Lviv
Lviv is one of the largest cities in Ukraine. It is located in the Western Ukraine and its close proximity to Central Europe influenced its appearance and architecture.
Travel Destinations in Lviv
Cathedral of Saint George (Lviv)
History
Archaeological studies have established that on the site of Lviv
there were settlements dating back to the 5th century AD. During the
excavations of 1990-1991. in the territory behind the theater to
them. Zankovetskaya, where the Dobrobut market is currently located,
archaeologists discovered evidence that an urban settlement
continuously functioned in that place from the 7th – 8th centuries.
In particular, they found a handicraft area where the leather men
processed leather. In addition, the remains of jewelry production
were found. Also, as a result of excavations in the square of the
Holy Spirit near the Jesuit church, ancient Slavic ceramics of the
7th-8th centuries was found. Similar finds were found near the
Cathedral. Archaeologists believe that a settlement or a series of
settlements stretched along the Poltva River. It was a proto-city
that preceded the emergence of Lviv.
Later, these lands may have belonged to the Great Moravian state. In
the X century, Kievan Rus and Poland began to claim the land (during
the reign of Meshko I). It is assumed that Meshko owned these lands
from 960 to 980. According to the annals of Nestor, in 981 they were
conquered by Vladimir the Great.
The first mention of Lviv dates back to 1256. According to the most
common version, Lviv was founded only in the XIII century by King
Daniil of Galitsky and was named after his son, Leo. According to
another version, the city was founded by the very son of Daniil
Galitsky.
As part of the Galicia-Volyn principality (until 1349)
Lviv developed rapidly. The position of the princely city was
closely related to the geographical position. The city was founded
on the border of the dry, treeless Podolsk coast and the
forest-covered firebox of the Poltva floodplain, at the place where
horizons rich in spring water come out at the junction of
water-resistant limestone.
Old Lviv, like the other cities of that time, consisted of three
parts: a detinets, that is, a fortified city, a roundabout city and
suburbs. The High Castle (Detinets) was located on that mountain,
which was called Gorai in the 15th century, in the 17th - Bald
Mountain, and later Princely Mountain. As can be seen on the
lithography of the XVII century, it was a tall and treeless, sheer
and inaccessible mountain. The detinets were well fortified with
ramparts, bins and a picket fence so that they could withstand
numerous enemy attacks.
Podzamchye (a roundabout city) stretched along the northwestern
slope of the mountain, which was also fortified with ramparts and
stockade. There were princely towers (above the church of St.
Nicholas), from which the steep road led down to the merchant - the
Old Market.
The suburbs occupied the right bank of the Poltva river floodplain
and the mountain slopes and stretched in a semicircle along the
western, northern, and southern sides of the Princely Mountain. It
was not fortified, it was probably protected only by ramparts and a
stockade, and in the event of an armed enemy attack, residents,
together with their property, were looking for protection in a
devious city and detinets. Separately, on a steep mountain, stood
the fortified church of St. Jura.
The princely city was built along the Volyn road, on a trade route
that went from the Black Sea through Galich-Lvov-Kholm to the Baltic
Sea. This path passed through the Old Market and past numerous
churches, churches and monasteries, some of which have survived to
this day: Maria Snezhnaya, Ivan the Baptist, St. Paraskeva, St.
Onufry and St. Nicholas. The building was, according to the study of
the foundations, the Byzantine-Romanesque, mostly wooden, and
therefore none of the ancient monuments remained intact.
Princely Lviv was a crowded city (there were colonies: German,
Armenian, Tatar), with numerous houses, which were surrounded by
gardens and kitchen gardens. Fields and mowing meadows were located
on the western bank of Poltva. The territory of Lviv was 50 hectares
and connected in the east with the village of Znesenie.
In 1340–1349, governor Dmitry Detko ruled the city as governor of
the Lithuanian prince Lubart.
As part of Poland and the Commonwealth (1349-1772)
In 1349, the Polish king Casimir III the Great conquered Lviv and
seven years later in 1356 granted the city Magdeburg Law. This gave
a strong impetus to the development of the city, and the large
Armenian community of the city in 1363 establishes the Armenian
metropolis and builds a cathedral. The Polish king transfers the
city center from the Old Market Square and builds a new city to the
south, around the Market Square. In the new city, the majority of
the population were German colonists, but some marginal streets (now
Armenian, Russian, Staroevreyskaya) were occupied by non-Catholics,
who were deprived of the rights of Lviv philistinism.
Due to its advantageous location at the intersection of trade routes
from the ports of the Black Sea, Kiev, Eastern and Western Europe,
Byzantium and the ports of the Baltic Sea, the city developed
rapidly. Under the name Lviv the Great is mentioned in the annals
"List of Russian cities distant and near" (end of the 14th century).
In 1370-1387, the city was ruled by Hungarian governors, under the
leadership of Vladislav Opoleczyk. In 1379, the city received the
right to have its own warehouses, which sharply increased the
attractiveness of the city for merchants. In 1387, Lviv and the
surrounding lands were returned under the influence of Poland.
As part of Poland (and later the Polish-Lithuanian state), Lviv
became the capital of the Russian Voivodeship, which included five
headquarters with centers in the cities of Lviv, Kholm, Sanok,
Galich and Przemysl. The city had the right to have its own
warehouses, which made it possible to receive significant profits
from goods transported between the Black and Baltic Seas. Over the
next centuries, the population of the city grew rapidly, and soon
Lviv became a multinational city with many religious confessions and
an important center of culture, science and trade. City defenses
were strengthened and Lviv became one of the most important
fortresses protecting the Commonwealth from the southeast.
In the city there were simultaneously an Orthodox bishop, three
archbishops: Roman Catholic, Armenian and Greek Catholic (since
1700), as well as three Jewish communities at the same time: urban,
local and Karaite. The city was filled with many settlers from
different countries: Germans, Jews, Italians, British, Scots and
many other nationalities. Since the 16th century, Protestants
appeared in the city.
Lviv was the only city in Kievan Rus, where there was a separate
"Saracen" (Muslim) community, which enjoyed guaranteed rights of
internal self-government. The first mention of the Saracen community
dates back to 1346. Since 1654, the settlement of the Saracens in
Lviv was banned due to blasphemy and human trafficking.
The year 1527 was marked by a great fire, in which almost the whole
city burned down. In the first half of the XVII century, the city
totaled approximately 25-30 thousand inhabitants. There were more
than 30 workshops, in which there were 133 craft professions. In
1618, the city was mentioned in the work of German historians G.
Brown, G. Gogemberger, S. Novellana "Outstanding cities of the
world."
The strengthening of Lviv as a fortress did not stop under all the
rulers. Its external fortifications began to be erected in the
second half of the 14th century under Casimir the Great, when the
first ring of defensive walls was formed. In 1410, a decision was
made to create a second line of defensive fortifications, which
covers the first ring from the north, east and south. And in the
middle of the 16th century, a third belt of fortifications appeared,
this time in the form of earthen ramparts with a stone base,
subsequently bastions also appeared.
In the XVII century, Lviv repeatedly successfully withstood the
siege. The constant struggle with the invaders gave the city the
motto of Semper fidelis, which means "Always true!" In the fall of
1648, the city was besieged by Zaporizhzhya Cossacks led by Bohdan
Khmelnitsky. They captured and destroyed the castle, but left the
city after receiving a ransom. In 1655, the Swedish armies invaded
Poland, captured most of it and besieged Lviv. However, they were
forced to retreat without taking the city. The siege of Lviv by the
Russian-Cossack detachments of Buturlin and Khmelnitsky was also
lifted due to the invasion of the Crimean Khan in Ukraine. The
following year, Lviv was surrounded by the army of the Transylvanian
prince Gyorgy Rakotsi I, but the city was not taken. In 1672 the
army of the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Mehmed IV, again
besieged Lviv, but the war was completed before the capture of the
city. In 1675, the city was attacked by Turks and Crimean Tatars,
but King Jan III Sobieski defeated them on August 24 in a battle
that received the name of Battle at Lviv.
In 1704, during the Great Northern War, the city was captured and
plundered for the first time in its history by the army of the
Swedish king Charles XII. In 1707, Tsar Peter I came to Lviv.
According to legend, the carriage in which he rode was stuck in the
mud on the unpaved Market Square. After that, the entire area was
paved with wooden paving stones.
From the 15th century, monks of various orders began to arrive in
the city. They built many temples in the city. By the 18th century,
there were already up to 40 of them. Therefore, Lviv was still
spoken of by civitas monachorum - the city of monks. The monks of
the Jesuit Order arrived in the city without a penny, but thanks to
skillful management a hundred years later the city treasury fell
into debt dependence on them. And in 1608, the Jesuits founded the
Jesuit College, which in 1661 was transformed into the University of
Lviv. One of the most famous pupils of the Jesuits was Bogdan
Khmelnitsky.
Under the rule of the Habsburgs (1772-1914)
In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, Lviv became the
capital of the Austrian province - the formally independent Kingdom
of Galicia and Lodomeria. From 1772 to 1918 the city was officially
called Lemberg. After the entry of Lviv into Austria, the language
of the administration became German, and most of the posts in the
city administration were occupied by Germans and Czechs. However,
the city continued to be an important center of Polish and Russian
culture. In 1773, the first newspaper Gazette de Leopoli began to be
published in Lviv.
The beginning of the reign of Austria was very liberal. In 1784,
Emperor Joseph II reopened the University. Lectures were conducted
in several languages: Latin, German, Polish and (since 1786)
“Ruthenian” (the literary language of the Ruthenian population).
Wojciech Boguslavsky opened the first public theater in 1794, in
1811 the famous Gazeta Lwowska began to appear, and in 1817 the
Ossolinsky Institute was founded. At the beginning of the XIX
century, the city received a new position as the head of the Greek
Catholic Church, the Archbishop of Kiev, Galicia and Russia,
Metropolitan of Lviv.
However, at the beginning of the XIX century, the Austrian
authorities began to Germanize the city. The university was closed
in 1805, and although it was reopened in 1817, it was already a
purely German educational institution that had a specific impact on
urban life. Many other public and cultural associations that were
not “pro-German” were also banned.
Tough laws dictated by the Habsburg dynasty led to an outbreak of
public discontent in 1848. The emperor was asked to renew the city’s
self-government, study in Polish and Russian and guarantee the
official position of the Polish language.
Most of these requests were granted only after many years: in 1861
the Galician parliament (the Sejm of the Krai) was formed, and in
1867 wide self-government was granted to Galicia, both cultural and
economic. The university allowed lectures in Polish. Galicia became
the only part of the former Poland that received some cultural and
political freedom. Newspapers began to appear, for example,
Fatherland. As a result, Lviv became the main center of Polish
culture and politics. At the same time, the city also served as an
important center of the Galician-Russian movement.
The city was also given the right to delegate representatives to the
Vienna Parliament, which attracted many prominent cultural and
political figures. Lviv has become a meeting place for Polish,
German, Jewish and Little Russian cultures.
The period 1914-1919
At the beginning of World War I, as a result of the successful
offensive of the 3rd and 8th Russian armies of the Southwestern
Front during the Battle of Galicia on August 18 - September 21,
1914, the city was taken by Russian troops on September 3, 1914 and
until July 14, 1915 was the center of Galicia governor-general until
the city was again occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops.
Along with the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, civil strife began
at the end of World War I. On November 1, 1918, Ukrainian and Polish
military were in the city. The Ukrainian Legion of Sich Riflemen (a
combat unit of the Austrian army) was at that time in Bukovina.
However, a small group of Ukrainian soldiers took control of the
city for several days and announced the city’s entry into the
Western Ukrainian People’s Republic (ZUNR). As the Ukrainian and
Polish units arrived, military operations unfolded in the city, as a
result of which the Ukrainian units were forced to leave Lviv. The
Ukrainian authorities announced a general mobilization. The former
soldiers of the Austrian army were placed under arms, which made it
possible to create the Ukrainian Galician Army (UGA). The army
formed in France under the command of Jozef Haller came to the aid
of the Poles. UGA with fights retreated to the Zbruch River. The
Polish-Ukrainian war lasted until July 1919.
In early summer, the command over the CAA was taken by the former
general of the Russian army Alexander Grekov, who conducted an
offensive operation, however, due to serious inequality of forces,
the CAA again retreated behind Zbruch, to the territory of the
Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR). By the decision of the
inter-allied commission in Paris, Lviv was left under the control of
Poland - until the final decision of his fate. Both Polish and
Ukrainian victims of the fighting in Lviv and its environs were
buried in the Lychakiv cemetery (see Lviv Eaglets). The remains of
one of the unknown soldiers who fell in this fight were buried in
Warsaw, under the monument to the unknown soldier.
Poland later entered into an agreement with Simon Petlyura,
according to which in exchange for the refusal of the UPR government
to claim Western Ukraine, it rendered him military assistance in the
fight against the Bolsheviks and the advancing Red Army.
As part of Poland (1919-1939)
During the Soviet-Polish war in 1920, the city was attacked by
forces of the Red Army. From mid-June 1920, the First Cavalry Army
tried to break through to the city from the northeast. The defense
of the city began. After stubborn battles that lasted about a month,
on August 16, the Red Army crossed the Western Bug River and,
additionally reinforced by eight divisions of the Red Cossacks,
launched an assault on the city. The fighting took place with heavy
losses on both sides, but three days later the attack was repelled,
and soon the Red Army retreated. For defense, the city was awarded
the highest Polish military award - the Order of Virtuti Militari V
class - “For Courage”, which was depicted on the Polish coat of arms
of Lviv.
After the signing of the Riga Peace Agreement, Lviv remained the
Polish city, the administrative center of the Lviv Voivodeship,
which occupied most of the modern Subcarpathian Voivodeship of
Poland and the Lviv region. The city quickly regained its position
as one of the most important centers of science and culture in
Poland. In 1928, Professor at the University of Jan Casimir, Rudolf
Weigl, opened the vaccine against typhus.
The period of the Second World War (1939-1944)
In 1939, the Polish campaign of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army
began. On September 1, 1939, German troops entered Poland. The
defense of the city was led by Franciszek Jozef Sikorski. On
September 19, Soviet troops approached the city and soon occupied
its eastern part, the Polish side was asked to surrender the city. A
few hours later, German troops attacked the west and south of the
city, making fire contact with Soviet troops, but the Wehrmacht
withdrew the troops. In accordance with the Secret Protocol to the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on the night of September 21, 1939, Soviet
troops replaced the German and began to prepare for the assault.
However, the Polish command resumed negotiations, as a result of
which on September 22, 1939 an agreement was signed "on the transfer
of the city of Lviv to the troops of the Soviet Union."
In 1939-1941, Soviet troops were deployed in the city, in
particular, there was a command of the 6th Army of the Kiev Special
Military District of the Red Army. One of the meetings of the
Gestapo officers and the NKVD took place in Lviv.
At the beginning of the war, due to the inability to evacuate the
bodies of the NKVD of the USSR, mass executions of political
prisoners held in Lviv prisons were carried out. According to
official figures of the NKVD, 2,464 people were killed. June 30,
1941 the city was occupied by the Germans. On the same day, the
OUNites proclaimed in Lviv “Ukrainian State Government” led by
Yaroslav Stetsko, however, he was soon arrested by the Germans.
After the entry of German troops into the city on July 1, 1941,
Ukrainian nationalists-Bandera and local residents participated in
the Jewish pogrom, which killed several thousand people. The German
authorities organized a concentration camp on the territory of the
Citadel, in which they destroyed over 140 thousand Soviet prisoners
of war, as well as the Lviv ghetto and the Yanovsk concentration
camp to destroy the Jewish population.
In 1942-1944, a communist underground was operating in the city,
intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov liquidated the vice-governor
general of the district Galicia Otto Bauer and the head of the
office of the governor Schneider.
On July 23, 1944, a military operation of the Territory Army
began in Lviv with the aim of asserting Polish power and gaining
advantageous positions in subsequent post-war negotiations on the
borders of Poland and the USSR. The uprising was an integral part of
the nationwide uprising and took place in collaboration with the
advancing Soviet troops.
In 1944, the Lviv-Sandomierz operation of the Red Army began. Since
July 13, 1944, the 11th Guards mortar regiment of rocket artillery
took part in the operation. From July 22-24, the 3rd Guards Tank
Army carried out a maneuver, bypassing Lvov from the north with the
main forces and launched an offensive against Lviv from the west. On
July 24-26, 1944, fights were fought on the outskirts of Lviv. The
4th Panzer Army, bypassing Lviv from the south, broke into the
outskirts of the city and started street battles. Radio operator
Alexander Marchenko from the 10th Guards Ural Tank Corps with a
group of machine gunners hoisted a red banner on the town hall [24].
The city was taken on July 27, 1944.
As part of the Ukrainian SSR (1944-1991)
Due to the fact that the main battle for Lviv unfolded in the
southern suburbs, the bulk of historical monuments, churches and
buildings were not affected.
After the war, almost the entire Polish population of the city was
expelled, mainly to the western part of Poland, to the so-called
Returned Lands, the city began to be settled by Ukrainians,
Russians, etc. So, if on June 20, 1945, over 85 thousand Poles lived
in Lviv, then on April 11, 1950 there were only 29.9 thousand of
them left. In 1950, the population of Lviv consisted of Ukrainians -
144583, Russians - 90379, Poles - 29893, Jews - 18614, others -
14894 inhabitants. As a result of World War II, the ethnic
composition of the city was changed, as traditional ethnic groups
(Poles, Jews and Germans) were displaced or destroyed. The Polish
language and its regional version are almost out of use. Also, a
significant number of newcomers (non-Galician) of Ukrainian, Russian
and Jewish populations moved to post-war Lviv, mainly from the
eastern part of the Ukrainian SSR, to a lesser extent from the RSFSR
and the BSSR. The city was dominated by Ukrainian and Russian. In
the future, migration to Lviv of the Western Ukrainian peasantry
continued.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the city grew significantly in both
population and size. In Lviv, many well-known factories were founded
and moved from Eastern Ukraine.
In 1971, for achievements and successes in the field of economic,
scientific, technical and socio-cultural development, Lviv was
awarded the highest award of the USSR - the Order of Lenin.
New housing neigbourhoods
During the Soviet period, the population of Lviv and the area
occupied by the city increased significantly. In 1939, about 330
thousand people lived in Lviv, the area of the city was 63 km²,
the housing stock was about 2 million m². In 1984, on the eve of
perestroika, the population of the city was 760 thousand people, the
area of the city was 138 km², and the housing stock increased 5
times in comparison with 1939 and amounted to more than 10 million
m². The influx of people into the enterprises necessitated the
construction of affordable housing on the outskirts. By the end of
the 1980s, large housing estates formed:
Yuzhny - the area of Lyubinsky, Artyom (nowadays Vladimir the
Great), Bozhenko (Princess Olga), Scientific, Kulparkovskaya streets
(construction began in the 1960s, population more than 150 thousand
people);
Lychakivskyi (Vostochny) - the area of Leninsky Komsomol Avenue
(now Pasichna), Batalnaya (J. Washington) Street, the upper part of
Zelenaya Street, Mayorovka microdistrict (construction since 1958);
Sykhovsky (built up since 1979, the population is about 120 thousand
people);
Severny - district of the streets of the 700th anniversary of Lviv
(now Chernovol Avenue), Topolnaya (Hetman Mazepa), Warsaw (built up
since the 1960s, population of about 100 thousand people);
Zhovtnevyi village (the current name is Lewandovka, built up since
1958).