Sister cities of Horodok, Lviv Oblast

Horodok (Ukrainian: Городок, Polish: Gródek Jagielloński) is a city in Lviv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It is administrative center of the Horodok Raion. The population in 2001 was 16,082.

This is the place where King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila died on 1 June 1434. Also, a battle between Polish and Russian-Cossack forces took place here in 1655 (see Battle of Gródek Jagielloński).

Horodok was first mentioned in 1213. In the mid-14th century, together with whole Red Ruthenia, the village was annexed by the Kingdom of Poland. Its name was changed into Grodek, and it remained in Poland for the next 400 years. In 1372, king Wladyslaw Jagiello founded here a Roman Catholic parish, also during the reign of Jagiello, Grodek received Magdeburg rights. Until the Partitions of Poland, Grodek was part of Ruthenian Voivodeship. In 1648, the town was ransacked by the Cossacks, and its residents were murdered (see Khmelnytsky Uprising).

In 1772, Grodek was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, as part of Austrian Galicia, where it remained until late 1918. German-speaking settlers established their own colony, called Vorderberg (1788). Austrian authorities closed a local Franciscan monastery, turning it into a military depot. In 1903, a monument of Wladyslaw Jagiello was unveiled here, and in 1906, the name of the town was changed from Grodek to Grodek Jagiellonski, in honor of the king.

In the Second Polish Republic, Grodek was the seat of a county in Lwow Voivodeship. The town had three Roman Catholic churches, one Greek-Catholic, and a synagogue. It also was a military garrison, where a subunit of Polish Army’s 5th Infantry Division was stationed. According to the 1921 census, Poles made 72% of the population, Ukrainians 26%, and Jews 2%.

During the Invasion of Poland, Grodek was on 13 September 1939 captured by the Wehrmacht, but the town was later seized by the Red Army, and occupied by the Soviet Union.