Львів (L'viv)

Львів (L'viv)), formerly Lemberg and Львов (L'vov), is located on the Poltava River--in fact part of the city, including the L'viv State Opera and Ballet Theater of Solomia Krushelnvtska, is built atop the covered stream. It has less than 800 thousand residents.¹

The historic center is a World Heritage Site and includes the old castle mound and Rynok Square, which is surrounded by late 18th century corner statues with figures from classical mythology. Among the famous buildings besides the beaux-arts opera theater are the Gothic Latin Cathedral (14th to 15th century); the Gunpowder Tower with its three meter thick walls (16th century); the baroque Dominican Church and Convent, and the Saint George Cathedral (both 18th century); and Ratusha, the borough council building (19th century). The tallest buildings are the Church of the Assumption and the modern residential tower, Zubrivsk'ka; both are just under 217 meters.²

The city was important before becoming part of the Kaiserthum Oesterreich (Austrian Empire) in the 18th century. At that time and up until the mid-20th century it was a mix of Polish and Yiddish speakers, but the Nazis killed the latter and the Russians deported most of the former. The Poles called the city Lwów.

External references

the L'viv State Opera and Ballet Theater

Historical maps

Footnotes

1. World-gazetteer.com, accessed 8/2/2012.
2. Emporis.com, accessed 11/8/2012, is the source of information about buildings.
3. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of World's Largest Cities". It was the largest city in what is now Ukrayina in 1800.
4. Rounded from world-gazeteer.com, 2001 census (city proper), accessed 11/10/2012.