Truskavets

Villa Goplana, home of Rajmund Jarosz, owner of the spa from 1911 to 1937

Truskavets, then as Truskawiec, was first mentioned in 1469. The Polish royal doctor Wojciech Oczko was the first to describe local waters in 1578.[4] At that time the village was property of Kings of Poland, and was located in the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown until the First Partition of Poland in 1772, when it fell to Austria. First baths were opened here in 1827. In 1836, Józef Micewski, with support of Agenor Goluchowski, initiated construction of the spa complex. In 1853, the village was visited by Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. In the mid-19th century, a Catholic church was built, financed by visitors' contributions.[4] Thanks to the liberalization of Austrian policy towards minorities, including Poles, in 1880 the spa became the property of a company whose chairman was Adam Stanisław Sapieha, and then it was expanded.[5][6] In 1898, a monument to Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz, in the 100th anniversary of his birth, was unveiled in the spa park.[4] In 1911, a rail station was opened here, and by 1913, the town was receiving around 5,000 visitors per year. The spa was not destroyed during World War I, however, the number of visitors dropped significantly.[7]

Truskawiec in the 1930s

Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Polish–Ukrainian War and the Polish–Soviet War, Truskawiec became part of Poland again.[7] Administratively it was the seat of Gmina Truskawiec, located in the Drohobycz County of the Lwów Voivodeship. As the spa was not destroyed in these conflicts, activity resumed quickly, as early as 1920[7] and Truskawiec soon emerged as a popular spa destination. In the 1920s and 1930s, almost 300 hotels, villas and guest houses were built here. The town was awarded three gold medals as the country's best spa resort.[4] Next to Krynica-Zdrój, it was the most visited and most popular resort in Poland.[8] 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.[8] Numerous guests from abroad came there as well.[8] In 1935, the Prime Minister and future president of Estonia Konstantin Päts visited the spa.[8] Rajmund Jarosz, who was the owner of the spa since 1911, founded the Museum of Natural History (Muzeum Przyrodnicze) and a salt-sulfur pool, later destroyed during World War II.[8]

A salt-sulfur pool in the 1930s, destroyed during World War II

On August 29, 1931, Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn, two members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, assassinated Tadeusz Hołówko, a Polish cabinet minister and known advocate of Polish-Ukrainian rapprochement vacationing in Truskawiec.[8] This caused an increase in Polish-Ukrainian tension, which culminated in the Ukrainian genocide of Poles in 1943.[8]

After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the spa was transformed into a sanatorium for Red Army soldiers.[6] From 1941 to 1944 it was under German occupation, and after 1944 under Soviet occupation again.[6] Under the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, it was taken from Poland and annexed by the Soviet Union. Under Soviet rule, most of the historic buildings were destroyed and replaced with typical Soviet architecture.[8]

In 2008, the Adam Mickiewicz monument, which survived World War II and Soviet rule, was renovated.[8]

Truskavets is twinned with:

• Jasło, Poland, since August 2005 [9]
• Limanowa, Poland
• Dolný Kubín, Slovakia

• 
  Truskavets. Trading House.
• 
  Old Town Hall
• 
  Spa Rehabilitation Center Truskavets resort
• 
  Downtown Truskavets
• 
  City hall
• 
  Residential building
• 
  St. Nicholas Church
• 
  Villa Anastasia
• 
  Villa Goplana, housing the City Museum
• 
  Adam Mickiewicz statue in Truskavets city park
• 
  Church of the Assumption and John Paul II statue
• 
  Monument to Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn

• Brian R. Banks (2006). Muse & Messiah: The Life, Imagination & Legacy of Bruno Schulz (1892–1942). Inkermen Press UK. ISBN 0-9551829-6-4. An account of the town and neighborhood including Drohobycz along with its relationship to this author and his friends like other Polish writers such as Zofia Nałkowska and Witkacy.

Media related to Truskavets at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Hotels (spa) in Truskavets
• Map of Truskavets