Oster

Oster. Map: III-11. A town (2001 pop 7,194) on the Desna River in Kozelets raion, Chernihiv oblast. It is first mentioned in the chronicles under the year 1098 as a fortress belonging to Pereiaslav principality. It was built by Volodymyr Monomakh and called Horodets. In 1240 it was destroyed by the Tatars, and it remained in ruins for a century. In 1569 the town was transferred from Lithuanian to Polish rule. In 1648 it became a company center of Pereiaslav regiment. In 1662 Oster obtained the rights of Magdeburg law, and in 1803 it became a county center of Chernihiv gubernia. Today Oster is a river port with a cotton-textile factory and a food industry. Some parts of the old fortress and Saint Michael's Church (aka Yurii's Temple), built in 1098, have been preserved.

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