Sandomierz

Sandomierz [Сандомир; Sandomyr]. Map: III-2. A Polish city (2006 pop 25,088) (now in Świętokrzyskie voivodeship) on the left bank of the Vistula River, near the mouth of the Sian River. It was situated on the Kyiv–Volodymyr-Volynskyi–Cracow trade route, at the junction of its branches to Peremyshl and princely Halych. It was destroyed in several Tatar incursions; a siege of the city by Lev Danylovych allied with the Nogay Tatars was described in the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle (1280). As Lviv and Lublin became established economic centers in the 16th century, Sandomierz declined in significance. The city has many architectural monuments. Its Gothic cathedral (built ca 1360–82) contains frescoes in the Byzantine-Ukrainian style, painted in the 1430s at the behest of King Władysław II Jagiełło by Ukrainian masters of the Galician school. The main fresco depicts the Dormition of the Mother of God, and others show scenes from the life of Christ. They were discovered in 1887. An inferior restoration (1932–4) obscured the coloration and stylistic detail of the original.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]