The city of Leva, Leopolis, Lemberg, Lviv... Its narrow streets, filled with the breath of history, look like strange cobwebs. The only city in Ukraine that did not suffer significant devastation and destruction at the beginning of the twentieth century and became famous for its purely European style.

The coffee capital of Ukraine, where at every step you can come across an architectural monument or a landmark. It seems that we know everything about Lviv - where to go and what to see, where to drink coffee or tinctures, where to eat strudel, and where to eat dumplings... The knowledge of most tourists ends at these points, so we decided to correct the situation so that even more and to understand the city more deeply.

The birth of a legend

The founding of one of the most famous cities of Ukraine, on a par with Kyiv, is closely intertwined with the name of Danylo Halytsky, the ruler of the Halytskyi-Volyn principality. According to the annals, in 1256, Danylo, returning from one of his campaigns, made a camp on one of the mountains, near the border of his state.

Krucha towered over the surrounding area. Below it was closely surrounded by a high forest, which was full of all kinds of game. Not far from the mountain flowed a river full of water, rich in fish. The king was so impressed and fascinated by the magical beauty, as well as the strategic importance of these places, that immediately after his return, he ordered the construction of a fortress on the top of the cliffs, which was soon named the High Castle.

The city that grew up under the fortress owes its special name to Lev, the son of Danylo Halytskyi. It was he who moved the capital of the Galicia-Volyn principality to it.

Lviv owes its initial project to the holiest city and capital of the former Roman Empire - Rome. It was according to his example that the city was built on seven hills, near the bed of the Poltva River.

A princely court was built under the castle hill, and the first Orthodox church of Lviv was located next to it - St. Nicholas Cathedral. In honor of his beloved wife - the Hungarian princess Constantia - the Catholic Cathedral of Ivan the Baptist was built by order of Leo. In this way, the city becomes a center of meeting of Western and Eastern cultures. And the wide trade route laid through it only cemented this status.

Walking through the ages...

After the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Galicia-Volyn principality fell into decline. This became an impetus for another state, which will play a significant role in the fate of Lviv, to go on the attack.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, under the leadership of Casimir III, introduces his winged horsemen to the territory of present-day Western Ukraine. When the troops reached the suburbs of Lviv, Casimir III was impressed by the location and beauty of the Galician capital and set himself the task of capturing it at all costs. Thus, the Polish ruler captured it twice - in 1340 and 1349.

After the final subjugation of Lviv, Kazimir developed his own plan, according to which a new and improved fortress should be rebuilt on the castle hill, and in addition to the old part of the city surrounded by hills, a new one would grow on the side of the swamps near the river.

This was aimed at the complete annexation of Lviv. To implement his plan, Casimir orders the best German craftsmen and architects from abroad. Because of this, in the 14th and 15th centuries, Lviv began to be called a "German" city, because the majority of the population was made up of Germans, who saw its architecture as classical Gothic.

Until the end of the 15th century, Lviv was considered the trade capital of Eastern Europe.

But after the strengthening of the position of the Ottoman Empire and its conquest of the Balkans, the trade route to the East was blocked. This became a real disaster for the city, which received most of its income from the full-flowing trade river and led to its impoverishment.

Unfortunately, we were not destined to see Saxon Lviv. In 1527, the largest fire in the history of the city broke out, which completely destroyed it. Fortunately, the burgomaster decided to rebuild it, although most of the surviving citizens wanted to leave the ashes.

The new face of Lviv, in the second half of the 16th century, already had completely new, unfamiliar features to the society of that time. Italian masters were invited to rebuild it, bringing with them the inspiration of the Renaissance.

This gave the picture of the city lightness, inspiration and aristocracy, combining Italian and local cultures.

Trade is also reviving - now Lviv merchants are getting rich growing and selling local varieties of fish. The fur industry is developing. Thanks to the new prosperity of the city, a completely new production is coming to the territory of Lviv region - the first book printing house in Ukraine is being built.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Lviv twice surpassed Kyiv, both in terms of size and population. Elite wines and silk fabrics, furs, fish, carpets, spices and livestock are brought to the capital of the Kingdom of Poland from the city. But after the times of great rise comes oblivion.

So already at the beginning of the 18th century, wars, the disintegration of the Polish state, technological progress, putLviv is in a difficult position. But despite this, Lviv has never succumbed to the plunder of an invader for three and a half centuries.

Even the combined Cossack-Tatar army, which stood under its walls twice, could not overcome the protective walls and the ardent love of the inhabitants for their city.

But this period has also come to an end. In 1704, several hundreds of Swedish regular troops sneaked into the city under cover of night and captured it. And in 1772, the city came under the rule of the Austrian Empire as a result of the redistribution of the once powerful Polish state.

Austrian power over the city of Leva lasted for the next century and a half. During this period, the number of churches and monasteries in the city decreased as a result of the church reform of Emperor Joseph II. The city is expanding and the renaissance is replaced by a new for that time style of classicism.

In the 19th century, Lviv was a purely European city with an actively growing cultural life. In 1894, the first electric tram started running.

When the cannons of the First World War were fired, Lviv again finds itself under the renewed Poland.

Against this background, the movement of the Ukrainian liberation struggle for the creation of an independent Ukrainian state is taking place.

Despite the fact that the dreams of nationalists embodied in the Western Ukrainian People's Republic have collapsed, the very awareness of Ukrainian statehood is already firmly established.

During the Second World War and thanks to the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Lviv was saved by its citizens from German bombing. Thanks to this, it has become quite a lot, not the only city that has preserved its ancient appearance to the present day.

After the transfer of control over the city and all of Western Ukraine to the Soviet government, almost a century of tyranny and repression began.

Despite this, Lviv was and remains the cradle of the Ukrainian soul and heart.

Interesting facts about Lviv

For almost 750 years of its existence, Lviv was governed by 8 states (the Principality of Galicia-Volyn, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, the USSR, the totalitarian fascist regime, and as part of modern Ukraine).

In the city, you can get acquainted with almost 2,500 architectural monuments.

Every fifth resident of Lviv is a student.

Lviv is the musical capital of Ukraine. It was in this city that such a well-known group as Okean Elsa began its activities. The Hadyukin brothers, Ruslana, Skryabin and others also came from Lviv.

The city of Leva has the largest concentration of museums in Ukraine - more than 60 of them.

  There are 104 churches of various peoples and religions in the city.

It was in Lviv that the first kerosene lamp was invented, the first hot air balloon was launched, the first hotel was built, the first school and theater were opened in Ukraine, as well as the first train on the territory of our country and paved the way for the electric tram. The first coffee shop in Ukraine was opened.

According to statistics, Lviv is second only to Kyiv in the number of IT specialists.

One city street has several names at the same time. Its peculiarity is that one more name appears in it every year.

The world's first masochist, Leopold von Sacher Masoch, was born and lived in Lviv.