Title: City Skole. Status: The city of regional significance in the Lviv region, the administrative center of Skole district. Location: The city is located in the valley of the river Opir in the Ukrainian Carpathians, 106 km from Lviv. Area: 4.590 sq. km Population: about 7,000 inhabitants. River: Opir. Time of foundation: 10 c. AD, city status was obtained in 1660. Historical note: The Slavic settlement in the place of ancient Celtic settlement was founded in the early 10th century, as it is evidenced by the legend about Prince Svyatoslav Vladimirovich. Through Skole an important trade route "to ugry" from Volhynia and Galicia to Transcarpathia was held. When entering the city from the north, at the pass Tuchols'ky Vorota up in 1241 there were strong fortifications to defend against enemy attacks by nomads - three-row defense system with wooden-earth walls and a high wooden tower on a stone foundation. The first written mention of Skole is dated March 5, 1397, when the Polish king Vladislav II Jagiello gave the brothers Valach royal privilege to own Skole and nearby lands. However, after several years in the struggle for the village and surrounding forests rich Polish magnate Peter Kmita and Cracow governor Jan Tarnows'ki were included. The last won. In 1567 the lands of Tarnows'ki and Skole became the property of the Prince of Ostrog. Founder of city Prince Alexander Zaslavs'ky Janusz in 1660 laid the city near the settlement and named it Alexandria, but the name caught on, and the locals started calling the city, as well as the village - Skole. In the center a wooden castle, enclosed by a stone wall, stood. On June 10, 1772 Skole the Austrian army entered. In the last quarter of 18 c. Lady Isabella Lubomirs'ka invited here the German colonists who settled mainly in Skole and did crafts (bakers, mechanics, watchmakers, shoemakers). Settlers from Bohemia built glass-blowing furnace, which smelted green and clear glass in. German influence is still evident in the building, home, the local dialect and farming. On March 30, 1888 a great fire destroyed nearly a third of the city (about 100 houses). During the First World War, there were not considerable fightings in Skole. In February 1915, through the town towards Verets'ky pass a column of Russian troops of 22th infantry corps of 8th Army of General Brusilov went. In the 30th of 20 c. in the province tourism was developing actively. During this period, resorts, cinema, beaches, ski jumping, hockey field, ice rink and the first in the Carpathians toboggan track were open. At the end of May 1939 at the pass Tuholsk'y Vorota near Skole there was a struggle between the Polish police and border guards with soldiers of USS, which returned to Galicia from occupied by Hungary Carpathian Ukraine. On September 20, 1939 the city was invaded by the advance units of the Wehrmacht. On September 22, 1939, in accordance with the final approval of the demarcation line between the USSR and the Third Reich, German troops began to pass occupied territory of Galicia to the Soviet Union - cities Stryi, Skole, Mykolaiv-Dniestrovs'ky were handed over. Since October 1939 till June 1941 the district NKVD department had arrested and deported to concentration camps more than 360 local residents - the "enemies of Soviet power." With the departure of Soviet troops in the early phase of the Soviet-German War, on July 1, 1941 the town was occupied without fighting by units of the Hungarian Mountain Brigade and units of the Wehrmacht. During the occupation about 3,000 people were shot by parts of the SS, the gendarmerie and police officers, industries were destroyed, many houses were burned. In the south-western outskirts of Svyatoslav, near Skole, the German occupation administration had set up concentration camps for youth. Also, according to Polish society of memory of victims of the Ukrainian nationalists, in Skole on September 5, 1943 the Ukrainian nationalists shot civilian Polish population of the city. Since the summer of 1944 in the region UPA units were active. On August 9, 1944 advanced parts of the Soviet Army under the command of Lieutenant-General Zhuravlev took Skole during the offensive in the West. 1944-1959 Skole was a district town of Drohobych region of Ukraine. Main attractions: the wooden St. Panteleimon church, the Rizdva Presvyatoi Bohoroditsi Church, a Roman-Catholic Church. Source of information: http://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сколе