Zvenyhorod

Zvenyhorod was once a princely town east of Lviv, its earthworks protecting a settlement in the Galician lands of Rus'. In the twelfth century Volodymyrko Volodarovych ruled a principality from here before transferring his capital to Halych in 1141. The town was burned during the Mongol invasion of 1240 and declined as Lviv rose. Birch-bark letters found at Zvenyhorod preserve rare traces of everyday written communication in medieval Rus'.