Lviv

History of Lviv
Once upon a time a Paris train and a Moscow train stopped at a train station in a large and ancient town in the center of Europe. The French traveler thought he was in the East at last and the Russian traveler thought he was at last in the West. This is an old tale about Lviv according to my travel book. Lviv has been under Ukrainian, Polish, Austrian, German and Soviet rulers and each has changed the city's appearance and adjusted the town to it's own needs. Lviv was founded on the dry bare Podillia bank and the marshy valley of the Poltva river. It is believed that the city was founded by the Russian King Danylo Romanovych who named the town after his son Lev. This was in 1256. Many times throughout it's history Lviv has been destroyed by fire but has risen out of the ashes every time. The water ways are one of the most fascinating mysteries of the city as water flows in underground crypts under the streets. The city's very geographical location makes it a meeting place for north, south, east and west. In those days only two towns rivaled Lviv and they were Halych and Przemysl but in 1274 Lviv because the capital of the Halychyna and Volhyn Principality.