Kosov

a city (since 1939) and administrative center of Kosov Raion, Ivano-Frankovsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR. It is situated in the foothills of the Carpathians, on the Rybnitsa River, 12 km from the Vizhnitsa railroad station. Kosov has a sawmill, a woodworking plant, and a creamery; it produces building materials and furniture.

Kosov has also been, since the 17th century, a major center for Ukrainian folk art (wood carving, ceramics, embroidery, weaving, and metalwork). The folk masters of the various arts belong to an artistic production organization known as Gutsul’shchina. The items it produces include wooden plates and boxes decorated with geometric ornaments that may be carved, encrusted in wire and beads, or burned on; chased brass plates for folk costumes, belts, or bags; ceramic vessels decorated with genre or plant motifs; rugs and cloth with geometric de-signs; and embroidery employing plant motifs.

The traditions of the handicraft masters of the turn of the century—for instance, the wood-carvers lu. I. Shkribliak and N. lu. Shkribliak, the Baraniuk family of potters, and the potters Oleksa Bakhmetiuk, P. T. Koshak, and P. I. Tsvilyk—are continued by today’s leading folk artists—for example, the woodcarvers N. F. Kishchuk, I. P. Tymkiv, and I. lu. Grimaliuk; the potters A. I. Roshchib’iuk and N. V. Verbovskaia; the weavers M. lu. Ganushchak and A. V. Vasilashchuk; and the embroiderer A. lu. Gerasimovich.

Kosov is the site of the workshops of the Artistic Fund of the Ukrainian SSR, a folk art technicum with a teaching museum, an open-air museum of folk architecture and domestic interiors, and an exhibition pavilion for works produced by Gutsul’-shchina.

A climatic health resort is located 1 km from Kosov. Summers are moderately warm, with an average July temperature of 14°-17°C, and winters are mild, with an average January temperature of — 4°C. Annual precipitation is approximately 830 mm. The resort has a sanatorium for young people suffering from active cases of tuberculosis.