In addition to the Mennonite villages, Kunevskoy included several villages with interesting stories. For instance, the village of Mezhirich (Russian:
Межирич; Ukrainian: Mezhyrich, Межирі́ч; Polish: Międzyrzecz; German: Mredzyrzec. Also known as Miedzyrzecz) is located just
about a mile north of Karolswalde.
Mezhirich was established around the year 1396 as a village owned by the
Ostrohski (Ostrog) Family (the same family who owned Ostrog). Trinity Church was established here by the 15th
Century and by the late 16th Century the monastery had been
built. In 1612, the monastery was
rebuilt as a Franciscan (Catholic) abbey.
In 1866 it was again reorganized, this time as a Russian Orthodox
monastery. The icon held in the church
is called the Lady of Mezhirich and many miracles have been attributed to
it. Through the 19th Century
the monastery owned land around the village and employed local peasants to
cultivate crops. During the 1950s, the
Soviets built three hydro-electric plants along the Vilia River just outside
the village of Mezhirich, bringing some of the first electricity to the
area. Many of the residents at that time
were scared of electricity and did not want the plants in their village. By 1965, however, the area was connected to
the larger Soviet power grid and the three hydro-electric plants were taken off
line. The village stands 1 mile
southwest of Ostrog; the church and monastery occupying the eastern portion of
the old village. Remnants of the wall
which surrounded the old village and fortress can still be seen today southeast
of the main road running to Ostrog. The
population of the village in 2001 was 1,490.
The monastery’s website: http://mezhyrich-mon.com.ua/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=11
The village of Novomalin (Russian: Новомалин; Ukrainian:
Novomalyn, Новома́лин; Polish, German: Nowomalin; also known as Novomalyn),
about 3 miles north of Antonovka, was established around the year 1396, and was
the site of the Novomalinsky Castle which was built in 14th Century
and was home to the Malinski Family by the 15th Century. By the late 1800s, the castle was still a splendid
private residence but fell to ruins after World War II, ruins which still stand
today. Located along the northern banks
of the Zhybenko River, Novomalin is located at the eastern foot of the Pasmo Pelczansko-Mizockie, a geographic portion
of the Volyn/Podolian Upland area in western Ukraine/eastern Poland. In 2001, the village had a population of 677
people.
The village of Kamenka (Russian: Каменка; Ukrainian:
Kamenka, Ка́м'янка; Polish: Kamjanka; German: Kamenka. Also known as Kaminka or Kamionka) was an
important local village because of stonework produced there. The village was established in 1462 and the residents
soon took advantage of nearby sandstone deposits. Stone masons in the village began producing carvings
in the 16th Century, primarily as headstones and sculture work for the
churches in Ostrog as well as the Mezhirich Monastery. The stone carving factory which was established
in the 19th Century continued the production of headstones and church
carvings as well as making millstones for grain mills. Peak production was reached in the late 19th
Century. Stone masons produced chimney
tops, stairs, benches, troughs, obelisks and other monuments. Raw stone was sold to the Jews of Ostrog for
their own monument production as well as to other locals producing roads,
foundations and wells. For instance,
many local peasants endeavored to purchase stone foundation blocks from Kamenka
masons to use in building the foundations for their houses. People from as far away as Rivne bought
headstones from the skilled masons in Kamenka.
Specialized chisels and crowbars were made for stonework by the village blacksmiths. In the 1960s, the art of masonry began dying
out as concrete factories came online and since working in concrete was so much
less labor intensive. The word kamionka translates roughly to “stoneware”
in Polish, which was the predominant nationality in the village. By the late 19th Century, the
village was populated by 206 people, living in 27 houses. An alcohol distillery was also located in
this village and there may have been a saw-mill either here or in nearby Stoylo
(Ru: Стойло; Ukr: Cтійло) which stood immediately across the Vilia River. Many of the Poles were evicted in the 1930s
and the name of the village was changed to Viytovyna (Ru: Війтовина; Ukr: Війтовіна) by the
Soviets in order to distance the village from its Polish heritage. In 1946 the name Kamenka was restored. Kamenka lies about 2 miles southwest of Karolswalde
and neighbors Antonovka immediately to the east. The population in 2001 was 241 people.
Finally, The Church of the Intercession, a beautiful blue wooden church built in 1877,
stood in Lyuchin (Ru: Лючинъ; Ukr: Лючін'), immediately across the Vilia River,
to the north of Mezhirich. The Catholic church was home to the 17th Century icon, Christ Emmanuel, until perhaps as late as the 1980s. (Note that
many Volhynian wooden churches are painted a beautiful shade of blue, a color
traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary).
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