L’viv: Ukrainian Beauty in a Historic City

L’viv city is the largest city in western Ukraine and the sixth largest city of the country. Situated around 70 kilometers (40 miles) from the border of Poland, the city is made up of two parts. First, there is the castle, its surrounding area, and city center; and second, a smaller area which sits on St. Yuri’s Hill. In the late Middle Ages around 1256, King Daniel of Galicia founded L’viv and named it in honor of his son Lev.

L’viv was very cosmopolitan even in medieval times, as the city was positioned on a key route where merchants from other parts of Europe gathered, met, and traded. The political and commercial role of L’viv attracted a number of ethnic groups with different cultural and religious traditions. Ukrainians, Poles, Armenians, Jews, and Germans have harmoniously lived together in L’viv for hundreds of years, together creating a flourishing administrative, religious, and commercial center over many centuries.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) placed L’viv on its World Heritage list in 1998. L’viv’s medieval urban topography has been preserved to reflect the synthesis of eastern European traditions and architecture, and the influences from Italy and Germany.

L’viv is a city renowned for classical arts. The works of one of the most distinguished sculptors in Europe, Johann Georg Pinsel, can be seen on the façade of St. George’s Cathedral. What’s more, L’viv holds the third-largest theater in central Europe, the Skarbek Theatre, which was opened in 1842. Some of the most prominent music academies and music colleges of Ukraine are also in L’viv, along with a factory that specifically makes stringed musical instruments.

As for tourism, L’viv is understandably one of Ukraine’s major tourist destinations. L’viv has nationally been designated as a historical and architectural treasure and was preserved on June 12, 1975, under the Law on Monuments of History and Culture. The council of ministers has listed 209 historic monuments as national landmarks. We pray such historic and cultural treasures such as those found in L’viv may long be enjoyed by the heroic people of Ukraine and their global family.