Lviv
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The economic and cultural center of western Ukraine has had many names, all reflecting the eventful history of Galicia. The origins of the city lie in a castle that was errected by the Ruthenian ruler Danylo Romanovyc on the nearby castle mountain in the middle of the 13th century. The castle mountain today not only unfolds a lovely panoramic sight across the roofs of the Galician metropolis but you will also find remnants from the times of the beginning of the city. Die settlement down below on the shores of the Poltwa was named after the son Lev (lion) Lwow. Therefore, the coat of arms of the city bears the king of the animals, and, strolling the alleys of the town you will find that animal symbol in many stone sculptures. The town that lay at the crosspoint of important trade routes was raising the appetite of neighbouring dynasties of feudal rulers. After a polish invasion at the beginning of the 14th century could be warded off the polish rulers got support from the Hungarians and in the year 1349 finally seized the city. The consequences for the city were not bad at all. After Kazimierz III hat granted his newest conquest the city right, Lviv developed into an important and multiethnic trading point, under the influcence of the Hanse during the later middle ages as well as during the early modern age. Besides Poles and Ruthenians (Ukrainians) its inhabitants were Germans, Jewish and Armenians who dominated the early appearance of the city. When Lviv, that meanwhile had becom the seat of the bishop of the orthodox as well as the catholic church, fell to Austria as a consequence of the first "Polish separation" the city, that from now on was named Lemberg, lived through a new cultural hey days that many buidings still bear witness to. Lemberg avanced to the fourth biggest city of the K.u.k-Monarchy and became capital of the newly set up kingdom of Galicia and Lodomerien. Inmidst the splendour of the newly created king's city Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's son Franz Xaver, who was born after the death of this father, lived and earned his living for more than ten years, from the year 1808 onwards. He made his money as a home teacher with Count Baworowsky, which left enough time to compose several sonatae and concerts that today have fallen into almost complete oblivian. One hundred years later, in the time in between the world wars, the city, that had turned Polish in the meantime, lived through a phase of first Western Ukrainian then united Ukrainian national independance - a period however that did not last long . In the year 1939the city was occupied by the Sowjet Union, then, two years later, by the Germans. After the Second World War it fell under Sowiet rule and today it seems as if the inhabitans of Lviv and the whole of the Western Ukraine cannot not take any more. All attempts of Moscow to turn western Ukraine to a peaceful and well behaving province failed. The western Ukrainians refused to speak Russian and did not give up their traditions. Even after the Ukraine became independant in the year 1991 the regions of Galicia and its capital Lemberg still are home to steady efforts of separatistic movements. Traditionally, Lvivians are in opposition against the prorussian eastern Ukraine where the political elite of the unified state generally has its roots. For instance, in the wellknown Cisarska Kava, the former Kaisercafé, there was a fist fight among slightly drunk guests half of who were Russian, half of who were Ukrainians. In consequence of this fighting the renowned Ukrainian singer songwriter Igor Bilozir died. Meanwhile the fights and animosities have become rather rare, and the Lembergers have returned to their favourite activities. Especially amoung the students of the oldest Ukrainian university, founded 1784 by Joseph II, whose buildings formerly housed he Galician parliament, you will find supporters of the oppositional movement "Ukraine without Kutschm", and within their ranks the separation of Galicia from the Ukraine is a cherrished topic of discussion. |
