WELCOME TO LVIV

Anyone who was born in Lviv, used to live there or ever visited Lviv dreams of coming back here again. Even though in thoughts, to cherish, and rejoice, to love and get excited. Anyone departing from Lviv pines for it, leaving unforgettable impressions and recollections.

Lviv... Where's the secret of its lure, what lies in the heart of its uniqueness? We strive to reveal the secret of Lviv, to figure out its mystery. The one who manages to discover it finds happiness. But who is going to do it?

The phenomenon of Lviv attracts with incredible power. Bells and silence, city walls and Lviv rain know more about the city than any human, while hundreds of stony lions are guarding its heart day and night.

Anyone not indifferent to beauty and eager to discover the new and the mysterious is welcome to Lviv and welcome to fall in love with it!

THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

Lviv is an old and picturesque city, a spiritual capital of Ukraine, the key political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Western Ukraine.

Lviv is a large regional center. It covers the territory of 155 square km. Its population is 757 thousand people, ethnically mostly Ukrainians, however traditionally also Polish, Jews, Greeks, Germans, Russians, Armenians, Czechs and representatives of other nations.

The city is located in the highlands of Roztochchya where the main European watershed runs separating the rivers of the Baltic and Black Sea basins. Whatever way you reach the city, its most explicit characteristics will be the Castle Mountain which is seen from afar. The High Castle standing on this hill within XIV XVIII centuries gave name to the mountain. It was the Castle Hill that gave rise to the city. Today remnants of the walls dating back to the princedom epoch are found here. A beautiful view of the city with its old quarters and modern buildings, church domes and Roman church broach spires opens before you eyes from the height of over 400 m above sea level. Lviv was founded by Danylo Romanovych, the prince of Halychyna and Volyn, in the middle of the 13th century at the ancient settlement site and was named after Lev, Danylos son. The first historic written reference of Lviv is dated back to 1256. Within the Kingdom of Halychyna and Volyn period the town grew into the center of economic and cultural life in the region. Architects, skilled craftsmen and merchants would come by trade arteries from Western Europe to the Eastern countries, and from the Baltic region to the Black Sea and Byzantium. The town of hospitable and sincere Ukrainians became sweet home for many of them. In the 14th Lviv was conquered by Kazimierz III, the Polish King. For a few centuries Halychyna gets under the rule of Poland. Within a short period (1370 1378) the town is under the Hungarian crown.

In 1356 Lviv is granted the Magdeburg right and acquired the status of self-governing town which contributed significantly to its development. Crafts are developed and guilds founded, churches erected and exuberant houses constructed. Following the division of Poland in 1772 Halychy- na enters Austria. Intensive industry development falls for the second half of the 19th century. This is the time of establishing railroads, tram lines, gas illumination followed by electric illumination. New city quarters are built, theatres, hotels, banks rise, public organiza- tions are established. In 1870 Halychyna is awarded the status of autonomy. Collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which resulted from World War I enabled the constituent countries to gain independence. On November 1, 1918 the Western Ukrainian Peoples Republic is declared in Lviv. The newly established state only manages to exist a few months. After the Ukrainian The monument to King Polish war the city gets again under the Polish power.

In 1939 Western Ukraine becomes a member of the USSR. The advent of the Soviet army brings the city cruel civic repression. 19411944 are the years of the Nazi German occupation. Troops of Ukrainian patriots are to conduct unequal struggle both against the Nazi and the communists during World War II. In 1944 Lviv becomes a part of the Soviet Ukraine. At the sunset of the second millennium, in the 80-ies, like through all history, Lviv played the leading part in struggle for independence and democracy, standing out for the time-honored traditions of the Kyiv Rus and the Kingdom of Halychyna and Volyn. At the dawn of the establishment of the Independent state and the introduction of national symbols the blue-and-yellow flag was first raised in the Lviv sky, from where it spread to all Ukrainian cities. Declaration of Ukrainian independence on August 24, 1991 laid down the beginning of the new epoch in the history of the Ukrainian state and Lviv in particular. More than one generation took pride in this wondrous town, for it became the unconquerable stronghold of the Ukrainian tradition and a heritage of the national culture.