Founded in 1032, the city was originally named by
Yaroslav the Wise, whose Christian name was Yuri. The contemporary name of the city, literally translated, is "White Church" and may refer to the white-painted cathedral (no longer extant) of medieval Yuriiv. In its long history, Bila Tserkva spent its first few hundred years privately owned, later, though the owner was typically a citizen of the ruling empire, it was organized as a
fiefdom, with important trade routes to Kyiv, Hungary, the Middle East and India, passing through it. From its earliest incarnation, Bila Tserkva was considered to provide important defense against nomadic tribes that included both the
Cumans and the
Tatars. However, a 13th century invasion by the
Mongols devastated the city, and illustrated the fallibility of its defense.
Lithuanian and Polish rule From c. 1363, Bila Tserkva belonged to the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and from 1569 to the
Kingdom of Poland within the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, administratively in the
Kijów Voivodeship, part of
Lesser Poland Province. In 1550, the Voivode of Kyiv, Fryderyk Proński, built a castle in Bila Tserkva, which at that time was the easternmost fortress on the steppe. By 1570, it had four towers. Around that time, a town began to develop around the castle, as frequent Tatar raids—due to the nearby so-called
Black Trail—had previously made permanent settlement impossible. In 1572 King
Sigismund Augustus designated Bila Tserkva as the seat of Jan Badowski, the judge and administrator of Cossack affairs, which were excluded from the regular state administration. Under the
Cossack Hetmanate Bila Tserkva served as the centre of an eponymous
regiment. In 1666, six thousand
Muscovite troops laid siege to Bila Tserkva. The standoff lasted until the following year when Polish reinforcements led by Jan Stachurski with the aid of allied Cossacks and
Iwan Brzuchowiecki smashed
Petro Doroshenko's stranglehold.
Return under Polish rule The next owner of the town was
Great Crown Hetman Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski. In 1702, the castle was taken by the Cossack leader
Semen Paliy who made Bila Tserkva the centre of his
rebellion. Various Polish
Crown Army units were stationed in the city at various times, including the 5th and 6th National Cavalry Brigades and 4th Infantry Regiment.
The Russian Empire In 1791, Russia's
Catherine the Great, included Bila Tserkva in the region that came to be known as the
Pale of Settlement, which encompassed parts of seven contemporary nations, including large swaths of modern-day Ukraine. Bila Tserkva was formally annexed into the
Russian Empire as a result of the
Second Partition of Poland in 1793. By the late 18th century, Jews were already living in the region, and within a century they would comprise nearly half the population of the city. Many cultural figures were active in the city, including
Yiddish authors
Sholem Aleichem and
Shaye Shkarovsky and Ukrainian prose writer
Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky, artists
Luka Dolinski and
Halyna Nevinchana, as well as theater and film directors
Eugene Deslaw and
Les Kurbas..
20th century Before the
First World War, Bila Tserkva served as a centre of trade with agricultural products and sugar. During
World War II, Bila Tserkva was occupied by the
Wehrmacht from 16 July 1941 to 4 January 1944. In August 1941 Bila Tserkva was the site the Nazi massacre, now known as the
Bila Tserkva massacre of the city's Jewish population, which required the separate executions of nearly 100 children. A Monument to Jewish Children and the Holocaust was unveiled in Bila Tserkva in 2019. During the
Cold War, the town was host to the
72nd Guards Krasnograd Motor Rifle Division and the
251st Instructor Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment of
Long Range Aviation. After the war Bila Tserkva emerged as a centre of
food industry, including production of sugar. A tractor repairment workshop functioned in the city. It became an important educational centre with several schools, as well as a museum, a theatre and an
arboretum. During the
Battle of Vasylkiv, a Russian
Il-76, carrying over 100 paratroopers, was allegedly shot down over Bila Tserkva. == Jewish history ==