Theatre square - view towards the Independence monument

Ternopiltakes its basis from the time of the construction on the land of a powerful fortress designed to protect the southeastern borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Tatar invasions of the Horde. The name of the city on one of the regional versions, comes from the name of its founder, Polish military leader and political figure of Jan Tarnowski, as the city, almost to the middle of the twentieth century was called Tarnopol. There are also other theories and conjecture concerning the etymology of town name. But whatever it was – the city of Ternopil has a distinguished history and a unique cultural heritage. There are a large number of monuments of the fortification and temple architecture and monumental art, many museums, historic natural attractions. Construction founded in 1540, the year of feudal structures and the establishment of the city took eight years. At the end of this period – Ternopil received the Magdeburg law, which, along with favorable economic location of the city contributed to its rapid development. Together with the construction of Ternopil Fort, was created by fill embankment, which served as the bridge on the river Seret, which has been formed by the popular and hitherto Ternopil pond. Despite the inaccessibility of Ternopil walls of the fortress, they could not prevent the numerous looting of the city by the Turks and the Mongols, who burned buildings, devastated land and took the inhabitants into captivity. This continued for a whole century, and in the end – Ternopil fortifications were destroyed, and the castle received a large number of injuries. In the XVII century, Ternopil was built two unique works of religious architecture – Vozdvizhenskiy and Christmas of the Church, which in our days silently reflect the spirit of bygone eras. At the end of the XVIII century, the town passed into the possession of Austria-Hungary, and after coming to power F. Korytowski in the NINETEENTH century, – all fortifications around the Ternopil castle was demolished, and the castle was rebuilt in the Palace, bound by a stone wall with the arms on both sides of the gate. Modern Ternopil, which, like many other cities, has risen from the ashes of the Second world war, today, apart from high culture and national traditions, has a developed infrastructure and tourism. With plenty of hotels and Inns, restaurants and art cafes, malls,parksamusement and water Park, libraries,theatresand cinema halls, radio stations and regional TV channels.