PIDVYSOKE, Berezhany district, Ternopil region, Ukraine. Small village in WEST UKRAINE, in historic region of Halychyna (Galicia). Former name: Podwysokie (in Polish). It was part of Poland and Austria before.

PIDVYSOKE
village online

small village in West Ukraine where I was born and grew up...

village in Berezhany rayon (district) of Ternopil oblast (province) of West Ukraine

I am pleased to welcome you to the village where I was born on 25 th of October, 1975, yet during Soviet times (when famous Leonid Brezhnev ruled in the USSR and whom I remember from the communist parades on the TV). Name of this village is written in my birth certificate.

View over the house of my grandparents (in the center, white metal roof, which is my work too since I helped the master (from Tsiutskiv/Malynivka village) to install it up on the top of it...On this road and lanscapes I spent all my childhood and young years and it is the closest to my heart.

Pidvysoke is small village (about 400 inhabitants) in Berezhany district of Western Ukraine. It is located 18 km south west of Berezhany, on the highway Ternopil Stryy, as well as it is a major railway station on the railway Ternopil -Rohatyn-Khodoriv. Pidvysoke was the center of limestone mining in theregion (as the surrounding hills contain lots of limestone) and had a limestone slaking factory (which was run by Jewish and Polish entrepreneurs in Austrian and Polish times). The village has beautiful a gothic church, formerly a Polish Roman Catholic chapel which served the local Polish population. The chapel was destroyed during Soviet rule and restored thereafter, serving the local Greek-Catholic community. But family is Evangelical (and me of course) and attends Evangelical Church in nearby Verkhnya Lypytsia. The village had an Austrian military hospital during the First World War, and thus there was Austrian military cemetery nearby (now destroyed). It was on the front line during the First World War. It is the first village at the entrance to the Ternopil region on the highway Ternopil-Stryj. The next village is Lopushna, adjacent to Pidvysoke, located in the Rahatyn District of the Ivano-Frankivsk Region. The distance to Rohatyn is 14 km. 2 km from Pidvysoke is the village Verkhnya Lypytsia, which gave its name to the Lipica Archeological Culture after archaeological excavations in the late 19th century which discovered an ancient Dacian settlement there. I was born and raised in Pidvysoke; my grandparents live there, as well. See my grandparents house in Pidvysoke. And me near that house.

Views of Pidvysoke Mountain, a pasture where daily I pastured cows of my grandaparents
during summer school holidays. The white line in the valley are white train vagons-refrigirators at the railway station.

Pidvysoke was a small town before and there was even castle! Now there is only castle hill left. Just like Berezhany and the rest of Halychyna (in English: Galicia), first it was part of Rus (Ukrainian) Halych/Galic principality until the mid 14 th century when it was incorporated in Poland and was part of Polish kingdom until 1772. From 1772 to 1918 it was part of Austria and then of short lived West Ukraine National Republic in 1918 when it was taken by Poles and again was in Poland for 20 years (1920-1939). In 1939 just like the rest of halychyna, it was occupied by Soviets and included into the Soviet Union's Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became independent in 1991.

Angel sculpture at the old burial monument of Pidvysoke cemetery.

Before 1939 it was mainly populated by Poles along with some Ukrainians and if you go to Pidvysoke Old Cemetery you will see Polish surnames (among them Kacewicz, Karczewicz, Wilhelm Huber, the first I can remember, etc.) written in Polish at the most of old burial monuments. After the war when the area was taken by Soviets, all the Poles from Pidvysoke were resettled to Poland and now you will find no more Poles living in Pidvysoke. It is exclusively Ukrainian village. Many Lemkos live there. Lemkos are ethnic group of Ukrainians who lived in Poland and were forcefully resettled from their native lands east to Ukraine. That's why they happened to be living in Pidvysoke now. But younger generation does not speak anymore Lemko dialect but local dialect of Ukrainian language. One can name it "Berezhany dialect" where potatoes are usually called "barabolia" instead of "kartoplia" of literary Ukrainian.
In 1924 two Jewish enterprenuers GOLD and SINGER started business in Pidvysoke and founded Pidvysoke Lime Stone Slaking factory to slake the limestone which is mined in Pidvysoke mountains. This limestone slaking plant works til nowadays in pidvysoke and my grandafther was main enginneer there for many years and he modernized it and built a few oven towers.

Entrance to Pidvysoke, which is the fisrt village when entering Ternopil province (oblast) from the west. And he first house behind this table with inscription "Ternopilska oblast" is ours, of my grandaparents.

The village Pidvysoke got its name because of its geographical position "under he high mountains". The mountains in Pidvysoke are high at ab. 400 meters. The name is composed of two words "Pid" (under) and "vysoke" (high). The village under the heights if one can say this way in English (My native language is Ukrainian, so...). Its name in Polish is nearly identical: Podwysokie since Polish and Ukrainian are very similar languages, resembling each other very much and West Ukrainian dialect and Polish are mutually intelligible.

Pidvysoke Railway Station. At this place just the front view of the picture I walked daily during the summer. Since pasture is to the right on the mountain where I pastured cows.

Pidvysoke became connected with Ternopil by railway in 1897. The state railway Ternopil (Ostriv) - Pidvysoke (72, 3 km.) was built during Austrian rule due to the strategic reasons. It was opened on 25 th of January, 1897. Since then Pidvysoke is an important railway junction. Later the railawy was built further to Rohatyn and Khodoriv. You can get here by train from Lviv through Khodoriv and Rohatyn or from Ternopil through Berezhany. Many inter city buses (Dolyna - Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk Ternopil, Perehinske-Kalush - Ternopil, Truskavets - Stryi/Stryy/Stryj - Ternopil, Chortkiv - Lviv, Morshyn - Ternopil, Cherche-Rohatyn-Ternopil) run through Pidvysoke and stop here (both at Lopushna Bus Stop or at Pidvysoke Bus Stop). Also daily buses from Berezhany go to Pidvysoke. As well as daily buses from Rohatyn to nearby Lopushna village which si a walk from Pidvysoke.

PIDVYSOKE EXACT LOCATION on THE MAP OF THE CENTRAL PART OF WEST UKRAINE
(Pidvysoke is not marked on thsi map since it is too small locality, but it's inbetween Berezhany and Rogatin by Gonuratovka/Honorativka):

Pidvysoke is not marked on this map above (since it is too small village) but it is located just inbetween Rogatin and Berezhany (upper central part) on this map at point where road, railway and river merge, in that valley. Gonuratuvka (marked on the map, though the right way to spell thsi name wll be Honorativka but it is called usualy Hornativka by locals) is closest village to it.

And on this topographic Soviet map (of parts of Rohatyn, Berezhany and Peremyshliany districts of West Ukraine) you will find name Pidvysoke written in Russian (as Podvysokoye) at the lowest right corner in the very bottom, left to the small and thin red line, which is the highway. A large town in the bottomleft corner is Rohatyn. Berezhany is to the right and is not seen on this map. The thick red line is Lviv region's border. Lviv region (its Peremyshliany district) is to the north of the red line and Ternopil region (its Berezhany district) and Ivano-Frankivsk region (its Rohatyn district) are to the south of this line. Green areas are forests. Black dots - houses and localities. Wavy lines - mountain/hill encircling lines.

Population in 1900 (Austrian census): 473 inhabitants (including 19 Jews),
in 1939 (Polish census): 540 inhabitants (mostly Polish and Ukrainian, no Jews left),
Present day population: around 500 inhabitants , exclusively Ukrainians.

View of the valley over Pidvysoke village from Lopushna mountain...
River Narayivka (Naraivka) a tributary of Dnister (Dniestr) flows through Pidvysoke valley.

This the cemetry monument from FIRST WORLD WAR
at Austrian First World war military cemetery in Pidvysoke Lopushna Mountain.
The monument inscription says in German:

ANDENKEN
DIE SPATEREN
EIN BEISPIL
UND VORBILD

which means:
OFFSPRINGS, REMIND YOURSELF AN EXAMPLE AND VIRTUE!
Authors referred to the soldiesr burried at that Pidvysoke cemetery who died in firce First World war battle in Pidvysoke area mainly in 1914-1916.

Copyrights@2001-2005
by ROMAN ZAKHARII.
All copyrights reserved!
Page created by
Roman Zakharii from Berezhany
on 02.02.2001 in Oslo, Norway
(where I studied and worked).
Last update on 15.01.2008 in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Picture to the right: me in Pidvysoke,
next to my grandparents' house.
Click on it for larger view