Kalush Territorial Community

History

The administrative centre of the community is the town of Kalush.

The first written mention of Kalush is dated May 27, 1437. The town owes its development to its ancestors, who started salt mining, brewing, and casting bells. Salt deposits, which were known in the Kalush neighbourhood as early as 1387, were an important factor in the settlement of the region.

In the 15th century, Kalush became a large settlement that owned significant salt mines.

In 1656, they started brewing Kalush beer in the town. It was exported in a special container to Poland, Hungary, and France. Kalush “Cisarske” beer competed with Bavarian, Czech, and Lviv beer, and even the emperor of Austria-Hungary himself liked to taste it.

In 1771, the Kalush salt works had 12 wells. 33 craftsmen worked here. Artisans, specialists in the most diverse branches of industrial production deployed the production of salt, saltpetre, potash, etc.

There was a forge near the salt works, where iron was smelted and churns for the salt works were produced. Later, the Austrian government introduced a state monopoly on salt and prohibited the use of subsoil. At the end of the 18th century, the export of salt decreased and the salt works started to close. Nevertheless, they still existed until 1848.

In May 1804, while deepening a mine near Kalush, workers found “bitter” salts – kainite and sylvinite. And in 1867, a joint-stock company was founded in the centre of the county (which then had 90 villages) for the development of potash deposits. Then, in two years, a factory was built in the town that processed potash ores. From this time forth, the chemical industry started to develop and reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s.

The area is famous for bell casting. It was started in 1808 by the Felchynskys brothers. Felchiskys bells won the Grand Prix at world exhibitions in Liege, Belgium (1927) and Paris (1928). And 12 bells called “Harmony” were cast for one of the US cathedrals.

The history of the town is rich in significant events and important names of Kalush artists, scientists, writers.

Economy and Welfare

The subsoil of the Kalush community is rich in potash ores, gas, peat, clay, loam, gypsum, and sand. The Kalush – Holyn deposit of potassium-magnesium salts is a large raw material base for starting new investment projects, in particular, the production of potash fertilizers, magnesium and chemical products. On the territory of the villages of Kropyvnyk and Sivka-Kalush, there are gas wells for the production of natural gas.

The Kalush territorial community is a powerful industrial complex with modern production facilities. Several dozen enterprises with foreign capital are registered here, which are successfully engaged in a wide range of economic activities.

The community’s industrial complex includes 40 large and medium-sized enterprises and about 500 small ones. Its basis consists of enterprises producing various products – chemical, printing, mineral, rubber, plastic and other products – as well as companies engaged in light and food industry.

The community accounts for 50% of all foreign economic activity of the Ivano-Frankivsk region, and for many years it has ranked first in terms of the volume of manufactured industrial products per person in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Small and medium-sized business occupies an important place in the economy of the Kalush community and is characterized by a developed network of trade, restaurant and service enterprises.

Agriculture is also well-developed here. The area of agricultural lands is 12,710.1 hectares.

The community has a powerful agro-industrial enterprise which ranks second in Ukraine in terms of pork production. They operate a biogas plant where organic waste is used as raw material for the production of electricity and heat.

21 institutions of general secondary education enrolling over 9,000 pupils effectively function in the Kalush community.

Pupils of educational institutions have repeatedly become winners of All-Ukrainian competitions, contests and tournaments.

There are also 4 higher education institutions of 1st-2nd accreditation levels.

The community has many different cultural and artistic schools, libraries, sports public organizations, two houses of culture (“Youth” and “Mineral”). Local choreographic and folklore festivals are held here and creative teams participate in national and international art competitions.

Recently, the project “Culture in the mirror – Restoration of the House of Culture in Sein (Romania) and the Concert Hall in Kalush (Ukraine) with Transformation into Multicultural Centres” was implemented within the framework of the cross-border cooperation programme “Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine 2014-2020”.

The concert hall is a gem of the historical part of the town of Kalush. It housed a branch of the Polish society “Sokil” from 1906, and then a cinema was also opened here in 1909.

The community has historical, cultural and natural sites with a significant potential for the development of tourism. The most tourist-attractive places: the Ivan Franko Town Park of Culture and Recreation; the Residence Museum of Ivan Franko’s family; the Museum of Local History of Kalush Neighbourhood; the “Cheremosha” Dugout Museum; and the administrative building of the Felchynskys Bell Foundry.

The Kalush community is represented by a number of medical institutions that provide highly qualified medical care. In particular, the Kalush Central District Hospital has a modern medical and diagnostic base for providing high-quality medical care for diseases of various profiles and is equipped with up-to-date laboratory equipment that allows conducting a wide range of research. 

Community and War

During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, many residents of the Kalush urban territorial community made a lot of efforts for the future victory over the enemy.

This includes fundraising for the purchase of necessary equipment and machinery for military personnel, charity events, assistance to internally displaced persons (collection of food and everything necessary for living).

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, more than 11,000 forced migrants have been registered in the community, of which 6,000 have remained to live there. There is a social canteen in the community.

With the help of international donors, the construction of the second shelter for the displaced is being completed. Psychological and legal assistance is also provided to internally displaced persons and measures are taken for their socialization in our community.

Also, a lot of necessary things were purchased upon the requests of Ukrainian military personnel with the funds of the budget of the Kalush urban territorial community. Many utility vehicles were transferred for the needs of the territorial defence formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

Within the framework of twinning relations, a lot of humanitarian aid was received in this difficult time for the country and the community from twin municipalities: Gorlice (Poland), Cejna (Romania) and Kendrzezyn-Kozle (Poland). Delivery of humanitarian goods from other countries was also ensured: Austria, Italy, Sweden and Spain, Slovakia.

People of the Community

Andrii Naida, Head of the Kalush urban territorial community.

Andrii Naida was elected as Mayor in October 2020.

He takes care of the community’s welfare and comfortable and cosy life of its residents.

The community is also famous for its Kalush Orchestra band which won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song called Stefania.

In order to improve the business environment, the community, within the framework of the “Association of Ukrainian Cities Unites Ukraine” forum, joined the signing of the Cooperation Agreement between seven territorial communities, which provides for the implementation of joint projects with the aim of introducing a systemic approach to supporting small and medium-sized businesses.

Cooperation of communities in Prykarpattia takes place within the framework of the project “Promoting comprehensive development of communities through analytics, dialogue and cooperation” with the support of the “U-LEAD with Europe” Programme, which is implemented in accordance with the grant agreement between the All-Ukrainian Association of Local Government Bodies “Association of Ukrainian Cities” and the German International Cooperation Society (GIZ).

Many enterprises were relocated to the Kalush community due to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The community supports the relocation of businesses in every possible way. We actively cooperate with the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration and local businesses in the search for vacant premises and land plots. Thus, more than 20 enterprises have already transferred their facilities to the territory of the Kalush urban territorial community, 13 of them are already carrying out production activities.

In 2022, within the framework of the project “Prykarpattia — a region for relocation”, a round table was held for community economic entities, organized by the Ivano-Frankivsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ivano-Frankivsk Women’s Chamber of Business within the framework of the UN programme for the restoration and building of peace under the financial support of the European Union. As part of the project, one of the seven round tables was held in Kalush. The event was attended by representatives of local authorities, local and relocated enterprises, and public organizations.

Also, with the aim of establishing international cooperation, the community established relations with another partner town. Mayor Andrii Naida together with the Mayor of Lippstadt (Germany) signed the Memorandum of Solidarity Partnership.

Development Strategy

“The Strategy for the development of the Kalush urban territorial community for 2022-2030″ has been developed and approved.

The following five strategic priorities of the community have been identified:

• from an ecological disaster zone to an eco-industrial community (introducing the principles of a circular economy aimed at ensuring the effective use of resources and waste management on the territory of urban territorial community (UTC) (creating clusters and industrial parks, attracting investments, organizing the infrastructure of the UTC);
• a comfortable community (implementing projects for rational management of housing stock, transport and engineering infrastructure, improvement of safety, inclusion, development of culture and leisure);
• a smart community – digital agenda (ensuring sustainable economic and social benefits from the implementation of a single digital market based on high-speed Internet connection and multi-purpose applications);
• an educated and healthy community (finalizing the formation of a new educational space and restoring and developing the health care system in the community);
• an economy that works for people (supporting the creation and operation of self-employed, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as the basis for stable functioning and filling the budget of the Kalush UTC and facilitating the increased level of wages).

List of Sources 

Official website of the Kalush Town Council

Official Facebook page of the Town Council

Official Facebook page of the Mayor