Ivan Fedorov Statue

He was a Russian emigrant and publisher. He moved to Lviv in 1572 and worked as a printer and Saint Onuphrius Monastery. In 1574 with the help of his son he published the second edition of the Apostolos with an autobiographical epilogue and an Alphabet book. In 1575 he published the Ostrog Bible which was the first full version of the Bible in movsble type.

Restoration

The Soviets painted everything blah colors like icky green and yellow. When this statue was restored it was discovered that the original color of the building was blue.

The Krushelnytska Opera House

It is the only edifice in Lviv printed on the national currency (the twenty). It was built in 1896. It sits where the former Holukhovsky palace once stood.

Museum of ethnography and Crafts

The “Fortune” Statue is located inside. We bought lots of cools arts and crafts stuff. I got a real blown out egg that is just beautiful!! The museum is no longer open so it serves as a place to buy cool stuff and see a few statues.

Monument to the Polish Poet Adam Mickiewicz

Built on November 30, 1904 and was placed on the square bearing his name. It represents an allegorical winged Genius handing a lyre to Michiewicz.

The Jewish Quarter

Pidvalna Street area towards the City Arsenal. In the 14th century when there was hardly any living space part of the Jews moved into the “city in the fortress” while the rest stayed in the Krakiwske outskirts. There are remains of a well that was once used by the community. The city plummer would turn off the water and demand extra taxes because of all the extra money in the Jewish Community. The Golden Rose synagogue supposedly had a large mosaic rose on the floor. It was wiped away by the Nazi's and there is a very nice Jewish restaurant called the “Golden rose” in that area. We also saw another former synagogue memorial on the second day in Lviv.

Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch

There is a restaurant with a rather odd statue of him in front of it and some of us took pictures with it and when you take a picture you put your hand in his pocket. Then I found this on Wikipedia: Leopold Ritter von Sacher-Masoch was an Austrian writer and journalist, who gained renown for his romantic stories of Galician life. The term masochism is derived from his name.

Prince Danylo

In 2001 a monument to the founder of the city was unveiled.

The Boim's Chapel

The chapel was built in the 1700s and was a part of the cemetery that surrounded the Latin Catholic Cathedral. King Stefan Batoria invited Yuri Boim to settle in Lviv. According to his will only 3 generations of Boim could be buried here.

The Rest of the History of Lviv

After the Astro-Hungary revolution (1848) the Head Rus Rada (the first Ukrainian political organization) proclaimed the unification of all Ukrainians into one nation. They demanded that the Austrian government divided Halychuna into two seperate territories (East- Ukrainian Region and West- Polish Region). They insisted on introducing the Ukrainian language as the language of instruction in all schools. The Rada only opporated until 1851 but they managed to establish a cultural and educational organization, The People's House in Lviv and publish the first Ukrainian newspaper.
World War I turned Lviv into a battlefield between the Austria-Hungarians and the Russians.
In September of 1914 the Russian army occupied Lviv. Troops stayed in Lviv for 9 months and the city was visited by Russian Emperor, Nikolay II. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptysky was exiled to Russia. During their retreat the Russian army confiscated a large amount of cultural and material valuables. The country was restored to the Austrians. Taking advantage of the situation a group of Austrian officers of Ukrainian decent took the city under their control on November 1, 1918. The whole city broke out into street wars between the Ukrainians and the Poles. The Ukrainian troops surrendered on November 21, 1918.
In 1920 the Bolshevik calvary attempted to break Lviv's defense. Starvation, epidemic diseases, social conflicts, and other hardships badly hit the population. Under the Riga peace agreement, Lviv became a part of the second Polish Republic.
At the beginning of the second World War Lviv was caught between the German troops pressing on the western boarder and the Soviet troops crossed the eastern boarder at the Zbrootch River. Lviv's fate was decided in 1939 when the two signed a secret protocol of Molotov-Ribbentrop. Lviv was given to the Bolsheviks who persecuted and repressed the people. The people of Lviv greeted the first German squadron with flowers when the arrived. At the onset of their invasion the Nazis blew up all the synagogues and decimated some of the Europe's oldest Jewish cemeteries. They set up a ghetto and embarked on a systematic entermination of Jews. 1944 the Soviets restored power but no one greeted them with flowers and ruled until the 1990s.

The First Gas Lamp

The first gas lamp was invented by two pharmacist Ignatsi Lukasevych and Johan Zeh and was lit in the “By the Golden Star” drugstore in 1853.
These status represent these men.

City Hall (and some more history)

In 1704, Swedish King Karl XII conquered Lviv and plundered the City treasury. As legend goes during the assault one of the city defenders hiding on the Korniakta tower shoot an arrow and knocked the King's hat off his head. It was either this incident or a money shortage that made the King order his soldiers to ravage the town. On September 19, 1772, Austrian troops marched into Lviv. The Prussian King Fredrick II made an observation that when the Austrian ruler, Maria Teresa was signing the decree of the division of Poland she was crying. Lviv was made the capitol of the Royal territory of Halychyna and Volodymerii and in the 19th century a palace for the Governor was built. In 1773, the first Lviv newspaper, the “Gazette de Leopoli” was published on Lychakivska Street and the first edition of the famous “Gazeta Lwowska” was presented to the world in 1811. Austrian authorities were building new roads, banks, and enterprises. The original City Hall made of wood burnned down in 1527. The second City hall collapsed in 1826 killing several people including Lviv's last bugler. This governor of the City Hall tower was popular among the city dwellers. He spent days and nights on the tower keeping watch for fires and other things. The present day city hall has 156 rooms and 9 halls, yet the officials of Lviv find the building too small and keep rebuilding the upper floor. 4 Greek gods surround city hall on each corner: Artemis, Adonis, Diana and Neptune.

The Latin (Catholic) Cathedral

In the 17th century with the Turkish army with their allies the Cossacks stormed the town of Lviv. The battle at Lviv was to settle the fate of the Polish Crown. During one of the assaults a cannon ball flew over the city-walls and broke a stained-glass window in the Catholic cathedral. It landed by the alter but never exploded. People viewed this a miracle and soon the cannon ball was hung on one of the cathedral walls. Lviv thanked the general that assaulted them by naming one of its streets after him, Hetman Doroshenko. The Latin Cathedral is located on Cathedral Square and was built in the 14th and 15th centuries by the order of King Kazimierz the Great. There is a memorial plague that commemorates the visit from Pope John Paul II on the outside of the Church.

The Church of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin

With the changing of ruling power, the Ukrainians (Russins) lost some of their rights. The Orthodox community flocked around the fraternity and the Church of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin. In 1586 Patriarch Joachim of Antioch ratified the Fraternity's Charter and empowered them to guard other Orthodox Communities. The Church of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin that still stands today was built in 1591. The church might have been used as fortification based on the width of it's walls and placement of the windows.

Armenian Quarter and Cathedral

Armenians came to Halychyna long before there was evidence of Lviv. Settling in Lviv they created an influential community that enjoyed one of the most important rights of the middle ages- legal autonomy. They established their own district on Virmentska (Armenian), Krakiwska and Lesy Ukrainky streets. They opened the first bank. The foundation of the Cathedral was laid in 1363 and it is said that Dorhi the architect copied the cathedral in Ani, the ancient capital of Armenia. I took a picture of the really creepy Fresco in the church. And we watched part of a wedding.

Pictures of the Polish Quarter and More Lviv History

Continuing the History of Lviv
Princes were not only fighting outside enemies but also trying to come to an understanding with the local gentry. Most of them remained independent and owned salt-mines in the Carpathians. In hard times these men, the boyars could step in and take action if needed. Dmytro Dedko did just that after Prince Yuri II Troidenowych had been poisoned in 1340 and headed the almost independent boyars' government until 1349 when the city fell under King Kazimierz III the Great. He is one of the most prominent Polish kings. To facilitate the development of the city, the King encouraged merchants and craftspeople to settle in Lviv. In the 15th century Lviv was called “the Eastern Gate” of the Polish State. Lviv won the right to be a “storehouse” meaning that all merchants traveling through the city had to stop in Lviv for two weeks and sell their goods to the locals. In 1527 the city was completely destroyed by fire and was later rebuilt in the Renaissance style. Only one building survived the flames and the citizens of Lviv attributed this fact to the protection of Holy Mary. The history of Lviv determined it to be the city of three Christian Churches: Latin (the head of the local Catholic Church moved from Halych in 1412), Orthodox and Armenian. In addition since the 15th century more Jews were settling in the city and by the 16th century the Jewish population was 25%. There were times when non-Lviv born families ruled the city. The families of boim, Campiani, Scholtz-Wolfovych set up their own rules, built family vaults, increased their wealth and gradually disappeared.