Novohrad-Volynskyi

The city of Novograd-Volynsky (until July 5, 1795 - Zvyagel) is located in the central part of the Ukrainian Polesie. The history of the city dates back to the Copper-Stone Age (IV-III millennium BC). The oldest known monuments belong to the period of Tripoli culture. Early Iron Age settlements (8th - 7th centuries BC) were studied by archeological expeditions in the 70s and 90s. XX century Local tribes were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, processing of copper and iron.

Their homes were square in shape, buried in the ground. In the middle of the XII century. on these lands appeared an independent princely formation - Bolokhov land. At the time when in 1240 Kiev and most other lands of Kievan Rus were conquered and plundered by the Tatars, Bolokhov land was bought from them and continued its development. Prince D. Galitsky decided to conquer the Bolokhov cities and in 1241 began their conquest. In connection with these events for the first time in the chronicle mentions the town of Zviahel, which in 1256 - 1257. was conquered by Daniel's retinue and set on fire for disobeying the prince. Details of these historical events helped to reproduce the members of the archeological expedition in 1988. During these excavations, a rich treasure of women's jewelry was found on the remains of the ashes, including a princely ring with the image of a trident, colts, earrings, rings decorated with beads and skuny. In 1432, the name "Vzvyagel" appeared among the cities of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1437, in the charter of Prince Svidrigail to the estate in the Zhytomyr district, Kalenik Milikovich mentions the "village of Budishcha in Zvyagl". In 1494-96 Zvyagelsky volost, as well as all Volyn, suffered a lot and became depopulated from Tatar attacks. The devastation was such that in 1496 Grand Duke Alexander presented a husband and family in the Vruch district to the governor of Zwiagel, Jacob Miz (Mezinc). After the return of Prince Constantine of Ostrog (1460 - 1533), the then great hetman - from Russian captivity in 1501, Grand Duke Alexander granted him "forever" the estate Zvyagel. Since then, the city's development has accelerated and lasted for almost a century and a half. From 1533, after the death of Prince Ostrog, the city was owned by his son Vasily-Konstantin Ostrogsky (1526 - 1608), Vladimir elder and marshal of the Volyn land (1550), Kiev voivode (1559), after the Lublin Union (1569) - crown senator. In 1569, when Zwiegel became a member of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Union of Lublin, the city already had nine market houses and four artisans, and a population of about 1,000. This composition of the population persisted until 1589. At the same time, 2 mills appeared. From 1582 the first information about the existence of the church in Zviahel has been preserved. In 1620 the town already had 5 streets and 2 churches. Education and healthcare were developed - there was a school and a hospital in Zviahel. The settlement was well fortified: dug by a moat, surrounded by an embankment, surrounded by an "oak fence" with 4 towers. In addition, a stone castle has almost been built, located on the edge of a high coastal plateau on a rock on the left bank of the river Sluch.

In the 40s of the XVII century. a large synagogue and church were built in the city. Holy Trinity. During the liberation war of B. Khmelnytsky (1648 - 1654) Zvyagel felt the burden of this war from the Cossacks, Tatars and Poles. Detachments of Maxim Krivonos, known for his cruelty, who was a storm of Poles and Jews, attacked and captured in the summer of 1648. From there the Cossacks went to Zvyagel, captured and destroyed it, burned the church and strangled the Jews. " During the national liberation war, the city suffered significant material and human losses, because it became a border town and remained so until the Andrusov Peace of 1667. The city suffered heavy losses due to the war. Even in 1662-63. the documents state “Zvyagel, an empty town ...”, in 1675 no more than 200-250 people lived in Zvyagel itself.

Life in Zviahel began to improve in the 1920s, when Yuri Lubomirsky became the owner of Zviahel. In 1726 the church was restored, which then burned down during another fire. In 1731. By the decree of the Russian Empress Catherine II, provinces were formed instead of voivodships. Zvyagel was renamed the center of the Volyn province, renamed Novograd-Volynsky, at the same time the coat of arms of Novograd-Volynsky as a provincial city was developed. Due to the lack of adequate facilities for the provincial services and funds for their construction, the city remained a county, which on July 3, 1804 issued a decree of Emperor Alexander I. In 1806 Maria Zubova (nee Lubomirskaya) gave her husband - General of the Cavalry Fyodor Uvarov Zvyag , Emilchinsky and Serbovsky keys in Novograd-Volyn district, which amounted to more than 20 thousand tithes. Until 1917, the Uvarov family was considered one of the richest in Novograd-Volynsky and Volyn.

A brewery has been operating in the area of ​​Novy Zvyagel, the Uvarov estate, since 1804, and a distillery was opened in the 1840s. In 1866 the first public library based on private funds was opened in the city.

In 1912, a men's gymnasium began operating in the city, and later a women's gymnasium, where the children of wealthy citizens studied. In 1900 the Zemstvo hospital was built.

Soviet power in the city was established in 1920. In 1923 Novograd-Volynsky became the center of the district of the same name.

At the beginning of World War II, the city was heroically defended, but on July 7, 1941, the Nazis occupied it. During July-September 1941, the occupying forces killed almost 6,000 residents of the city, mostly Jews. During the Nazi occupation, a concentration camp for prisoners of war was established in the city park, where 30,000 people were tortured and killed.

The history of Novograd-Volynsky is closely connected with the names of outstanding people who played a significant role in the history of Ukraine. In 1846 the city was visited by Taras Shevchenko. From 1868 to 1879 the Kosach family lived in the city - PA Kosach (1840-1909) - the head of the Congress of World Mediators and his wife AP Dragomanova-Kosach (Elena Pchilka) (1849-1930) - a famous writer, folklorist , researcher (the first woman is a corresponding member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences). Three children were born in the family in Novograd-Volynsky: in 1869 - son Mikhail Kosach (1869-1903) - scientist, mathematician and physicist, who did much for the development of Ukrainian meteorology, writer, he wrote under the pseudonym Mikhail Obachny, in 1871 - daughter Larisa Kvitka-Kosach (Lesya Ukrainka) (1871-1913) - famous Ukrainian poetess, playwright, public figure, in 1877 - daughter Olga Kosach-Krivinyuk (1877-1945) - the first biographer of Lesya Ukrainka and custodian of the family archive.