Ivano-Frankivs'k (Ukrainian: СтаниславівStanyslaviv until 1962, Polish: Iwano-Frankowsk, formerly Stanisławów, German: Stanislau (before World War I]), Yiddish: סטאַניסלעװStanislev) is a city in Ukraine, center of the Ivano-Frankivs'k region in the west of the country. Population 204,200 (2004).
The city was erected as a fortress to protect the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Tatar invasions and has also successfully withstood attacks by Turkish and Russian forces. Extensively rebuilt during the Renaissance, it was sometimes called Little Leopolis. The city was also an important center of Armenian culture in Poland.
In 1962 the name changed to honor the famous Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko. In the early 1990s the city was a strong center of the Ukrainian independence movement.
Stanislawow was called Zabolota (swampy area)which was a small village, it was originally founded in 1437 according to the first references in chronicles.
In the 1870s Stanislawow was proclaimed a “Free City” and both gates to the city, even as late as 1939 had large signs testifying to this fact.
In 1962, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the city, Stanislawow was renamed Ivano-Frankivsk in honour of the Ukrainian writer, poet, journalist Ivan Franko.
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