The history of Stanislavov's foundation dates back to the 17th century. In the place where there used to be a village, described by Sadok Barącz in Pamiątki miasta Stanisłów (1858 ) as "an insignificant space situated over a marshland, which was called Zabłocie from these marshes", Andrzej Potocki, the Kiev voivode, castellan of Krakow and field hetman of the Crown, began building a fortified town. In honour of his elder son, born in 1659, and possibly also in honour of his father, Hetman Stanisław Rewera Potocki, he named the town Stanislawow.

Founded in 1662, the town was surrounded by earth ramparts and palisades, and on 7 May it received location privileges under the Magdeburg Law, confirmed on 14 August by King Jan Kazimierz. Later on, the town was surrounded by a wall and a moat, and two gates - Halytska and Tyśmienicka - and a gate called the Armenian gate were built. At that time, Stanislawow became the main stronghold of the southern part of the Halytic lands. Potocki settled the Armenian and Jewish minorities in the city as part of Stanislavov's economic development, and also founded the Church of St. Andrew and St. Stanislav, elevated to the dignity of a collegiate church in 1669, where he was laid to rest after his death. This most valuable monument of the city was made famous by Henryk Sienkiewicz, who made it the burial place of the famous Michał Wołodyjowski. It is in the collegiate church that the poignant scene takes place, in which Father Kaminski utters the words: "For God's sake, Mr Wołodyjowski! Larum are playing! War! The enemy within the borders! And you do not break away? You don't grab your sabre? Don't get on a horse? What has happened to you, soldier?"

It is worth adding that in the side altar on the right there was a painting of St Sebastian, before which the poet Franciszek Karpinski used to pray. A brief description of the town was included in the Geography of the Kingdoms of Galicia and Lodomeria , published in 1780, where we read:

"It is a city all of stone in the taste of foreign cities not surpassing, with a palace, a town hall, an armoury, a fortification, on which the immortal memory of H.E. Stanisław Potocki, Castellan of Kraków, Great Hetman of the Crown, contributed several million to the construction".

After the fall of Kamieniec Podolski in 1672, Stanislawów became one of the most important points of defence in this part of the Commonwealth. Four years later, under the command of Commander Jan Kamieński, the town repulsed a siege by the Turkish-Tartar army, fortunately repulsed by King Jan III Sobieski at Zurawno. In the following years, the fortification walls and castle were renovated and strengthened, and an arsenal was built in 1680. In 1683, Andrew's eldest son Stanislaw was killed in the Battle of Vienna, and his body was laid to rest in the collegiate church. Eight years later his father joined him. Further fortifications were built in 1695, and the castle also gained an armoury. The heir at the time was Stanisław's younger brother, Józef Potocki. In the 18th century, Stanislavov's history was turbulent. In 1707, Cossacks and Russians ravaged the town and left it in ruins, two years later Stanislawow was ravaged by the plague, and in 1712 it was plundered again by the Russians. Also at the time of the Bar Confederation (1768), Russian troops entered the town, and during the partition period Stanislawow was part of the Austrian Empire (after 1867 within the Galician Autonomy). In 1783, Emperor Joseph II visited Stanislawów, ceremoniously received by the Potocki family.

In the early 19th century, the demolition of the defensive walls and the filling in of the moat around the town began. The period of the First World War brought destruction and looting to the town on the front line. One section of the buildings was ruined and the town hall building was demolished by artillery fire. The city was alternately at the mercy of the Russian and Imperial armies. It was not until 1919 that Stanislawów was liberated by the Polish army, and then reconstruction of the ruined city continued for two years. In the interwar period, Stanislawow, which was a provincial town, came under Soviet occupation as early as September 1939. There followed a period of terror, arrests and deportations to Siberia. The summer of 1941 saw a phase of German occupation and bloody rule by the head of the Gestapo, Hans Kruger. The intelligentsia of Stanislawow was murdered, and a pogrom was carried out against the Jewish population. Until July 1944 Stanislawow was in the Halich district of the General Government. After the Soviet army entered, Nazi terror was replaced by NKVD terror. Many priceless monuments were destroyed and looted during the war, including the collegiate church, whose crypts were profaned. The interiors were used as a museum of atheism during the Soviet era and later as an art museum.

One of the buildings that luckily survived the war and occupation was the building of the Lviv branch of the Polish Sokol Gymnastic Society. The Society was founded in Stanislawow as early as 1884, and its aim was the physical and moral education of young people, which was realised through special gymnastic exercises (the so-called Sokol gymnastics), fencing or weight training. In 1892, on 29 May, a ceremony was held in the city for the dedication of the "Sokol" banner, with a procession, theatrical performance and a raout. According to a description in the "Kurier Stanislawowski", the banner "is made of crimson damask, has on one side a falcon in flight, holding in its talons a bunch of sticks in a ring and the motto: On the other side is a painting of Our Lady of Czestochowa, a masterpiece of the art of painting, executed by the artist of great merit for the development of the Falcon idea in our town, druż Antoni Stefanowicz, professor of drawing at the local higher real school". the real university". In turn, a report published during the week included the following piece:

All this nation - today Sokolow

This is our army - this is the only future!

When the breast is lofty, and the knightly face,

From the face looks cheerfulness and health --

- It's the Falcon walking. - His sharp eye,

pierces hearts half in pain,

Quickly dispels the black clouds,

He soars high in spirit!

To you from Pokucie Sokolowie stary,

To you from Pokuttya Sokols of old, Youth full of desire flies away!

For Sokol's young hearts are enticed,

It enchants that each of us dreams,

Dreams of the day when, at the age of men,

Stand under the banner and win with you!

The "Falcon" did not yet have its own headquarters. The building was constructed in 1894-1895 under the direction of engineer Jan Kudelski to a design by the Cracovian architect Karol Zaremba. From the outside, it stood out with its richly decorated facades and cylindrical corner tower with a weathervane. The eclectic building combines elements of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque styles. In 1905, frescoes were made on the building, the façade was decorated with a copy of Artur Grottger's Battle depicting a scene from the January Uprising, and 27 coats of arms of the Polish lands were placed on the cornice. On the frontage was a concrete sculpture of an eagle, which has not survived to the present day as a symbol of Polish statehood. The coats of arms were also covered with plaster - now only one of them is visible, an image of a bird uncovered after renovation in 2000 - the coat of arms of the Plock land, which was mistakenly taken for a jackdaw, the symbol of Galicia.

This building housed one of the city's cinemas - the Ton cinema, established in 1929, after the reconstruction of the building, which had burned down two years earlier, had been completed. At the time, it was the first cinema in Stanislavov to play sound films. The inter-war period brought a true renaissance of the art of cinema; as we read in the weekly Avant-garde of 12 November 1933 in an article on Stanislavov cinemas:

"There are six of everything. This year the programmes are not bad. American rags have been replaced by worthwhile films. Good programmes can be seen in Urania, Warszawa and Olimpia. Now the beautiful Ton cinema has opened its doors."

After Poland regained its independence, the Polish film director and scriptwriter Jerzy Kawalerowicz (1922-2007) studied at the third male secondary school established at Sapieżyńska. The owner of the "Ton" cinema at the time was the father of one of his schoolmates, so Jerzy took every opportunity not to miss any premiere. He and his family lived in Stanislawow until 1944.

During the German occupation, the cinema changed its name to "Wiktoria" and was a cinema nur für Deutsche - for Germans only. Poles were not allowed to attend the screenings. After the Soviet invasion, the Ukrainian writer and revolutionary Ivan Franko became the cinema's patron. In 1962, Stanislaviv was renamed Ivano-Frankivsk as part of the depolonisation of the historically significant Polish town of Potocki. Since 29 August 1945, the Petr Kozlaniuk Regional Children's Library has been located in the building.