Drogobych

a city in L’vov Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, located on the Tysmenitsa River (Dnestr basin) in the foothills of the Carpathians. Railroad and highway junction. Population, 56,000 in 1970 (37,000 in 1939).

Drogobych was first mentioned in a chronicle under the year 1238. During the 19th century petroleum and fuel gases began to be extracted near the city, and between 1900 and 1910, oil refineries were established there. On June 19 (July 2), 1911, the day of the parliamentary elections, Austro-Hungarian police fired on a demonstration by the city’s inhabitants against violations of electoral procedure, killing 24 persons and wounding 47. On Apr. 14-15, 1919, the Communists led the workers of Drogobych in an uprising against the counterrevolutionary government of the so-called Western Ukrainian People’s Republic. In 1939, Drogobych and the territory of the Western Ukraine were rejoined to the Ukrainian SSR. From July 1, 1941 through Aug. 6, 1944, the city was occupied and heavily damaged by fascist German troops.

After the war, industry was fully restored in Drogobych. One of the important industrial centers of Ciscarpathia, the city has well-developed oil refineries, as well as mining of chemical raw materials, machine building, woodworking, light industry, and food processing. In the postwar years a number of new enterprises have been built, including a potash combine, plants for the manufacture of automotive cranes and gas equipment, a dairy, a fruit cannery, a distillery, and a baking combine. Among the installations that were enlarged and reconstructed after the war are the oil refinery, saltworks, pottery plant, chisel plant, and meat combine.

Drogobych has a pedagogical institute, the general engineering department of the L’vov Polytechnic Institute, two technicums (petroleum extraction and mechanical engineering), and a music school. There is a theater of musical comedy and drama and a museum of local lore in the city.

In Drogobych there is a fortress tower (13th and early 14th century) and a Gothic Roman Catholic church (15th century). A number of wooden Orthodox churches have been preserved, including the Vozdvizhenie (built before 1636 and reconstructed in 1661, with paintings and iconostasis done in 1636 and 1711) and the Church of St. George (1654, with paintings dating from 1654-56 and an iconostasis dating from 1656-58). During the Soviet period new residential regions have been built, including along Radians’ka Street (1965-70). A railroad station was built in 1952. Associated with Drogobych are the life and career of the Ukrainian writer I. Franka, to whom a monument was erected in 1966 (bronze; sculptors E. P. Mis’ko, V. P. Odrekhovskii, and Ia. I. Chaika).