Kalush overview
Kalush (also spelled Kalish) is a city located in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast of Ukraine in the foothills of Carpathian Mountains. Kalush is standing on the left bank of the river Lomnitsa, in the picturesque part of the Carpathian area, 35 km from Ivano-Frankivsk, 130 km from Lviv and 560 km from Kiev. Main industries of Kalush are clothing manufacture, food processing, woodcarving.
Kalush city has the population of about 67,000 (2010).
The phone code is +380 3472; the postal codes - 77300-77309.
Kalush history
The first mentioning of Kalush settlement was in 1437. That time it was called Halychyna. The town was part of Polish-Lithuanian state, Austria-Hungary Empire and Poland. In 1940, after capturing eastern part of Poland (Kalush town also) Soviets forcefully moved Polish people from the town to Siberia. Kalush city had large Jewish community from the 16th century until 1941 when Germans almost eliminated it.
Kalush features
Kalush nowadays is a large industrial and cultural center of Western Ukraine; 1/3 of all industrial product of the region is made there. Some unique output such as potassium mineral fertilizers, metallic magnesium, polyethylene is produced in Ukraine in only one city of Kalush.
As a result of long work of potassium ore mining and processing plants in Kalush-Golinsky deposit the environmental situation in Kalush is rather dangerous. The main environmental danger in Kalush is caused by an intense sinking of land surface above mine excavations where 1,300 houses and 23 industrial constructions are located.
On the territory of Kalush there is a toxic waste depository - the only one in Europe - where 11,000,000 tons of hexachlorbenzene - highly dangerous substance - is kept. The integrity of this depository is damaged and as a result air, soil and water in the river Limnitsa (flowing into the Dniester) basin are polluted.
In February, 2010, the territory of Kalush and a number of nearest settlements were declared a zone of extraordinary environmental situation. In August, 2010, the state enterprise National center handling dangerous waste from Kiev began taking the poisonous chemicals out of Kalusha to Poland for further utilization.
Second hand market - the largest in Western Ukraine - is open in Kalush. Convenient location of Kalush is one of its main advantages, thanks to it transportation net is well developed connecting the city with Central and Eastern Europe via air, railway and highways.
Boundaries with Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are at the distance of 300 km. The territory of Kalush consists mainly of lowland which is surrounded by thick forests, 1/10 of the city itself is covered with forests.
Among the places of interest of Kalush city are:
- St.Mikhail Rome-Catholic church;
- St.Valentine Rome-Catholic Polish church;
- All Saints newly built cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kiev patriarchy;
The Day of the City is celebrated on the 3rd Saturday in September.
