Lyubar, Ukraine

Slownik Geograficzny published 1884; page 375
Translated from Polish by Lawrence Krupnak, East Europe Connection

I. LUBAR - small town, county of Volhynian Novgorod, on S³ucz River, in the most fertile region of Volhynia, has 6,902 residents and 1,657 farmers who own 2,343 "dziesiêcinas" of land. (1) Established between 1340 and 1382 by Prince Lubart Gedyminowicz, and for that reason, for a long time, it was called Lubartów. Kochowski (3) said about this that "Lubarum seu Lubartovia, primo conditori nomen debet a Lubarto conditum" (3). Subsequently, Lubar was included within the crown estates and given as a reward for service to the princely House of Lubomirski; from them it passed to the Walewski Family, and presently belongs to Countess Wodzicka nee Karwicka. Even today, Lubar bears the signs of its past splendor. Post-Basilian walls of the friars’ monastery and the church, which up to 1833 housed once famous schools, second best in Volhynia after the Piarists of Miêdzyrzecze, today converted into an Orthodox monastery. There remains only a tradition and memories in the chronicles, for presently not even a trace remains of that fortified castle founded in the XIV Century by Prince Lubart; which, nevertheless, must have been fortified adequately to survive the Cossack wars of the XVII Century and to withstand the siege of 1651; whatever befell it later, nothing is known. The greatest attraction of Lubar even today is the parish church, initially of the Dominican Friars, in a Romanesque style, founded by Prince Stanis³aw Lubomirski in the XVIII century, rebuilt in stone and consecrated by the Kiev and Chernihov Bishop Za³uski in 1765, as the Church of Saint Michael and Saint Jan Nepomucen. In the church is a picture of Christ, famous for miracles, brought to Lubar from Hryniowce (county Zas³awiec) in 1754 by Bishop Kajetan So³tyka. It appears that within this church or monastery there existed once a greater picture gallery, because even today many more paintings can be seen; there are many portraits of various bishops of Che³m, P³ock, £uck; even Poznañ, Kraków, Lwów; and from Lithuania; paintings of five popes, many scenes from the Holy Bible and other, symbolic ones; a group of seven pictures, depicting scenes of martyrdom inflicted by the Tartars, particularly attracts attention. Remnants of an obviously once splendid library favorably witness to the intellectual life of the Dominican monks. A small palace of the owners of the estate, in an Italian style, built next to the river on a high ground, ads significant splendor to Lubar; similarly to be noted is one of the larger houses in town, that at one time belonged to Countess Poniñska. Today, Lubar does not have any factories, except for the £uczycki Organ and Music Box Works, the Jakubowicz Carriage Workshop, an attractive flour mill on the S³ucz River, and a brewery; tradition has it, however, that at one time there were here a cloth manufacture, a hat factory, a wineshop, a book store, that survived until 1855, a printing shop run by the church, public baths with showers and the famous spring waters of the Basilian Friars, which, from the healing point of view, adequately offered the Volhynian region an alternative to other fashionable “spas,” and, during the bathing season, drew to Lubar large crowds of visitors. This estate comprises 6,243 ares of land, of which 5,675 ares belong to the Count Wodzicki Family, while other small owners control 568 ares. Lubar has a police post and is the county seat, has a post office, a doctor and an apothecary. Moreover, a peace judge and a peace mediator live here. The Lubar Catholic parish of the ¯ytomir Diocese has 2,172 souls, an auxiliary church in Wolica Wielka (previously also in Nowa Czartoryja), chapels in Pedyñki, Motowid³ówka, Wyszczykusy (previously also in Wygnanka and Seweryny). In 1870, Lubar had 4,922 residents, of whom 54 per cent were Israelites, 893 houses, 8 Orthodox churches, an Eastern Orthodox convent, a church, a synagogue, 6 houses of prayer, 3 tanneries, a brewery, 116 stores, 90 artisans and three trade fairs. See the article about Lubar by Komaszko in the “Vohlynian Province News” 1862.
L. R.

Translator's Footnotes

1. pronounced “dje-shen-chi-nah” - a Russian provincial measure of area (‘diesiatina’); one diesiatina equals 109.45 ares, or 100 square meters (approximately 0.025 acre).

2. a writer and historian of the 17th Century.

3. a passage in Latin which means “whether Lubar or Lubartów, it owes its name to the name of its first founder, Lubart”].

4. verst, a Russian unit of distance; one verst = 0.6629 mile (1.067 kilometers)].