Zvenyhorod

Zvenyhorod [Звенигород]. Map: IV-5. A village in Pustomyty raion, Lviv oblast, approximately 20 km southeast of Lviv. It is also called Zvenyhorod Halytskyi, to distinguish it from Zvenyhorod Kyivskyi [see Zvenyhorod (Kyiv region)], which was a town south or southwest of Kyiv during the era of Kyivan Rus’ (probably destroyed by Tatars in 1240). The Galician village site has been settled continuously since the Paleolithic Period and is one of the oldest such sites in Galicia. Zvenyhorod is first mentioned in ancient chronicles under the year 1087, when it was the seat of Prince Volodar Rostyslavych. In 1124–41 his son, Volodymyrko Volodarovych, governed there, and after he moved to Halych, Ivan Rostyslavych Berladnyk (1144) and Roman Ihorovych (1206–12) ruled there. The town derived its importance from its position at the intersection of east–west and north–south trade routes. The castle, built on a low hill surrounded by the marshes of the Bilka River, was virtually inaccessible. After it was burned down by the in 1240, Zvenyhorod declined to an ordinary village, and its leading role passed to Lviv. Excavations were conducted at Zvenyhorod by Isydor Sharanevych (1885), Mykhailo Hrushevsky (1899), N. Mykylyta (1907), I. Bilynkevych (1920s), L. Chachkovsky (1932), Yaroslav Pasternak (1937), and I. Sveshnikov (1970–81). Among the retrieved artifacts the most historically valuable are samples of Roman provincial ceramics imported from Gaul and the lead seals of Metropolitan Constantine and Prince Vasylko Rostyslavych of Terebovlia. Some traces of a court church built of white stone have been found.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sharanevich, I. Raskopki v drevnem Zvenigorode (Lviv 1885)
Hrushevs’kyi, M. Zvenyhorod halyts’kyi (Lviv 1899)
Pasternak, Ia. Terra sigilliata iz Zvenyhorodu (Lviv 1931)
Vlokh, M. Vynnyky, Zvenyhorod, Uhniv ta dovkil’ni sela (Chicago 1970)

Arkadii Zhukovsky

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