Velyki Mezhyrichi

Place in Rivne Oblast, Ukraine

Velyki Mezhyrichi Великі Межирічі
Flag Coat of arms
50°39′24″N 26°51′53″E / 50.65667°N 26.86472°E / 50.65667; 26.86472
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Rivne Oblast
Raion	Rivne Raion
Area
• Total	5,441 km² (2,101 sq mi)
Population
• Total	2,192
• Density	0.40/km² (1.0/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	34725
Area code	+380 3651
Website	село Великі Межирічі/райцентр Корець/облцентр Рівне ^(Ukrainian)

Mezhirichi (Ukrainian: Вели́кі Межи́річі, romanized: Velyki Mezhyrichi; Polish: Wielki Międzyrzecz) is a village in western Ukraine, in the Rivne Raion of Rivne Oblast, but was formerly administered within the Korets Raion. It is located 21 kilometres (13 mi) west of Korets and 43 kilometres (27 mi) east of Rivne. Local government is administered by Velykomezhyritska village council.^[1]

Names

Mezhirichi is also known as Polish: Międzyrzec Korecki, Yiddish: מעזריטש Mezritsh, Hebrew: מזריטש גדול.

Jewish life in Mezhirichi

Undoubtedly the most significant event in the Jewish community of Mezhirichi was the arrival there of the Maggid, Rabbi Dov Ber. After the death of the founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, in 1761, Rabbi Dov Ber became the next leader of the movement. He moved to Rivne, and later to Mezhrichi, where he remained for the rest of his life. Mezhrichi rapidly became a magnet and place of pilgrimage for the chasidim. The location of Mezhrichi, nearer to Poland and White Russia than the Baal Shem Tov's seat in Medzhybizh, acted as a spur to the fledgling chasidic movement.

History and attractions

The first written record of the village dates from 1544. However, archaeologists found in the area a settlement of Bronze Age and the Roman coins of II century AD.
The Magdeburg rights were provided for the village Mezhyrichi by the King of Poland Sigismund III Vasa in 1605. And in 1702 the owner of the village, Jerzy Lubomirski, started to build a stone church of St. Anthony in the village, which took 25 years to erect. The church was built on the place of an old wooden church, which had been erected by means of by Konstantine Ostrogski and which burned down in 1601.
Monuments of architecture national importance in the Rivne region is the stone church of St. Anthony (N - 1503 0) and Peter and Paul Church (wooden) (N – 1505 0) in the village Velyki Mezhyrichi.^[2]

Gallery

Peter and Paul Church (wooden) in the village Velyki Mezhyrichi.
Church of St.Anthony in the village Velyki Mezhyrichi.

Notable people from Mezhirichi

Dov Ber, rabbi
Isaak Ozer Löwenstein, rabbi whose daughter Lina married Edward Eliasz Luxenburg and gave birth to Polish revolutionary socialist Róża Luksemburg.