Drohobych

Drohobych lies below the Carpathian foothills in Red Ruthenia. Its saltworks and trade made it an important town of the region long before the discovery of oil. Salt production was already significant between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the town was the centre of a large royal estate.

First mentioned in the records of Lviv in 1387, Drohobych received Magdeburg rights during the fifteenth century; King Alexander confirmed them in 1506. A Ukrainian Catholic brotherhood was active in the town from the early seventeenth century. In 1648 Cossacks stormed Drohobych during the Khmelnytsky uprising, and many inhabitants, including Poles and Jews, were killed. The first partition of Poland placed the town under Habsburg rule in 1772. Its wooden Church of St George, with painted decoration, reflects the region's long religious and artistic traditions.