Rivne ( ; , ; Polish: ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast. It has a population of

First mentioned in the late 13th century, Rivne developed under the rule of Lithuania and Poland due to its location on the route connecting Kyiv and Volodymyr. In the late 14th century the city was awarded Magdeburg Law. From the late 16th century it belonged to Ostrogski and Lubomirski noble families. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, during the latter half of the 19th century Rivne experienced rapid development due to its role as a railway hub. In the spring of 1919 it served as a provisional seat of the Ukrainian government throughout the ongoing war with Soviet Russia. Between World War I and World War II, the city belonged to Poland as a district-level (county) seat of Wolyn Voivodeship. At the start of World War II in 1939, Rivne was occupied by the Soviet Red Army and received its current status by becoming a seat of regional government of the Rivne Oblast, which was created out of the eastern portion of the voivodeship. During the German occupation of 1941–44 the city was designated as the capital of Reichskommissariat Ukraine.

Rivne is an important transportation hub, with the international Rivne Airport, and rail links to Zdolbuniv, Sarny, and Kovel, as well as highways linking it with Brest, Kyiv and Lviv. Among other leading companies there is a chemical factory of Rivne-Azot (part of Ostchem Holding).

Names

  • , also the former spelling in Ukrainian until 1991

History

Middle Ages

Rivne was first mentioned in 1283 in the Polish annals Rocznik kapituły krakowskiej as one of the inhabited places of Halych-Volhynia near which Leszek II the Black was victorious over a part of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army. Following the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia's partition after Galicia–Volhynia Wars in the late 14th century, it was under the rule of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in 1434 the Grand Duke of Lithuania Švitrigaila awarded the settlement to a Lutsk nobleman Dychko. Roughly half of Rivne's inhabitants were Jewish.

On 6–8 November, 17,500 Jewish adults from Rivne were shot to death or thrown alive into a large pit in a pine grove in Sosenki, a nearby wooded area (sometimes referred to as Sosenki Forest), and 6,000 Jewish children suffered the same fate at a nearby site. From 8–13 November German actor Olaf Bach was flown to the city to perform for the German forces. The city's remaining Jews were sent to Rivne Ghetto. In July 1942, they were sent north to Kostopil and shot to death.

On 2 February 1944, the city was captured by the Red Army in the Battle of Rivne, and remained under Soviet control until Ukraine regained its independence on the break-up of the USSR in 1991. Poles from Rivne were deported to Poland's new borders after 1945.

Post-war era

In 1958, a TV tower began broadcasting in the city; in 1969, the first trolley ran through the city; in 1969, Rivne airport opened. In 1983, the city celebrated its 700th anniversary.

On 11 June 1991, the Ukrainian parliament officially renamed the city Rivne according to the rules of Ukrainian orthography. It had previously been known as Rovno.

Population

Ethnic groups

Distribution of the population by ethnicity according to the 2001 Ukrainian census:

Language

Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:

{| class="standard"

|-

! Language

! Number

! Percentage

|-

| Ukrainian

| align="right"| 225 899 ||align="right"| 92.08%

|-

| Russian

| align="right"| 18 346 || align="right"| 7.48%

|-

| Other or undecided

| align="right"| 1 078 || align="right"| 0.44%

|-

| Total

| align="right"| 245 323 || align="right"| 100.00%

|}

According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in April–May 2023, 96% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, and 3% spoke Russian.

Geography

Climate

Rivne has a moderate continental climate with cold, snowy winters and warm summers. Snow cover usually lasts from November until March. The average annual precipitation is June and July being the wettest months and January and February the driest.

Industry

During Soviet times the provincial town was transformed into an industrial center of the republic. There were two significant factories built. The first was a machine building and metal processing factory capable of producing high-voltage apparatus, tractor spare parts and others. The other was a chemical factory and synthetic materials fabrication plant. Light industry, including a linen plant and a textile mill, as well as food industries, including milk and meat processing plants and a vegetable preservation plant, have also been built. In addition the city became a production center for furniture and other building materials.

Landmarks

thumb|Cathedral of the Intercession

As an important cultural center, Rivne hosts a humanities and a hydro-engineering university, as well as a faculty of the Kyiv State Institute of Culture, and medical and musical as well as automobile-construction, commercial, textile, agricultural and cooperative polytechnic colleges. The city has a historical museum.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the monument for the Soviet hero Dmitry Medvedev was removed, and the Nikolai Kuznetsov monument was moved to another location within the city. Instead, in order to reflect the controversial history of the region the monuments for "People who died in the honor of Ukraine", and "Soldiers who died in local military battles" were installed.

Buildings

thumb|Church of the Assumption

  • Church of the Assumption (1756)
  • Cathedral of the Intercession (2001)
  • Cathedral of the Ascension (1890)
  • A classicism-style gymnasium building (1839)
  • During Soviet times the center of the city from Lenin street to Peace Avenue (1963 architects R.D. Vais and O.I. Filipchuk) was completely rebuilt with Administrative and Public buildings in neo-classical, Stalinist style.

Memorials

<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|Monument to the Victims of Fascism -->The following memorials are found in Rivne:

  • Monument to the 25th Anniversary of the Liberation of Rivne from the Fascists, Mlynivs'ke Highway
  • Monument to the Victims of Fascism, Bila Street Square (1968, by A.I. Pirozhenko and B.V. Rychkov, architect-V.M.Gerasimenko)
  • Bust on the Tomb of Partisan M. Strutyns'ka and Relief on the Tomb of Citizens S. Yelentsia and S. Kotiyevs'koho, Kniazia Volodymyra Street, Hrabnyk Cemetery
  • Monument to the Perished of Ukraine, Magdeburz'koho Prava Plaza
  • Communal Grave of Warriors, Soborna Streetthumb|Memorial to Warriors' Glory, Dubenska Street, Rivne Military Cemetery
  • Monument of Eternal Glory, Kyivs'ka Street
  • Monument to Taras Shevchenko, T.G. Shevchenko Park; Statue on Nezalezhnosti Plaza
  • Memorial to Warriors' Glory, Dubens'ka Street, Rivne Military Cemetery (1975, by M.L. Farina, architect-N.A. Dolgansky)
  • Monument to the Warrior and the Partisan, Peremohy Plaza (1948 by I.Ya. Matveenko)
  • Monument to Colonel Klym Savura, Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army, Soborna Street
  • Monument to Symon Petliura, Symon Petliura Street
  • Monument to N.I. Kuznetsov (bronze and granite, 1961 by V.P Vinaikin)
  • In 1992, a memorial complex was established at the site of the World War II massacre to commemorate the 17,500 Jews murdered there in November 1941 during the Holocaust, marking the mass grave with an obelisk inscribed in Yiddish, Hebrew and Ukrainian. On 6 June 2012, the World War II Jewish burial site was vandalised, as part of an antisemitic attack.
  • Monument to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster, Simon Petliura Street
  • Statue and Plaza dedicated to Maria Rivnens'ka, Soborna Street
  • In his memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, Israeli author Amos Oz describes Rivne through the memories of his mother and her family, who grew up in the city before emigrating to Israel in the 1930s.
  • Rivne was mentioned several times in The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, a 1992 episode of the Canadian-American TV show Are You Afraid of the Dark?, being referred to by a variation of its pre-1991 name (either Ravno or Rovno).
  • In Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide, the character of The Old Lady sings an aria "I am easily assimilated", in which she refers to her father having been born in Rovno Gubernya

Sport

Rugby

  • RC Rivne (1999)

Speedway

The Rivne Speedway Stadium hosts the speedway club Rivne Speedway.

The stadium opened on 24 May 1959. The venue has hosted significant speedway events including a qualifying round of the Speedway World Championship in 1962. and 1991.

Notable people

thumb|140px|[[Leonard Bernstein, 1977]]

thumb|140px|[[Anna Walentynowicz, 2005]]

thumb|140px|[[Yana Zinkevych, 2019]]

thumb|140px|[[Yuriy Lutsenko, 2018]]

  • Anna Belfer-Cohen (born 1949), Israeli archaeologist and paleoanthropologist
  • Dahn Ben-Amotz (1924–1989), Israeli radio broadcaster, journalist, playwright and author
  • Ancestors of Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), the American composer include his father, Samuel, who was born in Berezdiv and his mother, Jennie, born in Sheptevoka in the Rovno region. In Bernstein's operetta Candide, the character of The Old Lady sings an aria, "I am easily assimilated", in which she refers to her father as having been born in Rovno Gubernya
  • Zuzanna Ginczanka,(1917–1945), Polish poet of the interwar period.
  • Erast Huculak (1930–2013), Canadian businessman, public figure and philanthropist
  • Artem Kachanovskyi (born 1992), 2-dan professional Go player, three-time European Champion, Editor-in-chief of the European Go Journal.
  • Jan Kobylański (1923–2019), Polish-Paraguayan businessman, founder of the Union of Polish Associations and Organizations in Latin America
  • Olga Kulchynska (born 1990), Ukrainian soprano opera singer
  • Sophie Irene Loeb (1876–1929), American journalist and social welfare advocate
  • Yuriy Lutsenko (born 1964), politician and Prosecutor General of Ukraine, 2016 to 2019
  • Oksana Markarova (born 1976), Minister of Finance, 2018 to 2020 and diplomat
  • Nazar Nebozhynskyi (1999–2022), Ukrainian athlete, soldier, Hero of Ukraine
  • Natalya Pasichnyk (born 1971), Swedish-Ukrainian classical pianist, she lives in Stockholm
  • Olga Pasichnyk (born 1968), Polish-Ukrainian classical soprano singer, she lives in Poland
  • Both parents of the Argentinian poet Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972) emigrated from Rivne to Buenos Aires in 1934
  • Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł (1914–1976) Polish nobleman, a scion of the House of Radziwiłł
  • Shmuel Shoresh (1913–1981), Israeli politician, member of the Knesset from 1955 until 1969
  • Boris Smolar (1897–1986), American journalist and newspaper editor
  • Mira Spivak (born 1934), member of the Senate of Canada representing Manitoba
  • Anna Walentynowicz (1929–2010), Polish free trade union activist and co-founder of Solidarity
  • Brenda Weisberg (1900–1996), Russian-American screenwriter of monster movies, thrillers & family films
  • Wladimir Wertelecki (born 1936), pediatrician, medical geneticist and teratologist in the US
  • Anatolii Yarovyi, lawyer
  • Yaroslav Yevdokimov (1946–2025), baritone singer.
  • Vsevolod Zaderatsky (1891–1953), Russian Imperial and Ukrainian Soviet composer, pianist and teacher
  • Yana Zinkevych (born 1995), Ukrainian member of parliament and military veteran
  • Moishe Zilberfarb (1876-1934), Ukrainian politician, diplomat, and public activist
  • Maksym Kryvtsov (1990–2024), Ukrainian poet, public figure, volunteer, soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and participant in the Russian-Ukrainian war
  • Grygorii Tsekhmistrenko (1994–2023), Canadian civic activist, volunteer medic of Ukrainian origin, soldier of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, participant of the Russian-Ukrainian war

Sport

  • Serhiy Honchar (born 1970), professional road racing cyclist
  • Serhiy Lishchuk (born 1982), basketball player, Valencia BC legend, nicknamed "the Ukraine Train"
  • Mykhailo Romanchuk (born 1996), swimmer, silver & bronze medallst at the 2020 Summer Olympics
  • Viktor Trofimov (1938–2013), former Soviet international speedway rider
  • Alla Tsuper (born 1979), Ukrainian and Belarusian aerial skier and gold medallist at the 2014 Winter Olympics
  • Ancestors of Demian Maia (born 1977), UFC Fighter, BJJ Champion and ADCC Champion. His grandfather Stefan Szwec came from Rovno, village of Shpaniv to Brazil in 1926. Demian Maia’s grandmother, Eugenia Kirilchuk, also came from Rovno region.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Rivne is twinned with:

  • East Brunswick in the United States
  • Essen in Germany
  • Federal Way in the United States
  • Fredrikstad in Norway
  • Gdańsk in Poland
  • Jelenia Góra in Poland
  • Kobuleti in Georgia
  • Kupiansk in Ukraine
  • Lublin in Poland
  • Lund in Sweden
  • Monaco
  • Oberviechtach in Germany
  • Olsztyn in Poland
  • Pankow in Germany
  • Piotrków Trybunalski in Poland
  • Radomsko County in Poland
  • Sievierodonetsk in Ukraine
  • Vidin in Bulgaria
  • Zabrze in Poland
  • Zvolen in Slovakia

<gallery>

File:Prospekt Miru-Rivne.jpg|Prospect Myru (Peace Avenue)

File:Soborna Street in Rivne.jpg|Soborna (Cathedral) Street

File:Maidan Nezalezhnosti-Rivne.jpg|Independence square with cinema and statue of Taras Shevchenko

File:Railway Station-Rivne.JPG|Railway terminal

File:Костёл Петра и Павла, фасад.JPG|Saint Peter and Paul church

File:Ровно. Свято-Николаевский монастырь..JPG|Saint Nicholas Monastery

</gallery>

See also

  • Rivne Ukrainian Gymnasium

Notes

References

Maps

  • Рівне, план міста, 1:12000. Міста України. Картографія.
  • infomisto.com — map of the Rivne, information and reference portal.
  • Official website of Rivne City Council and Rivne City Administration
  • Rivne Bird webcam
  • Rivne Places of Interest
  • Rowno, a Memorial to the Jewish Community of Rowno, Volyn (Rivne, Ukraine)
  • The Jewish Community of Rivne , The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot