Starokostiantyniv (, ; or ; ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in Khmelnytskyi Raion,

Khmelnytskyi Oblast Khmelnytskyi Oblast (), also known as Khmelnychchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in western Ukraine covering portions of the historical regions of western Podolia and southern Volhynia. The Capital (political) ...

(

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

) of western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It hosts the administration of Starokostiantyniv urban hromada, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. Population: In 2025, about 30,000 people live there.

History

Starokostiantyniv was founded in the 16th century when

Konstanty Ostrogski Konstanty Iwanowicz Ostrogski ( – 10 August 1530) was a Ruthenian prince and magnate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He later had the title of grand hetman of Lithuania from 11 September 1497 until his death in 1530. Career Ostrogski began ...

built a fortress at the village of Kolishchentsi. The surviving Starokostiantyniv Castle was constructed by his son between 1561 and 1571. The village grew into a town which became known as "Old Constantine's Town" (''Kostiantyniv Staryi'') to prevent confusion with "New Constantine's Town" in the vicinity. It became a

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

of Poland, owned by the Ostrogski family. It was part of Polish Volhynian Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province. 1648 saw the Battle of Starokostiantyniv. The 1st Infantry Regiment of the Polish Crown Army was stationed in the town in 1791 before it was relocated to

Kalisz Kalisz () is a city in central Poland, and the second-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, with 97,905 residents (December 2021). It is the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of Gr ...

. The town is home to an

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

. In 1939, 6,743 Jews were living in the city, accounting for 31 percent of the total population. The Jewish community was murdered in mass executions perpetrated from August 1941 until November 1942. In the postwar period, the city grew significantly due to the development of industry (

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

and

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the mak ...

, etc.) and the deployment of a large

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

(including

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

units). Until 18 July 2020, Starokostiantyniv was incorporated as a city of oblast significance and served as the administrative center of Starokostiantyniv Raion though it did not belong to the raion. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Khmelnytskyi Oblast to three, the city of Starokostiantyniv was merged into Khmelnytskyi Raion.

Notable people

* Abraham Goldfaden, poet and playwright, considered father of the modern Jewish theatre * Ben-Zion (1897–1987), painter born in Starokostyantyniv * Avrom Ber Gotlober (1811–1899), writer, poet, and educator of the Haskala movement. * Jakub Weinles, Polish painter * Anatoliy Bondarchuk, hammer thrower who won the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics * Blank family, ancestors of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

* Chana Orloff (1888–1968), art deco and figurative art sculptor

Gallery

File:Старокостянтинів. Івана хрестителя.jpg, Capuchin Monastery File:Староконстянтинів.jpg, Church of Holy Trinity File:Basil Constantine Ostrozky Monument and Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Starokostiantyniv.JPG, Basil Constantine Ostrozky Monument and Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary File:Officers Club Starokonstantinov.JPG, Military officers' club File:Костел Матері Божої Громничої та домініканський монастир Старокостянтинів.jpg, Tower of the former Dominican Monastery

References

External links

Weather in Starokostiantyniv.

The murder of the Jews of Starokostiantyniv
during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website. {{coord, 49, 45, 20, N, 27, 13, 15, E, type:city, display=title Cities in Khmelnytskyi Oblast Historic Jewish communities in Ukraine Cities of regional significance in Ukraine Holocaust locations in Ukraine