Rivne

Rivne (Ukrainian: Рівне; German: Röwne; Polish: Równe; Russian: Ровно, Rovno; Yiddish: ראוונע) is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own separate raion within the oblast.

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, Kiev and Lviv.

The current estimated population is around 249,900 (as of 2004).

Rivne was first mentioned in 1283 as one of the inhabited places of Halych-Volhynia. From the second half of the 14th century it was under the Great Duchy of Lithuania and from 1569 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1492 the city was granted Magdeburg rights. Following the partition of Poland, in 1793 Rivne became a part of Russian Empire, and in 1797 it was declared as a regional town of the Volyn Guberniya.

During World War I and the period of chaos shortly after, it was briefly under German, Ukrainian, Bolshevik, and Polish forces. In April-May 1919 Rivne served as the temporary capital of Ukrainian People's Republic. At the conclusion of the conflict, in accordance with the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 it became a part of Polish Volhynian Voivodeship for the period between the two World Wars.

In 1939, as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the partition of Poland, Wolyn was occupied by the Soviet Union. From December of the same year Rivne became the centre of the newly established Rivne Oblast, within the Ukrainian SSR. On June 28, 1941 Rivne was captured by Nazi Germany, who later established the city as the administrative centre of Reichskommissariat Ukraine. At the time, roughly a half of Rivne's inhabitants were Jewish; of these, about 23000 were taken to a pine grove in Sosenki and killed between the 6th and the 8th of November. A ghetto was established for the remaining 5,000 Jews. In July 1942, its population was sent some 70 kilometres north to Kostopil where they were killed; the ghetto was subsequently liquidated.

On February 2, 1944, the city was liberated by the Red Army, and remained part of Soviet Ukraine until the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In 1958 a TV tower began broadcasting in the city; in 1969 the first trolley ran through the city; in 1969 Rivne airport was opened. In 1983 the city celebrated its 700th anniversary.

During Soviet times the provincial town was transformed into a massive industrial center of the republic. There were two significant factories built. The first a machine building and metal processing factory capable of producing high-voltage apparatus, tractor spare parts and others. The other 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.

Being an important cultural centre, Rivne hosts a Humanitarian, and a hydro-engineering universities, as well as a faculty of the Kiev State Institute of Culture, 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 time hero D.N.Medvedev was removed, and N.I.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 died in the honour of Ukraine", and "Soldiers 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 centre 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.

Memorials
- 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)
- Monument to the 30th Anniversary of the Liberation of Ukraine from German Fascist Occupation, Soborna Street
- Hero of the Civil War--M.M. Bohomolov, Pershoho Travnja Street Square
- 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 Street
- Monument of Eternal Glory, Kyivs'ka Street
- Bust of Olenko Dundych, T.H. Shevchenko Park
- 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 General Klym Savura Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army, Soborna Street
- Monument to Symon Petliura, Symon Petliura Street
- Monument to N.I. Kuznetsov (bronze and granite, 1961 by V.P Vinaikin)
- Jewish Victims of the Holocaust (ca. 1991)
- Monument to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster
- Statue and Plaza dedicated to Maria Rivnens'ka

- Sophie Irene Loeb, a U.S. journalist and social-welfare advocate.
- Mira Spivak, a member of the Canadian Senate representing the province of Manitoba
- Serhiy Honchar, a professional road racing cyclist
- Dan Ben Amotz, an Israeli writer
- the ancestors of Leonard Bernstein, composer,
- Andrzej Milczanowski, born in Rivne in 1939. Polish politician, parliamentarian and member of anticommunist opposition, Minister of Internal Affairs of Poland (1992 - 1995),
- Jan Kobylanski, a Polish-Paraguayan businessman, founder of the Union of Polish Associations and Organizations in Latin America