Welcome to The Oil Cradle of Europe!
What interests you?
This site was created as part of the realization of the “Oil Cradle of Europe: The Forgotten History of Poland and Ukraine” project, which is implemented under the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2014-2020 and is financed by the European Union.
Thematic objective: Heritage.
Priority: Promotion of local culture and history.
Main Beneficiary: Boryslav City Council (Lviv Region, Ukraine).
Beneficiary: Sanok Commune (Poland, Podkarpackie Voivodeship).
Project implementation period: November 1, 2020 — September 30, 2022.
Target groups and final beneficiaries: local residents, tourists, members of local public organizations, representatives of authorities and small and medium tourism businesses, employees of cultural and educational institutions, travel firms and guides.
The project partners are united by a common cultural and historical heritage related to oil production in the Precarpathian oil and gas-bearing province since the 16th century. During the heyday of oil production in the middle of the 19th to early 20th centuries, the Boryslav-Sanok region became a real cradle of the European oil industry!
For a long time, the potential of the oil heritage of the Boryslav-Sanok region was insufficiently studied and protected, insufficiently promoted and used. The problem of the region was also the lack of tourist information and comprehensive tourist offers, the low level of cross-border cooperation, which led to a small number of tourists.
But due to the wealth of historical events, traditions and unique artifacts, the region has great prospects for its historical and cultural development as a tourist center not only of Ukraine and Poland, but also of Europe and the whole world. Therefore, the main goal of our project was to ensure the preservation and popularization of the cultural and historical heritage of the Boryslav-Sanok region, to strengthen cultural ties and cooperation, and to improve the image and attractiveness of the region. The project will contribute to the increase of tourist flows to the communes of Sanok and Boryslav, which will create new opportunities for the economic development of these territories.
The main tasks of the project:
1. Multi-faceted expert scientific research: search, collection and organization of materials on the history of the oil industry of Boryslav and its surroundings and Sanok commune, using historical sources from archives, museums, private and state collections; research of historical objects of the oil and gas industry in the region, considering the possibilities of using them for tourist purposes; creation of a strategy for the development of tourism in the region based on the use of historical objects of the oil industry.
2. Development of a catalog of oil monuments of Boryslav and the commune of Sanok, which is posted on this website:
3. Development and printing of maps of the Boryslav Territorial Community and Sanok Commune with marked and described landmarks related to historical oil production sites in the region.
4. Development and printing of a bilingual album on the history of the oil production industry of Boryslav and Sanok commune.
5. Installation of monuments to the pioneers of the method of obtaining kerosene, researchers and pioneers of oil processing: Yohan Zeh – in the city of Boryslav and Ignatius Lukasevich – in the village of Strachocina of Sanok commune.
6. Conducting a number of joint events and meetings in Boryslav and Sanok commune: trainings for persons engaged in research, preservation and promotion of cultural heritage; seminars dedicated to the opening of monuments to Yohan Zeh in Boryslav and to Ignatius Lukasevich in Strachocina, Sanok commune; conferences “The oil cradle of Europe: the forgotten history of Poland and Ukraine”. At these meetings, it is planned to present the results of the project and the conclusions of expert studies, the presentation of project publications, the discussion of the strategy of research, preservation and promotion of the historical and cultural heritage of the region.
During the implementation of the project, we can say that the interest of residents and tourists in the history of the oil and gas industry of the Boryslav-Sanok region is growing! Dissemination of information about the historical and cultural sights of Boryslav and the commune of Sanok gives a chance for local business initiatives – places to stay and eat, tourist operators and tour guides. Moreover, there are places with high tourist potential nearby – the Carpathians, the resorts of Truskavets and Skhidnytsia, which receive hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
Project participants believe that its implementation is only the first step in cooperation between partners. The activities and research carried out, as well as the relationships acquired in the projects, will become a solid foundation for future cooperation!
