Olyka

Olyka [Олика]. Map: III-6. A town smt (2011 pop 3,127) situated on the Putylivka River in Kivertsi raion, Volhynia oblast. It was first mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle under the year 1149. In the 13th and 14th centuries Olyka was part of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. Later it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the 15th century the town was acquired by the Radziwiłł family. In 1564 a fortress was built, and the town was granted the rights of Magdeburg law. During the Cossack-Polish War Olyka was the site of many battles between the Cossacks and the Polish army.

Olyka’s architectural monuments include the Olyka castle built in 1558, the Lutsk gate, which was part of the town wall from 1630, the SS Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church built around 1450, the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church built in 1635, and the Church of the Presentation at the Temple, built in the 1784. Today Olyka has several agricultural and food-processing enterprises and a regional studies museum.

[This article was updated in 2014.]