Truskavets

City in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine

Truskavets (Трускавець; Truskawiec) is a city in Drohobych Raion, western Ukraine's Lviv Oblast (region), near the border with Poland. It hosts the administration of Truskavets urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population is approximately

Truskavets is famous for its mineral springs, which have made it one of Ukraine's great resorts. For most visitors the primary goal is consuming the various 'local waters.' The most famous is the naphtha and sulfur scented, slightly saline 'Naftusia.' The town lies in an attractive little valley in the Carpathian foothills and is easily reached from Lviv by bus or train. The vast majority of tourists who come to Truskavets are Ukrainian or Belarusian. The modern coat of arms of the city depicts a goose with raised wings and a branch in its beak. According to history, it symbolizes vigilance, kindness and health. In 2000, a special economic zone (SEZ) was established in Truskavets for the period of 20 years. Known as "Kurortopolis Truskavets", the SEZ offered various tax privileges for businesses and investors. Some 13 investment projects were approved under its framework, with the majority focusing on health and medical treatment.

The name of the city of Truskavets still causes disputes among historians. Most researchers believe that the word Truskavets comes from the Old Russian name Trushko, or Trusko, from where Truskovich, and eventually Truskavets. According to another version, the name of the city was influenced by the Lithuanian language. In Lithuanian, druska means salt, and Prykarpattia is a well known center of salt production. In favor of this option, the close interstate relations of the Galicia Volyn principality and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 12th 15th centuries testify. The third version traces the origin of the word to the dialect word trusok or trusk (small brush, dry wood chips) — cf. a Polish toponym Truskolyasy (forests where coniferous needles attacked), which refers to several villages in Poland. There is also a popular but erroneous version that Truskavets is a modified form of the Polish word truskawka (strawberry, Latin Fragaria ananassa). Strawberries of this type appeared in Europe only after 1714 and were brought from Chile by the French officer Fresier,[21] while the name of the city first appears in the 15th century. (Instead, the Polish name for the European strawberry species Fragaria moschata is poziomka.)

Truskavets, then known as Truskawiec, was first mentioned in 1469. The Polish royal doctor Wojciech Oczko was the first to describe local waters in 1578. In 1898, a monument to Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz, in the 100th anniversary of his birth, was unveiled in the spa park. Following the collapse of the Austro Hungarian Empire, the Polish–Ukrainian War and the Polish–Soviet War, Truskawiec became part of Poland again. Next to Krynica Zdrój, it was the most visited and most popular resort in Poland. A number of notable Polish personalities visited Truskawiec during that era, including politicians (Stanisław Wojciechowski, Józef Piłsudski, Wincenty Witos, Ignacy Daszyński), artists (Eugeniusz Bodo, Adolf Dymsza, Julian Tuwim, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Bruno Schulz, Zofia Nałkowska, Marian Hemar, Hanka Ordonówna, Jan Kiepura, Zofia Batycka, Antoni Słonimski), athletes (Stanisława Walasiewicz, Halina Konopacka, Janusz Kusociński) and Generals Stanisław Maczek and Kazimierz Sosnkowski.