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History of Truskavets

Few people know that Truskavets city resort has more than five hundred years history. It was founded at the time of the Kievan Rus and survived the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Austria-Hungary, and the USSR. The oldest document in which Truskavets is mentioned dates back to the year 1471. This is an agreement which states that Ivan Korytko sold the rights to the eternal rent of this city to the brothers Gnat from Tustanovychi and Andriy from the Liubenych city So, at that time there was something in Truskavets to rent: since ancient times this city was known for its salteries.
In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, Truskavets became state-owned by Austro-Hungarian. 12 years later, the government established a monopoly on the production of salt and all salteries were closed.
Half a century later there appeared new tenants of the city Franz Blenk and Hnat Obochynskyi. During that time they were engaged in the extraction of oil, nature paraffin, sulfur, lead and zinc ores. But the reserves of these ores were insignificant, the deposits quickly cut out. Then the government gave order to build plunge tubs.
Officially Truskavets became a holiday resort in 1827, when the first 8 plunge tubs were built.
But before the authorities invented a new way of getting a profit, scientists had already discovered the chemical composition of the Truskavets water. Its healing properties were researched as far as 1528 by Wojciech Ochko. Then in 1721, Gabriel Zhonchinskyi mentioned in his textbook “Gistory natural” that the local peasants were drinking oil water for improving state of health and healing. But the most complex and fully description of medicinal properties were made by the Lviv chemist the pharmacist Teodor Torosevych. In 1836 he published his research and described the composition of the oil water, which later became known as “Naftusia". Besides, he proved that the native resort is no worse than the world-famous Karlovi Vary for the therapeutic effect.
In 1911, a new host for Truskavets city resort appeared - the Polish county marshal Mr Raymond Yarosh. It was his idea to create the whole community that would governed the resort, and he would headed it. From these times Truskavets became a resort not only of local but also of European significance. Railway junction with Lviv, Vienna, Krakow, Berlin, Prague and Warsaw is being built. Electric lighting and new innovative medical treatments are being introduced instead of gas lamps.
By the time Truskavets was the best Polish resort. In 1931, the population of the city was 3 thousand people, and 15 thousand people per year came to have a rest. 
In Soviet times a lot of new holiday resorts, plunge tubs and pump-rooms were opened here. In 1947, Truskavets received the official status of the city. In the same year not only banelologic, but also thermal treatment started being used. In 1952, the resort gained an all-Union significance. Communists called it the "All-Union Health Resort". In Soviet times, it was prestigious to have a rest in Truskavets, not each ordinary proletarian could afford it. As soon as 1985, the number of holidaymakers was 385 thousand per year. 
In 1999, Truskavets was recognized as the best resort centre in Ukraine, in the same year it became the winner in the All-Ukrainian nomination "Crystal Stork". And in 2014, the Ambassador of the European Council presented the city mayor of Truskavets with a diploma for the medical tretment properties of the local water. 
At the moment, this city is the world's largest banelologic resort. He gained the greatest popularity in the 1990s, at that time the number of holidaymakers reached 418 thousand a year. Nowadays, Truskavets city resort is visited by about 167 thousand of tourists from Ukraine and from all over the world annually. Now the rest and the improving of the state of health are more affordable, let’s say budget one. At recent times, everyone can afford for a small amount of money to improve the state of health, not worse than in any foreign holiday resort.