The city of Burshtyn is located in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, 16 km from the district center of Galacia, in the picturesque floodplain valley of the Hnyla Lypa River. The first written mention of the settlement called Nove Selo, which was part of the royal domain, dates back to 1436. Later, in 1556, the town was renamed Burshtyn. The crown hetman Mykola Sinyavskyi made the greatest efforts to elevate the town, who in the 16th century achieved the granting of Magdeburg rights to the city. The crown instigator Pavlo Benoe turned the city into a powerful trading center. At the beginning of the 16th century, the turnover of Burshtyn was three times higher than that of Stanislavov. The picture shows a view of the Burshtyn Market; all the houses on the square are built of stone. In the center is the town hall; on the left is the slender tower of the 16th century church century; on the right - the Greek Catholic Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, built in 1824. There was a Ruthenian parish school in the city. The palace of Count Ignacy Skarbek, built in 1820, became the decoration of Burshtyn, which was the center of cultural and educational life of the region. The palace housed a huge collection of outstanding works of painting, sculpture, and art glass, collected by Count Skarbek. Around the palace, on an area of ​​almost 7 hectares, there was a botanical park with rare trees, flower beds, picturesque ponds, and large aviaries for exotic birds. At the invitation of Count Skarbek, the famous musician Franz Xaver Mozart, son of W.-A. Mozart, lived in Burshtyn in 1809. He founded the first secular choir in Burshtyn, and 17 years later he founded such a group in Lviv.

Oleh Vvedensky