The State Archives displayed one of Ukraine's most valuable documents
The State Archival Service of Ukraine has presented a certificate of confirmation issued by the arbitrators of a settlement agreement between parish priest Ivan Rusyn and the community of Lviv regarding the right to collect the church tithe, dated November 8, 1407.
This ancient iron-reinforced concrete artifact is housed at the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Lviv in Collection No. 131, “Collection of Parchment Charters.”
This religious and legal document is officially classified as a unique historical artifact of Ukraine, the agency reports on Facebook.
The charter is written in Latin on parchment and contains valuable information about religious and social life in medieval Lviv.
In particular, it confirms a peace agreement between parish priest Ivan Rusyn, who headed the parish of the city’s main Catholic church—the Church of the Virgin Mary (now known as the Latin Cathedral)—and the city’s community at that time.
The State Archival Service notes that the document also vividly illustrates interfaith relations of that time and unequivocally attests to the presence of a Ukrainian population in medieval Lviv.
Commenting on the presentation of the document, Anatoliy Khromov, head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine, told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that the publication of such materials is part of an important ongoing project by the archival service.
Digitization allows the general public to access this heritage without risking damage to the originals.
According to him, Ukrainian archives currently hold about 100 million archival items, amounting to billions of archival pages.
“We strive to publish a digital copy and a brief description of one of the unique documents from the National Archival Fund every week,” said Khromov.
“Only about 450 documents have the status of ‘unique’ under the law. This means they have exceptional cultural value and illustrate the Ukrainian people’s contribution to the world’s cultural heritage,” he noted.
Khromov added that any official documents created before the 15th century automatically fall into the highest category due to their rarity and historical value.
According to the head of the State Archives, the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv currently houses one of the largest collections of such documents. The agency’s primary mission remains ensuring transparency of information.
“This document illustrates the confessional and religious history of Lviv, as well as the life of the Ukrainian population in the medieval city,” Khromov emphasized.
“We do not face the dilemma of whether it is more important to preserve or digitize documents. All unique documents were digitized back in 2020 and are available in a special section on the website of the State Archival Service of Ukraine,” Khromov said.
The agency reported this on Facebook.
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