City Lake, Ivano-Frankivsk

The City Lake(also known as the StanislavskeSea ) is the largest artificial lake (pond) in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. It is located in the southwestern part of the city, to the west of Taras Shevchenko Park. The area of the water mirror is 36 hectares. It was built in 1955.

The city lake has become a favorite vacation spot for locals and guests of Ivano-Frankivsk. It's a pleasure to walk around the lake, go fishing, and in summer swim on a hot day. The picturesque landscapes of the lake make it romantic and mysterious. By the way, you can rent a boat here, and the Bridge of Love connects the shore of the lake with the "Lovers' Island". Interestingly, the latter is shaped like a heart. The island has stone paths, benches, and lanterns.

You can often see people running or skateboarding on the paths near the lake. By the way, one lap around the reservoir is 3 kilometers.

In the middle of the 17th century, the village of Zabolotia was located in these places. The city of Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) was founded here in 1662 by the Galician elder Andrzej Potocki. And the land where the village was located has never lost its former purpose: noble Polish gentry have long hunted and rested here. The mayor A. Potocki also founded a menagerie here.

It was in this area that ponds were dug in Stalin's time, and gateways connected to the Bystrytsia Solotvynska River. In 1955, the gateways were deliberately opened, and water poured in, filling all these artificial reservoirs - and the so-called Stanislav Sea was created, which has become a favorite recreation area for citizens and visitors. It is a very picturesque place. There is a boat station where you can rent a boat. It's nice here in summer. But there is a special charm in this area in spring and autumn.

A separate category of visitors to the city lake is people who come here to get water from the spring. They seem to walk continuously, in an endless line with large plastic bottles, cans, and jerry cans in their hands, firmly believing that the water here is the cleanest in the city and maybe even a little bit healing. A chapel with a statue of the Virgin Mary was built over the pump room where they are supposed to draw water from. By the way, this spring is perhaps the only source of running water besides precipitation. Without it, the lake might start to shrink.

The history of the lake is very interesting. Long before the city's public park was founded, there was already a private park of the Romashkanov barons on the southern outskirts of Stanislaviv. These representatives of the Moldovan noble family owned a small palace and the surrounding area. They ennobled it, planted flowers, ornamental shrubs, etc. The pond almost in front of the palace was the jewel of the baronial estate. It has been preserved to this day and is known as Swan Lake, with a small island on which there is a wooden house for birds.

It is not known exactly when the pond was dug, but it is already on the map of 1848. The local newspaper of 1879 writes that in the winter, the entrepreneur Luchynskyi rented the pond from the barons and arranged the only ice rink in the city. It is clear that it was paid for. During the day, he charged men 10 cents for admission, and in the evenings, when music played, 25 cents. Women and children had discounts. In the summer, the reservoir was not idle either: gentlemen rented boats and made circles around it, taking ladies for a ride.

Seeing that it was a good business, Baron Franciszek Romaszkan decided to expand the business. In 1907-1908, two more ponds were dug to the left of Lebedynne, which were later merged into one. The new lake was named Selyanka. It was much larger, so boaters had room to maneuver. The lakes were deep, because the Mlynivka River flowed through the park, generously supplying Selyanka with water.

It is interesting that a city park was laid out next to the private baronial possessions in 1896. It was being actively developed, but it had no reservoirs of its own. The Stanislaviv magistrate repeatedly offered Romashkan and his heirs to sell the land, but they resisted and bargained until... the arrival of the Soviets.

The Bolsheviks, as you know, did not recognize private property and, by a decision of the Executive Committee of 21.12.1948, annexed the adjacent territory of Romashkany with all the ponds to the city park. Soon the lakes were put to new use. On January 26-27, 1952, the regional ice hockey championship was held for the first time on the pond rink. In June of the same year, a summer swimming pool with six 25-meter lanes was opened in the former Selyanka. The opening was celebrated with a competition involving 36 swimmers.

In 1954, the Prykarpatska Pravda newspaper reported that Stanislav would soon have a central city lake with an area of 36 hectares and a depth of 3 to 5 meters.

For this purpose, it was planned to carry out extensive land works, select 98 thousand cubic meters of soil, build a dam, and improve the surrounding area. It also provided a plan of the lake, which was divided into several zones. Along the north side, parallel to the dacha estate, there was a boating competition area, in the western part there was a fishing area, the center of the reservoir was to be occupied by a beach area with a floating restaurant, and in the east - a sports sector and a boat marina.

In late March, work began, with the active involvement of city employees. The lake was being built in a swampy area cut by numerous tributaries of the Solotvynska Bystrytsia. Although the newspaper promised that by summer "workers would be swimming in the new reservoir," the deadline was not met.

It was only in June 1955 that the bridge was destroyed, and the waters of the Bystrytsia began to fill the pit. The birthday of the new lake was June 26, when the grand opening was held.

Before that, 5,000 trees and 95,000 bushes were planted on the shores, beach cabins for changing clothes were set up, showers and drinking fountains were equipped, and a boat rental station was opened, for which 11 boats were brought from Odesa in February. Much attention was paid to water safety. For this purpose, a special rescue team was created of six athletes and former sailors who still had a boat and diving suits.

In reality, the layout of the lake was somewhat different from the newspaper announcement. The restaurant was never built, and the beach area was located in its eastern part. An outdoor concrete pool and a diving tower were built there. However, in the nineties, after several accidents, the metal stairs to the tower were cut down, and no one jumps from there now.

In 1955, a summer cinema in the Hutsul style was built on the shore of the lake, with a wooden bridge over it, which was later replaced with a concrete one. From December to February, the reservoir was transformed into a huge skating rink.

In his book Along the Alleys of the City Park, local historian Roman Dida writes that "in the winter of 1960, the skating rink was illuminated and radioed. On Saturdays and Sundays, dance music was played here. The rink had a 400-seat locker room, skate and ski rental, and a skate sharpening station. Instructors from the physical education college taught those who did not know how to stay on the ice."

In the seventies, a statue of a naked girl bathing was placed in the middle of the pond, by sculptor Vasyl Vilshuk. Unfortunately, in the next decade, the girl was hit by an excavator while cleaning the lake and collapsed.