Kalush is an old industrial town located near the mountains. Here there is picturesque nature and the peace of a small town. The name of the city comes from the word "puddle". Kalush has been famous since ancient times for its beer, salt making and bells. The streets carefully preserve their history and, over time, accumulate memories of the city.
The first written mention of Kalush is dated May 27, 1437, which was found in the twelve-volume Halytskyi Grodskih books. In which, was about "the trial on the next Tuesday after the Trinity with the participation of the royal man Dragush from Kalush against Mytko from Kurosh."
On February 19, 1549, Polish King Sigismund Augustus authorized the Governor of Belz, Crown Hetman and Galician Starost Mykola Senyavskyi to found the city of Kalush with a stroke of his pen. From this year, Kalush becomes a "free city" in the Magdeburg right with its own coat of arms. It depicts three furnaces of salt on a red background. According to the descriptions of the royal estates for the years 1565-1566, there were ten salt springs in the city and several in the surrounding villages.
By order of the king, a castle surrounded by ramparts was built. The buildings belonging to the castle had underground passages. Kalush, like other cities of Galicia, turned into a fortress to fight against Turkish and Tatar raids.
Unfortunately, neither the castle premises nor the defensive walls with gates, towers and ancient buildings have survived to our time, but the landscape of the central part of the city still speaks of their former presence.
Kalush residents made a lot of efforts to free themselves from Polish oppression. It was during the liberation war of the Ukrainian people led by Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. In the fall of 1648, Ukrainian self-government was established in the city, headed by burgomaster Hryts Volykovych. But in December of the same year, a terrible tragedy befell Ukrainian officials in Kalush: they were all executed by the Poles.
In 1772, Kalush, like all of Galicia with part of Volhynia, came under the rule of Austria-Hungary. The architecture of the historical part and the boundaries of the city are changing. The city is growing. In 1848, the lordship was abolished in Galicia. With the advent of democratic institutions, children were allowed to be taught in their native language, and reading rooms are opened.
In 1884, Ivan Franko visited our city, who spoke at the People's House at a literary and artistic festival with a lecture about Samiil Kishka. In 1903, a branch of "Prosvita" was opened in Kalush. In 1917, a branch of the "Union of Ukrainian Women" was founded, headed by Maria Tysovska and Stefiniya Chornita.
In 1918, after the October Revolution, when ZUNR was established, Kalush residents under the leadership of Father Andrii Bandera (Stepan Bandera's father) made an attempt to free themselves from Polish oppression. They almost painlessly took power into their own hands. The state-county office of the ZUNR secretariat was established in the city, the newspaper "Golos Kalusha" began to be published, and a Ukrainian gymnasium was organized.
In 1920, Kalush, together with all of Galicia, again officially came under the rule of Poland, and in 1939 - under the Soviet Union.
On July 1, 1941, the Kalush residents proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian Independent State. On July 2, Hungarian units entered Kalush, which later handed over power to the German occupiers. By order of the head of the Kaluga Gestapo, about 7,000 Jews were shot in the city, many of the townspeople were taken to hard labor in Germany. At this time, the OUN underground, and later the UPA departments, are actively resisting the occupiers.
During the Soviet Union, Kalush became an industrial giant, which made it possible to expand the borders of the city. In the 70s, there was a time when a house was put into operation every month.
Local elections held on March 4, 1990 broke the CPSU-CPU monopoly on power. 96 out of 100 deputies were elected to the Kalush City Council by residents of the city, and re-elections were announced in 4 electoral districts. Most of these deputies are representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, active social and political figures who had clear pro-Ukrainian orientations.
A contribution to the development of the future of the community - the establishment of the Kaluga Gymnasium on August 22
1990 by the decision of the Kalush City Council of the first democratic convocation. The initiators of the establishment of the gymnasium were the well-known teacher Dmytro Bakhmatyuk and the deputy of the city council Oleksandr Pidlisnyuk, who found support for this idea from the then mayor Roman Sushka and the deputy corps of the city council.
With the adoption of the Act of Proclamation of Independence of Ukraine and the nationwide referendum on the declaration of independence of Ukraine, the Kalush City Council took over the powers of the local self-government body of independent Ukraine.
After the reconstruction, changes in the system are taking place in the state, however, industry remained a reliable rear and source of income for a large part of the citizens.
In 2004, many Kalush residents expressed their civic stance by joining the "Orange Revolution" protest.
In 2011, Kalush was included in the list of the 22 best cities in Ukraine in terms of quality of life, according to the results of the research of the "Universitas" analytical center.
An important stage in the history of Ukraine was the Revolution of Dignity in 2013. Many residents of the city, who could not accept the arbitrariness of the state, went to Kyiv to support Euromaidan. One of them, Ihor Dmytriov, died, giving his life for the European future of our country.
With the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation, many Kalush residents went to the front, some of whom never returned alive.
The fertile land of Kaluga has opened up to Ukraine and the world many outstanding public and political figures, representatives of the clergy, medicine, science, culture and sports.
Kalush has seen many ups and downs, however, the "heart of the city" beats constantly.
KALUSH CRAFTS AND INDUSTRY
In the 15th century Kalush became a large settlement that owned significant salt mines.
Since 1656, Kaluga beer has been brewed in the city. Which, after all, is older than Lviv. At one time, Lviv brewers resorted to tricks to capture sales markets, but local beer was also famous in Europe. It was exported in a special container to Poland, Hungary, and France. Kaluska "Cisarske" competed with Bavarian, Czech, and Lviv beer, and even the emperor of Austria-Hungary himself liked to taste it.
In 1771, the Kaluga saltworks had 12 wells. 33 craftsmen worked here (among them there were 5 coopers). Artisans, specialists from the most diverse branches of industrial production deploy the production of salt, saltpetre, potash, etc. here.
There was a forge near the saltworks, where iron was smelted and churns for the saltworks were produced. Later, the Austrian government introduced a state monopoly on salt and prohibited the use of subsoil. At the end of the 18th century the export of salt decreases and the process of closing the salt works begins. However, the saltworks existed until 1848.
In May 1804, while deepening a mine near Kalush, workers found "bitter" salts - kainite and sylvinite. And in 1867, a joint-stock company was founded in the center of the county, which then had 90 villages, for the development of potash deposits. Then, in two years, a factory was built in the city that processed potash ores. And from that time, the chemical industry was started, which gained its greatest development in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century.
Our area is famous for bell casting. It was started in 1808 by the Felchynski brothers. Felchisky bells won the Grand Prix at world exhibitions in Liege, Belgium (1927) and Paris (1928). And 12 whistlers called "Harmony" were cast for one of the cathedrals of the USA.
Today, about one percent (0.72%) of all industrial production of Ukraine is produced in Kalush (according to official statistics of 2019).