksym Kryvtsov (1990–2024), Ukrainian poet, public figure, volunteer, soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war
Grygorii Tsekhmistrenko (1994–2023), Canadian civic activist, volunteer medic of Ukrainian origin, soldier of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, participant of the Russian-Ukrainian war
Ancestors of Demian Maia (born 1977), UFC Fighter, BJJ Champion and ADCC Champion. His grandfather Stefan Szwec came from Rovno, village of Shpaniv to Brazil in 1926. Demian Maia’s grandmother, Eugenia Kirilchuk, also came from Rovno region.
The stadium opened on 24 May 1959.[30] The venue has hosted significant speedway events including a qualifying round of the Speedway World Championship in 1962.[31][32] and 1991.
^"Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Rivne". Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance. Berlin, Germany: Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
^Погода и Климат – Климат Ровно [Weather and Climate – The Climate of Rivne] (in Russian). Weather and Climate (Погода и климат). Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
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