Nahirny, Vasyl

Nahirny, Vasyl [Нагірний, Василь; Nahirnyj, Vasyl’], b 11 January 1847 in Hirne, Stryi circle, Galicia, d 25 February 1921 in Lviv. Architect and populist civic figure. He studied architecture at the Zürich Institute of Technology (1871–5) and then worked in Zürich, where he became involved with Western European co-operative movements (which he described in articles sent to the journal Pravda and newspaper Dilo in Lviv) and Russian and Ukrainian émigré circles. From 1882 he lived in Lviv. Nahirny designed and built (from 1906 with his son, Yevhen Nahirny) many Galician churches and buildings. In 1883 he presented a program for the socioeconomic revival of Galicia's Ukrainians at the Second Public Assembly (viche) and initiated, with Appolon Nychai, the creation of the Narodna Torhovlia wholesalers' co-operative. He served as its director for many years, and was also the founder and chief organizer of the Zoria artisans' association, the Dnister Insurance Company, the Sokil society (president, 1894–1900), the Trud women's manufacturing association, the Society for the Advancement of Ruthenian Art (chairman, 1898–1904), and the Narodna Hostynnytsia co-operative. He was a member of the chief executive of the Prosvita society; editor and publisher of the humorous journal Nove zerkalo (1883–4), the weekly Bat’kivshchyna (1885–90), and the semimonthly Hospodar i promyshlennyk (1886–7); and a contributor on social and economic problems to Dilo. His memoirs were published posthumously, in 1935.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]