UZHHOROD

oozhˈhôrôtˌ, Czech Užhorod, Rus. Uzhgorod, Hung. Ungvár, city (1989 pop. 117,000), capital of Transcarpathian Region, SW Ukraine, in the SW Carpathian foothills and on the Uzh River. It is a rail and highway junction and the economic and cultural heart of Transcarpathian Ukraine. There is trade in lumber and cattle. Industries include meatpacking, winemaking, brandy distilling, and the manufacture of plywood, furniture, and machine tools. Tourism is also economically significant. The city has long been important militarily because of its position guarding the southern approach to the Uzhok Pass over the Carpathians. Uzhhorod was founded in the 8th or 9th cent. and belonged to Kievan Rus in the 10th and 11th cent. Conquered by the Magyars at the end of the 11th cent., the city remained under Hungarian rule until it passed to Austria-Hungary in 1867. Uzhhorod became a bishopric of the Ukrainian Catholic Uniate Church in 1775 and was the center of the Ukrainian national and Russophile movements in the 19th and early 20th cent. The city passed to Czechoslovakia in 1919, was under Hungarian occupation from 1938 to 1944, and was included in Ukraine after World War II. Uzhhorod has a university, a 15th-century castle, and an 18th-century cathedral.

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