To the history of the right-bank towns in encyclopedias of the 18–21 centuries (on the example of Olyka princely town)

Abstract

This is a study of the historical destiny of many former towns of right-bank (along the Dnipro) Ukraine on the example of the ancient Volyn princely town Olyka. The study is based on the analysis of encyclopedic texts over four centuries. It is shown that after the partition of Poland and the arrival of the Russian Empire in this territory, most of them lost such town-forming elements as fortresses and castles, palaces, religious buildings, etc. This tendency intensified especially after the establishment of Soviet power in these lands. Therefore, many of them gradually turned into small towns and then villages. A certain exception is Western Ukraine, where there was no active destruction of monuments in the interwar period. Therefore, here, in contrast to Central Ukraine, there is still a “Western Ukrainian Golden Meridian of Monuments” from Chernivtsi to Olyka and Lutsk. As in the former Ukrainian SSR no special attention was paid to its historical past, until recently the history of former towns could be read mainly in Polish and Russian-language editions of previous centuries. Their ancient history is most often associated with the names of the owners, as – on the example of the Volyn region in the middle of the 17 century – out of the total number of towns 125 were private 111. Regardless of the personalities of these owners, the population of cities carried through the centuries the Ukrainian language, rituals, culture in general. In particular, the primary sources of modern history allow us to trace the manifestations of the high cultural level of the urban population of Olyka in connection with the traditions of Magdeburg law and the educational factor.