EzReklama Blogspot: Truskavets – a city resort in Western Ukraine

By Ihor Cap, Ph.D.

Entering the Resort City of Truskavets' Photo: by Ihor Cap

Truskavets, a Ukrainian city resort of just 27,000 people is located in the picturesque foothills of the eastern Carpathian Mountains. Despite its small population, the city has a right to claim as one of Europe’s great balneological resort centers. Truskavets has over 2500 doctors, 23 sanatoriums’, 20 pansionaty, 17 villas, 17 public libraries, 14 hotels, 2 resort polyclinics, 2 balneological hospitals, 2 public mineral buvets taps, one city hospital, a movie theatre, 2 children’s health camps, a beautiful park to walk around in, ride a bike or a horse, and plenty of bars, cafes, shops and restaurants.

The city is also widely known for its 14 different reserves of curative mineral waters and ozokerite (ozocerite) “mountain wax” deposits that are uniquely concentrated to this part of the world alone. “Naftusia” (Naftusya) holds a special place among them. The immunomodulating properties of Naftusia are known to boost the body’s immune system and prevent oncological diseases. Specifically, Naftusia’s curative properties are said to reduce and remove small stone formations in the kidneys and gall bladder, and urinary and bile ducts. Naftusia’s other medicinal effects apparently help: stabilize the carbohydrate metabolism in diabetic patients, improve the alimentary tract and pancreas, and restore liver cells and removes radionuclides and toxins from the body.

This ancient European resort is situated in an ecologically friendly zone with a moderate continental climate. Over 200 thousand people come to Truskavets for treatment and relaxation every year. Mostly, Ukrainians and Russians, but tens of thousands European Union countries come here too, making it one of the largest health industry centers in all of Europe.

Historical Background to Truskavets

The territory of Truskavets becomes a part of the first Ukrainian state of Kyivan Rus’ in the X-XI centuries. After the fall of Kyivan Rus’ it becomes part of the Halych (Galicia) and Halych-Volhynian Kingdom.

Feudal Poland occupies Truskavets in the 14 century and the city becomes the property of the Polish Lords (shliakhta).

By 1772, Truskavets and all of Galicia become part of the Austrian empire. Several mineral wells open at this time for medicinal purposes.

The city of Truskavets technically becomes a resort in 1827, with the establishment of a “mineral clinic” and the construction of four buildings to support houseguests. It expands significantly in the latter half of the 19^th century with new villas, hotels and pansionaty.

The Europeanization of the resort begins in 1911 with the establishment of a coop auction. This encourages further waves of visitors. Over 5000 visitors arrived here in 1913.

Communist Russian armies occupy Truskavets in WWI for a few years and Polish armies occupy Galicia and Truskavets in 1919.

Truskavets resumes its work as a leading European resort when its growth and success multiplies exponentially in the 1920s and 1930s with over 17,000 visitors frequenting the resort in 1933. Its recovery capacity easily challenges such other world famous resorts as Vichy, Baden-Baden and Karlovy Vary.

Fascist German armies occupy Truskavets from 1941 to 1944. Truskavets resumes its work as a resort in 1945 and by 1947; it receives the status of a city.

In 1950, some 50,000 people visit this Ukrainian resort and about 150,000 in 1965.

The city continues to function and develop its capacity and resources as one of the finest resort centers in Ukraine and Europe. Please wait a few minutes for Slide Show to Download.

Truskavets Health Resort Slide Show

Transportation

You can get to Truskavets the way many Ukrainians get there, by “marshrutka” (mini-bus or taxi van) or by car. Once there, everything is within walking distance. MSN Live Search has a wonderful search feature to calculate distances between cities for any country in the world. (See http://www.live.com/) I used it to arrive at the distances between various known Ukrainian cities and Truskavets itself. See Table 1 below. I had to go to another useful site to convert between miles and kilometers and that offers dozens of quick links for other conversions too. (See http://www.onlineconversion.com/length.htm)

Table 1. Distance from Truskavets to nearby Ukrainian cities and approximate distance in kilometers and miles
From	To	Approximate Distance
Truskavets (aka, Truskawiec)	Borislav (aka Boryslav, Boryslaw)	8.2 km (5.1 miles)
Truskavets	Drohobych (aka Drogobych, Drohobycz)	10 km (6.2 miles)
Truskavets	Stryy (aka Stryj)	35.2 km (21.9 miles)
Truskavets	Lviv (aka Lwow, Lvov, Lemberg)	93.2 km (57.9 miles)
Truskavets	Ivano-Frankivsk (aka Ivano-Frankovsk)	134.5 km (83.6 miles)
Truskavets	Przemysl (Poland) (aka. Ukr. Peremyshl)	94.3 km (58.6 miles)
	1 mile=1.609344 km