Murovane Territorial Community

History

The village of Murovane, the administrative centre of the Community, was first mentioned in historical documents in the 15th century. Until recently, the year 1454 was considered the first mention of the village of Liashky Murovani at that time, but the latest discovered documents indicate a new, earlier mention in court documents – 1439.

The village of Yampil, the second most populous locality, has its first recorded documentary mention in 1410 then bearing the name of Prusy.

The absolute number of buildings in the villages has been built over the last 60 years, but there are several facilities that are elements of architectural and artistic heritage.

In particular, the wooden temple of the Introduction to the Church of the Holy Mother of God built in Murovane in 1888 functions in Murovane.

In the nearby village of Soroky-Lvivski, the wooden church of the Epiphany is also an example of sacred architecture of the 19th – 20th centuries, typical of Greek-Catholic churches, as it was built in 1901.

In the village of Yampil, which used to be called Prusy, there is a brick church built in 1868.

There is also a large manor house in the village of Murovane – a manor house dating back to the 18th – 19th centuries, with a park, utility buildings and the remains of fortifications. The brick estate was built in the 18th century for the defensive purpose in the form of a fort with ramparts and walls 1.5 m thick. The palace was surrounded by a park with an area of 25 hectares.

After the Second World War, the building and the huge territory of the park was taken over the Soviet secret services. The building of the palace was slightly rebuilt, a radio station was installed there, and large antennas were deployed in the territory of the park, which were supposed to muffle and intercept radio signals from Western countries that the residents tried to listen to. Although the Lviv Regional Radio and Television Broadcasting Centre has long stopped working, the buildings and land are still owned by the Government and not yet in use.

Economy and Welfare

Logistics companies are the largest businesses contributing to the local budget. One of them is Nova Poshta with its largest innovative terminal “Leo” operating in the territory of the Murovane Community. Now the terminal is expanding as a result of the investment policy pursued by the Community, which is interested in the development of businesses.

There are also other smaller companies operating in the field of logistics in the territory of the Community, and this area remains the most priority one since the Community borders the city of Lviv, and an international road and other roads that lead to the borders with the EU run through the Community. That is why plots in the territory of the Community are attractive for logistics. And this area is defined as a priority one in the Community Investment Passport approved in 2022.

The Community runs two preschool educational institutions (in the largest villages of Murovane and Yampil), to which children from all the villages go. It also runs two grammar schools and two lyceums. Schoolchildren get to and back from educational institutions by school buses. All these institutions have equipped shelters that are used during the threat of shelling.

The Community has a communal School of Arts (where students learn to play musical instruments, vocals and drawing), a communal sports school (with football classes for different age groups), as well as non-communal classes of choreography, karate and other activities. There are also communal libraries and culture centres, which are also spaces for young people. 

There are two primary medicine centres in the Community, where the local residents can get free consultations from doctors and referrals for further tests. 

Community and War

At 8:00 a.m. on 24 February 2022, a session of the Murovane Territorial Community was held to pass the first resolutions in connection with the full-scale invasion launched by the russian federation and the imposition of martial law. Afterwards, the operational headquarters worked around the clock for several weeks – almost until the end of March, when the Ukrainian troops managed to push the enemy away from the capital and drive them out of the Kyiv Region and the Chernihiv Region.

In the first day, the Community organized territorial defence units, coordinated actions with the military administrations, opened and checked all the temporary shelters, and also set up humanitarian headquarters because they realized that there were a large number of people fleeing the war.

On February 25, the first refugees began to arrive; the headquarters immediately registered them and provided them with everything they needed – clothes, hygiene items, food, a place to stay for the night, etc.

In total, almost 1,000 internally displaced persons passed through the Community. Some stayed only for a few days, and others are still staying in the Community. The Community is doing its best to integrate internally displaced people into the Community because some people have nowhere to return to as some regions are still occupied. Therefore, the humanitarian headquarters facilitated the accommodation of displaced persons and cooperated with the local population, looking for vacant houses or apartments, as well as helping with employment. Currently, the absolute majority of displaced people have jobs, but about fifteen people are still living in a kindergarten, where a separate group with a separate entrance is arranged for them. They even include two children who were born during the full-scale invasion, when their family lived in the kindergarten.

Active integration events are organized for children: all of them go to our schools and kindergartens.

In order to resume the educational process in the spring of 2022, the leadership of the Community began to work on the full arrangement of shelters at educational institutions (sewerage, heating and complete renovation were carried out in the basements). Therefore, all the educational institutions can function at full capacity and serve as a shelter for all children during an air raid.

In the autumn and winter of 2022, when the russians shelled the energy infrastructure, teachers stayed in shelters until late because the air raids were long, and due to the lack of electricity, communication and the threat of shelling, parents could not promptly pick up their children. Therefore, the adults stayed in the shelter in the dark with the children and tried to distract them from the terrible realities of war. 

Unfortunately, eight defenders from the Murovane Community have been killed during the full-scale invasion. Five others are missing.

People of the Community

Energy efficiency measures at the communal educational institutions are an important priority for the Head. Three out of four schools are already insulated, which significantly reduces energy consumption. There are also plans to thermally modernize the kindergartens.

One of the flagship projects implemented by the Head was the reconstruction of the Soroky-Lvivski grammar school. Works were in full swing when the full-scale invasion began and they had to be stopped. However, the Head made every effort to ensure that the school did not become a “long-term building” and a few months later the works were resumed. The new school started functioning on 01 September 2023.

In order to increase the attractiveness of education as one of the strategic areas in the Community, scholarships for gifted youth, i.e. children winning prizes at Olympiads, competitions, etc. have also been introduced.

To ensure the effectiveness of education in 2022, it was necessary to provide all the educational institutions with shelters because the educational process was often interrupted by air raids. As a result of the persistence of the Head, all the institutions had opened well-organized shelters by the winter of 2022.

Another important priority is the attraction of investments in the Community. For this purpose, a group of counsellors has been organized to actively participate in events and initiatives aimed at the development of the Community by attracting businesses to investments.

Understanding the prospects of European integration of Ukraine, Bohdan Svystun often participates in international conferences, establishing contacts with local representatives from different countries.

Bohdan Svystun always openly responds to the initiatives of heads of departments or counsellors, which is why joint work is effective and productive.

Development Strategy

The Community Development Strategy was approved in late 2021. Its key areas include the development of the investment attractiveness of the Community, the improvement of infrastructure (especially sewerage in all the localities because so far only some residents have access to centralized sewerage services) and the development of educational and cultural potential, which should help young people to keep living and working in the Community.

Despite the obstacles related to the war, the Community has drafted design and estimate documentation for the construction of sewage treatment facilities in the village of Murivane and a separate project for the construction of sewage treatment facilities in the village of Yampil. Now the leadership of the Community is trying to attract funds from donors and investors to finance these projects.

To develop the potential of youth, the Community constantly participates in various projects. Thus, in addition to regular events and work with youth, the Murovane Community took part in the project implemented by the Women’s Perspectives NGO with the support of the UN Women in Ukraine program. As a result, they have developed the idea of creating a youth space in the Community and are now looking for ways to attract finance for implementation as there are restrictions on financing such initiatives using public funds.

List of Sources

• Sources from which the information and photos were used in the text
• uk.wikipedia.org
• facebook.com/Murovanskaotg 
• murovanska-gromada.gov.ua/ 
• ppv.net.ua