Background
Denis Zubrytsky was born in 1777 into a family of Ukrainian nobles.
Denis Zubrytsky was born in 1777 into a family of Ukrainian nobles.
After graduating from Lviv"s gymnazium in 1795 he worked as a civil servant. In his youth he had been pro-Polish, and had even supported Napoleon"s invasion of Austria-Hungary. In 1809 he served as a secretary to the pro-French Polish forces who occuopied the city.
Later in his life Zubrytsky became very hostile to Polish interests and an ardent supporter of Russophilism.
Between 1829 and 1847 he held various positions within the Stauropegion Institute, an important cultural and historical institution in western Ukraine that served as a bastion of Russophilism. In 1843 he was commissioned to organize the Lviv municipal archive.
In 1842 he became a corresponding member of the Saint St. Petersburg Archeological Commission and in 1855 he became a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.