Ostroh

Ostroh is a city in Rivne Oblast in western Ukraine, on the Horyn River, and the centre of the Ostroh urban hromada. It was the administrative centre of Ostroh Raion until 2020 and had an estimated 14,900 residents in 2022. The Hypatian Codex first mentions it in 1100 as a fortress of the Volhynian princes, and from the 14th century it was the seat of the powerful Ostrogski princely family, who made it a centre of learning and commerce. The Ostroh Academy, founded in 1576, was the first higher educational institution in modern Ukraine, and the first East Slavic books, notably the Ostrog Bible, were printed in the town in the 16th century. It passed through the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, received Magdeburg rights in 1585 and was later fortified with a moat and a rampart with five bastions.