Brief history of the city of Kosiv

The first written mention of Kosiv is contained in the charter of the Grand Duke Svydryhailo of Lithuania dated 1424. It was then that his faithful servant Vlad Dragosynovych Maksymov received the village of Kosiv as a gift from the Lithuanian prince. In 1569, Kosiv became part of the Polish state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In the 1560s, the town of Rykiv was founded next to it. However, as a result of the nobility strife, this town was completely destroyed. After the town was rebuilt, it was called Kosiv, and the village of Kosiv was renamed Staryi Kosiv. The first documentary mention of the town of Kosiv dates back to 1579.

The city of Kosiv was actively developing thanks to salt production. In the Middle Ages, salt was a very valuable and expensive commodity, for which it was even called white gold. Salt in Kosiv was produced by boiling salt water from local springs, which the Hutsuls called brine. The salt industry required a large number of labourers, which led to a rapid growth of the town’s population. The Polish authorities encouraged a large number of Jews to move to Kosiv, who were actively involved in trade, renting, and tax collection. The wealthy Jews of Kosiv and the local Polish nobility were repeatedly attacked by local folk rebels, the opryshky.

The history of the town of Kosiv was extremely turbulent and full of many different wars. In 1621, the town of Kosiv was destroyed by Turkish troops, and in 1624 it was destroyed by the Budzhak Tatars. It was then that the Kosiv Castle was destroyed.

In 1772, after the First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Kosiv became part of the Austrian Empire. Since then, the life of the town has been calm and orderly for a long period of time. It was at this time that, in addition to the salt industry, Kosiv began to actively develop as a centre for the development of carving, embroidery, carpet weaving and especially ceramics. At the end of the 19th century, the resort industry began to develop in the city. At the same time, the Ukrainian national movement began to develop in the town. Mykhailo Pavlyk, a native of Kosiv, became one of the co-founders of the Ukrainian Radical Party.

During the First World War, Kosiv was twice occupied by the Russian army. At that time, numerous pogroms and lootings took place in the city with the participation of Russian soldiers.

From November 1918 to May 1919, Kosiv was part of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic. However, the Ukrainian liberation struggle was defeated at that time, and Kosiv was first occupied by Romanian troops, and from August 1919 to September 1939, the town was part of interwar Poland. At that time, artistic crafts continued to develop actively, and Kosiv itself became an extremely popular tourist centre with a large network of boarding houses. The development of salt production slowed down in the interwar period, and in 1938 the saltworks were closed. The town itself expanded significantly. In 1929, part of the villages of Staryi Kosiv and Verbovets were annexed to it, and in 1934, Kosiv absorbed the village of Moskalivka. In 1937, for a short period of time, the name of the city was changed to Kosiv Hutsulskyi. Later, the town was given its old name – Kosiv.

During the Second World War (1939-1945), Kosiv experienced terrible shocks. At first, the inhabitants of Kosiv were subjected to terrible terror by the Soviet authorities. And after the arrival of the German authorities in 1941, the systematic destruction of the Jewish population began. The city’s large Jewish community was almost completely destroyed. The city of Kosiv became one of the centres of the OUN-UPA’s struggle for independent Ukraine. They fought both the Nazis and the Soviet government after it returned to the city.

In the Soviet period of history, Kosiv paid more attention to the development of folk art crafts, while the development of the tourism industry was slowed down. In Soviet times, the town’s population continued to grow, and Kosiv became a district centre.

After 1991, the town experienced a real boom in the development of both folk crafts and the tourism industry. Today, Kosiv claims to be the cultural and tourist centre of the Hutsul region.

Brief history of the Jewish community of Kosiv

The first Jews in Kosiv appeared in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. However, at that time there were very few of them and it was not a full-fledged community. Over time, the Jewish population of Kosiv began to grow significantly, both due to migration and natural population growth. In the eighteenth century, a Jewish cemetery, the Kirkut, was already established in Kosiv.

At that time Kosiv was owned by Polish magnates Yazlovetsky and Didushytsky. They granted great privileges to Jewish merchants and artisans in order to encourage their mass resettlement in Kosiv. This policy led to the transformation of Kosiv into a Jewish town, where the majority of the population in the central part of the city were Jews. They were engaged in trade, rented saltworks, mills, estates, taverns, and helped collect taxes. Polish magnates invited Jews primarily to increase their profits, as they were extremely successful in this regard at all times.

The town of Kosiv and its surroundings are considered a very important place for Hasidim. They are considered the true cradle of this mystical branch of Judaism. In the 1720s, the founder of Hasidism, Israel ben Eliezer Ba’al Shem Tov (abbreviated as Besht) (1698-1760), spent seven years in seclusion and prayer in a cave near a lake in the vicinity of Kosiv.

According to one Hasidic legend, the great tzaddik Besht once even saved the leader of the Oprishkas, Oleksa Dovbush (1700-1745), who was fleeing from the pursuit of the lord’s henchmen. He showed Dovbush the way to escape through mountain gorges. The grateful opryshky leader gave the tzadik a pipe.

Hasidic communities in Kosiv appeared in the mid-1730s. In 1736, the Kosiv Hasidic dynasty appeared here, from which the Vyzhnytsia dynasty originated.

The Jewish community of Kosiv grew rapidly. By the end of the eighteenth century, 110 Jewish families lived in the city. For comparison, there were 250 Greek Catholic families at that time, and only 7 Roman Catholic families. The Jews of Kosiv were quite wealthy and often became victims of attacks by opryshky.

However, the risk of being robbed or killed did not stop the growth of the Jewish community in Kosiv. As early as 1827, Jews already made up the majority of the population of this Carpathian town. In 1880, their share was 78%. At the dawn of the twentieth century, the Kosiv Jewish community numbered 2,560 people, which was 82.5% of the town’s population. Thus, in those days Kosiv was a classic Jewish town. Such settlements were called shtetls by the Jews themselves. However, as a result of the tumultuous events of the First World War, the Jewish community of Kosiv suffered greatly and the share of Jews in the town dropped to 51% of the population (2166 people).

In the 1920s and 1930s, the number of Jews in Kosiv continued to grow and, according to Polish statistics, in 1931 it reached 6,730. At this time, the Zionist movement was actively developing here. Many people from the Carpathian town moved to Palestine.

As a result of the occupation of Kosiv by the Germans in 1941-1944, the local Jewish community was brutally destroyed. Today, there are almost no Jews left in the town. However, the town is occasionally visited by Hasidic pilgrims who visit holy sites.

Legends of the city of Kosiv

Like any other city in the Carpathians, the history of Kosiv is shrouded in many legends and tales.

An interesting legend tells the story of the city’s foundation. Once upon a time, there was a warrior named Kosiv. He got his unusual name because of his talent for whistling song melodies. He lived in the time of Prince Yurii and served in his army. He was a brave and courageous warrior. For his many military services, the prince allowed him to choose the place for his estate. He travelled for a long time, but he did not like any place. One day he decided to go to the Carpathians and came across an extraordinary picturesque area with a river, mountains and forest. And after he heard the magical whistling of birds in Kosovo, he finally decided to settle here. Since then, this region has been called Kosovo, and later Kosiv.

Another legend says that the name of the city of Kosiv was formed from the word “kos”. This term is used by the Hutsuls to refer to blackbirds, which in ancient times were very numerous in the local forests.

Another legend about the founding of Kosiv connects it with King Danylo Halytskyi and his boyar Kosych. King Danylo ordered the boyar to strengthen the borders of the Galician lands in the mountains, where the boyar founded a new settlement, which was named after him – Kosiv.

There is a very creepy legend associated with the dungeons of the former castle on the City Hill. In 1624, the town of Kosiv was attacked by the Budzhak Tatars. The townspeople, together with their valuable property, decided to escape to the dungeons of the fortress. However, the Tatars captured and burned the fortress, and a huge number of people were simply killed. Since then, Kosiv Castle has not been rebuilt. The entrance to the castle’s dungeons was accidentally found on the eve of the Second World War, when a bus station was being built. The local authorities decided to wall up the entrance, but one man managed to go down into the underground labyrinths and found a huge amount of treasure, and then he saw a room with numerous skeletons of dead townspeople. The frightened man ran to the surface, and when he returned to retrieve the treasure, the entrance had already been filled in.

No less gruesome is the legend associated with the opryshky who robbed a church in Kosiv. The loot was very large, so they took the sexton and a maid hostage to carry the loot. When the guards began to surround the opryshky, they decided to kill the maid and the sexton and hide their bodies with the loot in a pit they dug under a large stone. And the dead were ordered by the opryshky to protect the treasures from the living. Since then, the locals consider the treasure to be cursed and always stay away from it. It was only in the early twentieth century that a brave man was found who decided to get to the treasure of the opryshky. He blew up the cursed stone with a grenade, but when he tried to take the treasure, he was hindered by two skeletons that rose from the ground. The frightened man immediately ran away and never came near this place again.

Map of attractions in Kosiv

Historical and cultural attractions in Kosiv

To confirm these atrocities, in 1992, during excavations in the basements of the former court, the remains of 19 Ukrainians tortured by the NKVEDs were found.

In 1957, the building of the former court in Kosiv was transferred to open a boarding school. Among the pupils of this educational institution are many well-known personalities who made the city of Kosiv famous. Among them, it is worth mentioning the philologist Mykola Korpaniuk, the writer Mykola Blyzniuk and the researcher of his native land, author of numerous books Ivan Mysiuk.

At the time of independence, in 1993, the boarding school was reorganised into a boarding school-gymnasium, and in 2011 – into an educational complex. Today, since 2018, it is the Ihor Pelypeiko Kosiv Lyceum.

The building of the former district court in Kosiv, located at 43 Shevchenka Street, is included in the register of monuments of local significance.

Before the Second World War, the doctors in this medical institution were mostly Jews. In Soviet times, the Kosiv hospital was significantly expanded and transformed into a powerful multidisciplinary medical facility.

Today, Kosiv Central District Hospital has 360 beds and 9 departments. Thousands of people from all over Kosiv district are treated here every year.

The old building of the Kosiv hospital, which now houses the cardiology and therapeutic departments, is included in the register of architectural monuments of local significance.

Monuments, plaques and crosses in Kosiv

The history of Kosiv is full of many heroic and tragic pages. To commemorate the most important events and to perpetuate famous historical figures, Kosiv has a large number of different monuments, plaques and crosses.

During a tour of the city of Kosiv, you should definitely pass by:

1. 1.  Cross of 1849 (erected on the occasion of the abolition of serfdom on the modern Irchan Street).
   2. Monument to Taras Shevchenko in 1914 (erected on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth).
   3. Monument to Ivan Franko from 1956 by I. Nikolyshyn and M. Obeziuk, located opposite the People’s House (1 Hrushevskoho Street).
   4. Memorial sign at the site of the Nazi massacre of Jews, unveiled in 1968 and updated in Hebrew and Ukrainian in 1994.
   5. Monument to Ivan Franko associate Mykhailo Pavlyk, 1973, by M. Obeziuk, A. Nimenko, and V. Zhyhulin.
   6. Memorial plaque to the Ukrainian graphic artist Vasyl Kasiyan from 1986 by I. Solomchenko, installed on the building of the Kosiv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts of the Lviv National Academy of Arts.
   7. Memorial plaque to the artist Yevhen Sahaidachnyi, 1988, by M. Zhahaliak, which is also installed on the building of the Kosiv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts of the Lviv National Academy of Arts.
   8. Cross in the courtyard of the gymnasium, which was erected in 1992 in memory of the tortured victims of NKVD repression.
   9. Cross on the corner of Nezalezhnosti and O. Kobylyanska streets, which was erected in 1994 in honour of UPA soldiers who were publicly executed in 1945 (in 2004, a chapel was built next to the cross at the expense of Olha Kopchuk.
   10. Memorial plaque to the prominent doctor Apollinariy Tarnavsky, created by I. Andriykanych, which was installed in 1995 on the building of the Kosiv sanatorium.
   11. Monument to the Fighters for the Freedom of Ukraine, 1997, by I. Andriykanych, located next to the Church of St Basil the Great. In the niche of this monument is a list of 1186 residents of Kosiv district who died in the struggle for Ukraine between 1939 and 1952.
   12. Stone cross of 1988, which was erected on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Ukraine-Rus next to the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist.
   13. Memorial plaque to the famous doctor Vasyl Stefaruk, who was the first in Kosiv to use X-rays. The plaque was made by I. Andriykanych and installed in 1998 in the house where the doctor lived (on the present-day Vasyl Stefaruk Street).
   14. Memorial plaque to Myroslav Protsiuk, founder and conductor of the Hutsulshchyna Choir, which has been decorating the district House of Culture since 1988.
   15. Wooden crucifix of 2000 by A. Guriev, V. Kindratchuk and I. Kishchuk, which was installed in honour of the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ next to the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist.
   16. The wooden crucifix of 2000 by V. Popeniuk, V. Oliynyk, and S. Stefurak, which was installed in honour of the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ next to the church of St. Basil the Great.
   17. The granite cross of 2000 by I. Andriykanych, which was installed on the symbolic grave of the Sich Riflemen and UGA soldiers (built in 1934) next to the church of St. Basil the Great.
   18. Memorial plaques to the famous surgeon Yaroslav Khomyn, dating back to 2000, designed by I. Andriykanych, were installed on his house on Mickiewicz Street and on the old building of the central district hospital.
   19. Memorial plaques to the famous writer Myroslav Kapiy, dated 2001, by Y. Pryimak, installed on his house on Mickiewicz Street and on the building of Kosiv Lyceum No. 1 named after Yaroslav the Wise.
   20. The memorial plaque to writer, publicist, public and political figure Mykhailo Pavlyk, created by I. Andriykanych, which was installed in 2003 on the Pavlyk family estate.

Each of these monuments, plaques and crosses tells the story of the most important milestones in Kosiv history and commemorates outstanding personalities and heroes.

Jewish architectural monuments of Kosiv

Historians have not been able to find out the name of the architect of this monument. It is only known that Jan Morda, who was from the town of Bochnia near Krakow, served as the foreman.

According to legend, stones from the remains of the fortress on the City Hill were used to build the rabbi’s house.

This building was multifunctional. The first floor was used by local shops, and the rabbi’s residence was on the second floor. In those days, the locals called this house the Rabbi’s Wall.

The oldest photo of the rabbi’s house was taken in 1892 by Czech photographer Frantisek Rehor.

In those days, the central town square, the Rynok, was located in front of the rabbi’s house in Kosiv. Every day, Hutsuls and Jews could be seen on this paved square selling their handicrafts, vegetables, and livestock.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first bookstore in Kosiv was opened in the rabbi’s house. It belonged to a Jewish entrepreneur Abraham Kreisel. It actively sold books and textbooks in Ukrainian, Polish, and German, as well as in Hebrew. In addition, newspapers and paper could be bought here.

Today, the rabbi’s house in Kosiv is used to house the exhibitions of the Kosiv Museum of Hutsul Folk Art and Life and the Museum of the History of the Liberation Movement in the Hutsul Region.

This first Kosiv synagogue was used by representatives of the Hager dynasty. It was a very beautiful, bright, and spacious building with a hall for one hundred men and a gallery for one hundred women. This synagogue has not survived to this day. It is unknown what exactly happened to it.

More information has been preserved about the central Hasidic synagogue of the town of Kosiv. It was located on the site where a two-storey residential building is now located at 126 Nezalezhnosti Street. This synagogue was a two-storey brick building with thick, sturdy walls. The prayer hall was decorated with carved wooden floral ornaments in dark brown and golden colours. Unfortunately, this architectural masterpiece has not survived to this day. This synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis on the evening of 17 October 1941. First, they shot 7 Jews who were seeking refuge in the synagogue. After that, they set fire to the shrine, and the fire brigade that came from Zhabian was forbidden to extinguish it. The synagogue burned down completely, and the thick walls that remained were demolished later, and a residential building was built on the site of the shrine.

The building of another Kosiv synagogue has survived to this day. At one time, a Jewish heder school also operated here. Later, in Soviet times, the premises of this synagogue were used by the film department. Nowadays, the former synagogue on Popova Street is used by the city council.

Museums in Kosiv

This museum started its work in 1969. It was founded by the Kolomyia Museum of Folk Art of Hutsul and Pokuttya named after Y. Kobrynskyi (now the Y. Kobrynskyi National Museum of Folk Art of Hutsul and Pokuttya), which decided to open its branch in Kosiv.

This museum is a real paradise for lovers of Hutsul antiquities. It is located in the premises of the local music school. It opened its doors to visitors relatively recently – in 2007. It was in that year that Mykhailo Strutynskyi, a teacher at the Kosiv Music School, decided to present his collection of folk art objects to the community. He had been persistently collecting all these scrubs all his life, starting back in 1961.

The educational institution where this museum is located has a long history and played a major role in the development of traditional folk crafts in Kosiv. Its history dates back to 1882, when the Weaving Society founded the Weaving School, which was located in the premises of the current dormitory of the institute.

☎ Phone number for information: (03478) 2 46 72

This patriotic museum was founded on 11 March 1999. It was originally called the Kosiv Museum of the Liberation Struggle of the Carpathian Region. Since 2006, it has been a branch of the Stepan Bandera Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Museum of the Liberation Struggle. The Kosiv Museum of the Liberation Struggle is housed in a two-storey building from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which is made in the style of classical palace architecture.

This private museum opened its doors to visitors in 2017. The founder of this wonderful museum was the famous master carver Mykola Strynadyuk. The museum operates at his creative workshop. The name comes from the author’s creative pseudonym – “Koka”. This is how Mykola called himself in his early childhood, when he could not speak.

This wonderful private ethnographic museum of the city of Kosiv is located in the manor of the famous family of masters of folk crafts – the Kornelyuks. To arrange their own museum, a six-room, two-story building was built in a short time by the efforts of this well-known family, where the museum itself was placed.

Rehabilitation in the Kosiv region

What else is worth visiting in Kosiv?

Attractions of Kosiv, which should not be forgotten:

• Church of St Anthony of Padua.
• Monument to M. Pavlyk, unveiled on 16 December 1973 (authors: A. Lilyanko, V. Zhyhulin).
• Souvenir bazaar.
• Kosiv observation deck “Nad Hukom”.
• The Kosiv Zamkova Hora (450 m) with the remains of an earthen rampart, which offers a panoramic view of the city and neighbouring villages, and a view of the Pokutsko-Bukovyna Carpathians. The mountain is home to black alpine pines, unique to the Carpathian region, as well as deciduous and coniferous plantations and white acacia thickets.

Most interesting places near Kosiv

What else to do in Kosiv?

The city of Kosiv offers tourists a wide variety of entertainment for outdoor enthusiasts. The most popular among them are horse riding, rafting, bicycle rental, quad biking, jeep tours and paintball.

This list of tourist attractions in Kosiv is not exhaustive. The city’s tourist infrastructure is developing rapidly and the list of services for holidaymakers is growing every year.

On our website you can find the most up-to-date information about tourist locations in Kosiv, which is constantly updated and expanded.

Where to stay in Kosiv?

In Kosiv and its surroundings, there are many different options for accommodation, The city has a wide range of accommodation options, including sanatoriums, hotels, cottages, hostels, private manors and apartments.

For those who plan to combine leisure with health improvement, sanatoriums are worth considering. The city itself has an excellent sanatorium “Karpatski Zori”. The sanatorium has 26 single double rooms and 18 suites, which are designed for a family of up to 3 people. All rooms are equipped with TV (cable TV), refrigerator, telephone, full bathroom with hot and cold water. The cost of living in the sanatorium “Karpatski Zori” is quite affordable and starts from 1100 UAH per person (with breakfast).

For those who like hotel accommodation in Kosiv and its surroundings, there are many different options hotels. Among them you can find different offers both in terms of comfort and price. Prices here start from 600-700 UAH per room. The most popular hotels in Kosiv and its surroundings are the Sosnovyi Dvir, Baika and Staryi Kosiv hotels.

For large companies and family rest with children, the ideal option for accommodation in Kosiv and its surroundings are comfortable cottages, manors and villas. Among them, it is worth paying attention to the cottage “Hutsulka Ksenia”, “Villa Medova” and the estate “Pan Kotskyi”. Prices for accommodation in comfortable cottages, estates and villas start from 1200 UAH. These prices are on average higher than in hotels. But here you can save on food thanks to the possibility of self-catering.

The most budget-friendly holiday options in Kosiv can be found among local hostels and private sector. Here you can find options for prices from 300 UAH per day.

Where to eat in Kosiv?

After exploring the museums and sights of Kosiv, tourists should definitely visit the excellent local restaurants and cafes.

For large groups of tourists, the best option in Kosiv is the Vodograi restaurant. For those who like cosy establishments with a mysterious atmosphere, the ideal option in Kosiv is the Lodker’s Treasures restaurant. It is located in the mystical cellars of the XVII century under the Kosiv Hotel. Hutsul dishes in this restaurant are masterpieces of culinary art. They are perfectly complemented by a wide selection of high-quality wine and beer brands.

An excellent restaurant with modern cuisine in Kosiv is Veranda. It is located next to the Kosiv Museum of Folk Art and Life of the Hutsul Region. The hall of the restaurant “Veranda” has ideal conditions for banquets, celebrations, weddings and other celebrations. The chefs of this restaurant with a bright author’s approach prepare delicious dishes of Italian, Ukrainian and European cuisine. The refined interior and exquisite service complement the pleasant experience of visitors.

In most restaurants and cafes in Kosiv, prices are very affordable, and the level of service meets high European standards.

How to get to Kosiv?

The city of Kosiv can be reached by various means of transport and routes. Everyone can choose the most suitable way for themselves.

The city does not have its own railway station, so the best way to get here is by intercity bus service. Buses from Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Chernivtsi, Truskavets, Bukovel, Kolomyia, Verkhovyna, Vyzhnytsia, Kuty and other cities, towns and villages of Western Ukraine arrive at the local bus station every day.

If you drive your own car, you can get to Kosiv from Uzhhorod via the H09 highway through Mukachevo, Khust, Rakhiv, Tatariv, Vorokhta, and Verkhovyna. If you are travelling from the city of Lviv, you should take the H09 and H10 highways through Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia and Yabluniv. From Kyiv, you will have to take the H03 motorway, passing through Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Yarmolyntsi, Chortkiv and Zabolotiv.

The closest airports to Kosiv are located in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv, but they are not functioning during the martial law period. The only other option for air travel is the nearest Romanian airports in Baia Mare and Suceava.

🧡 In any case, the road to the city of Kosiv leaves an unforgettable impression, as it passes through picturesque mountains covered with dense forests.