Buchach

History

The earliest recorded mention of Buchach is in 1260 by Bartosz Paprocki in his book "Gniazdo Cnoty, zkąd herby Rycerstwa Polskiego swój początek mają", Kraków, 1578. In 1349, the region of Halychyna (Galicia) became part of the Kingdom of Poland. As a part of Ruthenian Voivodeship remained in Poland from 1434 until 1772 (see Partitions of Poland). It was during this time that the area experienced a large influx of Polish, Jewish and Armenian settlers. In the late 14th century, Polish nobleman (szlachta), Michał Awdaniec, Abdank coat of arms became the owner of the town on 1360-s or 1370-s. On July 28, 1379, M. Awdaniec founded here a Roman Catholic parish church, and built a castle. In 1393, King Władysław II Jagiełło agreed to grant Magdeburg rights to Buchach (Buczacz): it was first Magdeburg-style town, located in the Halych Land. In the early 15th century, the Awdaniec family of Buchach changed its last name into Buczacki, after its main residence. Frequent invasions of the Crimean Tatars brought destruction to the town, and in 1515, it once again received the Magdeburg rights. In 1580, local castle was rebuilt: the castle was twice besieged by the Tatars (1665, 1667), who finally captured it in 1672, during the Polish–Ottoman War (1672–76). Buchach was a temporary residence of Mehmed IV; here, on October 18, 1672, the Treaty of Buchach was signed between Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. According to this treaty, Poland handed the provinces of Ukraine and Podolia to Turkey. As a result, until 1683 Buchach was divided into two parts: Polish and Ottoman.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Buchach belonged to the Potocki family. Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki, the Starosta of Kaniv, Bohuslav, the son of Stefan Aleksander Potocki, Voivode of Belz, who became a Greek-Catholic about 1758, built here Buchach townhall with a 35-meter tower (near 1751), a late Baroque Roman Catholic Church (1761–1763), and rebuilt the castle, destroyed by the Turks. With the unification of Poland and Lithuania in 1569, the newly united kingdom extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Owing to its importance as a market town, Buchach had become a prominent trading centre linking Poland and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1772, Red Ruthenia, together with other areas of southwestern Poland, became a part of Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria — a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy as part of the First Partition of Poland. Industry came to Buchach around the end of the 19th century. Among the small-scale industries there included a brickworks, and candle and soap factory, (modern) flour mills, a textile plant, and a necktie factory. The town also boasted a brewery and a winery. The largest factory was established early in the 1900s, when the Hilfesverein concern of Vienna set up a plant for the manufacture of wooden toys in Buchach employing some 200 workers, mainly young girls. In 1912 the Stanislaviv-based Savings and Credit Union opened a branch in Buchach, and this served as a bank for local industrialists and business.

Buchach remained a part of Austria and its successor states until the end of the First World War in 1918. The town was briefly a part of the independent West Ukrainian People's Republic before it was captured by the Republic of Poland in July 1919 after Ukrainian-Polish War. Also, between August 10 and September 15, 1920, it was occupied by the Red Army (see Polish-Soviet War). In the Second Polish Republic, Buchach was the seat of a county (powiat) in Tarnopol Voivodeship. In the 1920s, Buchach was inhabited by Jews (~60%), Poles (~25%), and Ukrainians (~15%). On September 18, 1939, during the Soviet Invasion of Poland, Buchach was occupied by the Red Army, and incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact). In 1941, it was invaded by Nazi Germany. Before World War II, approximately 10,000 Jews (half of the local population) lived in Buchach. According to the Soviet Extraordinary Commission, approximately 7,000 Jews were killed in Buchach during the Nazi occupation. When Soviets retook the town on July 21, 1944, only about 100 Jewish survivors remained. Buchach was proclaimed Judenfrei town.

In 1945, its Polish residents were resettled into the Recovered Territories, and Communist authorities closed the parish church, turning it into a storage facility. Bones of the members of the Potocki family, kept in the church cellar, were thrown out, and later buried at the local cemetery. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Buchach became a part of independent Ukraine, and new, Ukrainian government returned the church to its rightful owners.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Buchach originated from the Piława coat of arms, which was used by the Potocki family.

Education

Churches

Ukrainians

Poles

Jews

Ukrainians

Poles

Jews

Unknown nationality

Communications

The closest international airports are:

Twin towns and sister cities

Buchach is currently twinned with: