Turka

Turka. Map: IV-4. A town (2011 pop 7,681) on the Stryi River and a raion center in Lviv oblast. It was first mentioned in historical documents in 1431. It was granted the right of Magdeburg law in 1730, while it was under Polish rule. In 1772 Turka was annexed by Austria, and after the First World War it was placed under Polish rule. In 1944 it became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Turka is an agricultural town with a light-fixtures factory, a gravel quarry, and a branch of the Boryslav Haberdashery Sewing Complex. It has three rare examples of Boiko wooden architecture: the Higher Saint Nicholas's Church (early 15th century), the Middle Saint Nicholas's Church (1739, by D. Prokopii), and the Dormition Church (1750). In the fall of 1744 the legendary outlaw Oleksa Dovbush staged an opryshok rebellion in the area.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]