Hvizdets

Hvizdets Гвіздець
Rural settlement
Monastery in Hvizdets
Coat of arms
Hvizdets Hvizdets
Coordinates: 48°34′43″N 25°16′55″E
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Raion	Kolomyia Raion
Population  (2022)
• Total	1,831

Hvizdets (Ukrainian: Гвізде́ць; Polish: Gwoździec; Yiddish: גוואַזדזיעץ, romanized: G'vojiets) is a rural settlement in Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is located 19 km (12 mi) east-northeast of Kolomyia, 56 km (35 mi) southeast of Ivano-Frankivsk and 690 km (430 mi) west-southwest of Kyiv. Hvizdets hosts the administration of Hvizdets settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 1,831 (2022 estimate).

History

The town was the site of the Battle of Gwoździec in 1531, during the Polish-Moldavian wars.

Prior to World War II the town was located in Poland. It is the birthplace of Polish film director Jerzy Kawalerowicz, artist Yaroslav Pstrak and politician Andriy Shevchenko.

Until 26 January 2024, Hvizdets was designated urban-type settlement. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Hvizdets became a rural settlement.

Alternate names

Hvizdets was formerly known as Gvozdets (Russian), Gwoździec (Polish), Gvozdetz or Gvodzitz or גוואזדזיעץ (Yiddish), Hvizdec', Gvozhdziyets, and Gvozdzets.

Former Jewish population

Museum reconstruction of the polychrome wooden vault and bimah of the 1640 Gwoździec Synagogue, destroyed by Nazi German forces in 1941.

The Jewish population of Hvizdets in the year 1900 was 1,663 people, who made up a substantial part of the town's population. Nearly all were killed in the Holocaust. The famous Gwoździec Synagogue once stood in the village, however, it was burnt down by the German forces during World War II.