Boryslav Territorial Community

History

Boryslav was first mentioned in documents of 1387 – in the charter of the Polish queen Jadwiga.

In the 15th-17th centuries, Boryslav was known as one of the centers of salt production – not only salt was produced there for Ukraine, but also exported to Poland, Lithuania, Romania, and Hungary. 

The middle of the 19th century became a new reference point for the town, when the Boryslav ozokerite deposit was discovered in 1853 to become one of the largest in the world. Ozokerite, also referred to as earth wax, was used to insulate wires and make candles. It was ozokerite from the Boryslav deposit that protected the world’s first underwater telegraph cable, laid from Ireland to the USA. With the opening of the mines, Boryslav became agitated and began to develop rapidly. 

A second wave of international attention came to the town in the 1860s, after the invention of a way to purify oil and use it in kerosene lamps. In 1859, the first oil rig was built in Boryslav, and in 1860 hundreds of mines were already operating. Entrepreneurs from all over Europe came to Boryslav.

In 1872, a railway connecting Boryslav with Vienna was built. During the period of greatest productivity, which fell on 1909, Boryslav produced 5% of the world’s oil volume! The Oil City Well alone yielded 3,000 tons of “black gold”.

The Johan Zega Pharmacy Museum is located in the Boryslav Town Park of Culture and Recreation. It is equipped as a pharmacy of the inventor of the oil industry, Johan Zega – a Lviv pharmacist, druggist, inventor of industrial oil refining in Ukraine and the world. The exhibits of the museum illustrate not only the development of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals, but also the history of the town of Boryslav, oil production and oil refining, engineering, extraction and processing of ozokerite.

On the territory of the community there is a local history museum, which is located in the building of the former torture chamber of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs. More than 5,000 exhibits are kept in the museum holdings. The exposition occupies six rooms and is divided into two parts: nature part, where the flora and fauna are presented, and history part, where Boryslav’s past and present are demonstrated.

The Carpathian Hut Museum of Antiquities in Boryslav includes 3 objects: 

• a Carpathian wooden hut of 1802, which was built from spruce logs without a single nail and has the roof covered with oil-soaked spruce shingles; 
• an authentic Boyko-type three-room hut of 1850, where old household items of the area are collected;
• and a Spykhlir – a wooden storehouse of 1861, where you can see a wide variety of antiques: tools for processing flax, brushes for combing it, a shovel for winnowing grain, a very large thermos, handicrafts, folk costumes and many other exhibits.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the parish Roman Catholic church of St. Barbara was built in Boryslav. Today it is the Church of St. Anna. The temple is included in the register of the largest pilgrimage centers and in the list of the largest shrines of Ukraine that has about a thousand antiquities and relics of Saints. Pilgrims from all over Ukraine and abroad gather there.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary attracts attention with its Ukrainian Baroque architectural style. The brick temple was built in 1929 and decorated with 10 artistic stained-glass windows designed by the famous artist Peter Kholodnyi.

Economy and Welfare

Oil and gas production is the most developed branch of the town’s industry. The processing industry is also well-developed.

In recent years, the energy industry has been developing rapidly in Boryslav. One of the largest rooftop solar power plants in Ukraine with a capacity of 3.26 megawatts and a ground solar power plant with a capacity of 1.44 megawatts were created on the territory of the former research institute “Syntez”. Boryslav Solar Station Limited Liability Company has created an 8.0-megawatt land-based solar power plant on vacant land near the municipal landfill.

BELUKO, a Belgian company founded in 2016, is actively operating on the territory of Boryslav. It specializes in the production of upholstered furniture and is part of the corporation of one of the largest European manufacturers of upholstered furniture with a sales market in Central Europe.

For 20 years, the Borovyk company from Boryslav has been growing and selling champignons. In 2022, a tasting room was opened here. Therefore, tourists can familiarize themselves at the enterprise with the ethnic cuisine of the region, the main products, the peculiarities of cooking technology, visit the tasting room and taste a variety of champignon mushrooms or buy ready-made products from the manufacturer.

At the beginning of 2024, the number of business entities registered on the territory of the community amounted to about 800 legal entities and more than 1,600 individual entrepreneurs. Also, 10 relocated business entities operate in the community.

Agriculture is represented by the cultivation of grain crops, in particular, buckwheat, wheat, rye, sunflower, as well as soybeans and other crops. About 200 head of cattle are kept on the farms of the community, of which more than a hundred are dairy herds. Up to 600,000 poultry per year are grown at the poultry factory in the village of Vynnyky. Community beekeepers are keeping more than 300 bee colonies this year.

Also, the district of Boryslav is promising for the study and use of water from natural springs and wells for the health care and treatment of people, because the results of the study of district water points confirmed the presence of weakly mineralized waters with an increased content of organic substances of Naftusia type, bromine waters and brines, Morshynska-type brines and other mineral waters.

Mineralized springs on the territory of the community and picturesque nature create prerequisites for the organization and development of the tourism industry. In order to attract investments for the development of this area, the official website of the Boryslav Town Council published information about available land plots intended for the construction and maintenance of recreational facilities.

Also, the official website of the Boryslav Town Council posted information about agricultural plots of land which are offered for attracting investments.

The community also has he Bukovytsa ski complex located on its territory. It is an ideal place for family vacations throughout the year. In winter, it is a modern ski resort. Tracks with a length of 850 m and 1050 m meet international standards and are suitable for both beginners and experienced skiers and snowboarders. Every year the slopes of Bukovytsia host draw stages of the Cup of Ukraine and All-Ukrainian competitions in alpine skiing among boys and girls.

There is also something to do there in the summer. After all, the very top of the mountain offers incredible views, and Bukovytsia is the heart of all cycling and walking routes that connect Boryslav with Truskavets, Skhidnytsia and the mountain of Tsyukhiv Verkh.

The Krutohir Ski Complex is suitable for those who are just learning to ski or snowboard. Tourists can use two 200 m and 500 m ski runs.

The Paleogene Boryslav section is a geological monument of nature. The area of the attraction is 2 hectares. This is the exposure of Paleogene sedimentary strata (flysch) of the Yamnenian, Eocene, Menilitic, Polyanetsky (about 65–23 million years old) and Vorotyshchen (23–3.5 million years old) sediments. The Boryslav Waterfall with a height of more than 2 meters with numerous smaller cascading waterfalls developed at this attraction.

The Boryslav Town Park of Culture and Recreation is the only active park in the world, on the territory of which oil is extracted by submersible pumps with the help of rocking machines and the accompanying oil gas is extracted by vacuum pipes. For family recreation, there are children’s attractions, a skate park, Western Ukraine’s largest workout ground and a rope park.

In order to emphasize the uniqueness and make the town of Boryslav recognizable, the slogan “Boryslav. Everything started with oil” was developed on the basis of which the logo and identity of the town were created.

The basis of the logo was an oil roller placed on a drop of oil. The main elements of the logo are a set of ornaments from code names of minerals – oil, gas, salt, etc.

Since 2021, a tourist information center has been operating in the Boryslav community, which is engaged in the development of tourism activities and creation and promotion of tourist products in the Boryslav community.

Community and War

On February 24, 2022, the Boryslav community, like the whole of Ukraine, was shaken by the news of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of people started arriving in Boryslav in search of salvation. Most of them came empty-handed, so they needed help.

Immediately, in the first days of the war, partners and friends from Poland, Germany, and Italy began to contact the leadership of the community to provide assistance. Humanitarian goods were sent almost every day.

At the town council, a coordination headquarters was formed to provide assistance to refugees, where they coordinated work with foreign aid providers, provided humanitarian aid to those who needed it, received and registered displaced persons who arrived independently.

School classrooms began to turn into temporary housing for those fleeing the war. With the help of caring residents, entrepreneurs and volunteers, educational institutions have become a temporary home for many Ukrainians.

The Boryslav community also actively sent aid to cities affected by russian aggression, to military units, and to military personnel in war zones.

At the beginning of 2024, a shelter for internally displaced elderly people was opened and consecrated on the territory of the Caritas Boryslav Charity Organization.

People of the community

Since 2015, Boryslav, and then the community, has been headed by Mayor Ihor Yavorskyi.

The project entitled “An Oil Cradle of Europe: The Forgotten History of Poland and Ukraine” was implemented jointly by Boryslav and the commune of Sanok within the Poland- Belarus -Ukraine 2014-2020 Cross-Border Cooperation Program financed by the European Union. As part of the project, a monument to Johan Zega – a famous pharmacist, apothecary, inventor of kerosene, founder of industrial oil refining in Galicia – was erected in Boryslav. It was there that Johan Zega opened the first “Zirka” pharmacy in the town. In addition, within the framework of the project, a bilingual album “The Forgotten Oil Cradle of Europe” was published and a number of conferences and trainings were held. 

A rooftop hybrid solar power plant was installed on the building of the polyclinic and therapeutic departments of the central town hospital. Solar panels have a total capacity of 30 kW. In addition to significant energy savings, the equipment allows storing energy and can be used as a backup power source.

The project to equip the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department with modern medical equipment was successfully implemented thanks to a grant received as part of the Kusanone program, financed by the Japanese government in Ukraine. The community bought two ventilators, an audiometer with a function for newborns, a cardiotocograph, and a neonatal incubator.

On the basis of one of the libraries, thanks to the International NGO of the Danish Council for Refugees, a space of social cohesion was created – a communicative center where people regardless of age and status can gather and participate in the implementation of joint initiatives in the community.

Development Strategy

The community implements the development strategy of the Boryslav urban territorial community for 2022-2027. The town authorities see Boryslav as an ecologically clean and safe town with a developed economy and a high standard of living. An important practical tool for the implementation of this mission is the development of the appropriate infrastructure of the town and its industrial potential. Such mechanisms include the creation of industrial parks. Investing in the territory of industrial parks is an investor-friendly form of business and at the same time an effective mechanism of state industrial and investment policy and regional development policy.

 In order to attract investments, the community established InPark Boryslav, a 20-hectare industrial park which is capable of creating 2,300 jobs.

It is worth noting that the creation and development of an industrial park in the town of Boryslav will allow solving the issues of urgent importance to the town and ensuring a high level of sustainable development not only of the town, but also of the area.

List of Sources

The sources of the information and photos used:

• Tourist and recreational potential of the Boryslav Urban Territorial Community 
• Development strategy of the Boryslav Urban Territorial Community for 2022-2027 
• Tourism brand of the town of Boryslav
• https://boryslavrada.gov.ua/…/03/Logotype-Boryslaw.rar
• Boryslav Tourist Information Center