back    

	LVIV: Old Traditions and Freedom Loving Spirit One of the Oldest Cities in Eastern Europe Founded in the Middle of the Thirteenth Century
	Lviv Mayor Vasyl’ KUYBIDA and Anatoly Nashkersky Article for the Welcome To Ukraine Magazine Kyiv, Ukraine, Issue One, 1998 Additional Contributions and Photos By ArtUkraine.com In recent years the city of Lviv has been visited by a number of distinguished guests among who were the Prime- Ministers of Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Presidents of Poland and Czech Republic, Mrs. Clinton, US President's wife. In May next year the city will play host to the meeting of presidents of the countries of Eastern Europe. There must be something that attracts people from all walks of life and different stations to Lviv, probably its special atmosphere of old traditions and freedom-loving spirit. Historical overview Lviv is an old town, one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It was founded in the middle of the thirteenth century by Danylo Romanovych, the Halytsia-Volyn' Prince, who named the newly-founded town after his son Lev («Lviv» in Ukrainian literally means: «a place belonging to Lev /Leo/). The chronicles start mentioning it from the year 1256.Since then the city changed hands many times — it was under domination of Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Austrian, Russian and Soviet Empires, but no matter who the rulers were it always played a significant role in the history of Ukraine.he Lviv city authorities have prepared materials to be submitted to the UNESCO with the aim of having the architectural landmarks in the central part of Lviv put on the List of Historical Towns. Incidentally, Lviv is the only town in Ukraine which, in its central part, has preserved its basic features from the Mediaeval times. About 2,000 architectural landmarks have been put under protection by the state. They reflect all the styles of architecture from Gothic to Modern and give Lviv its unique cityscape. Fragment of St. Yury's Cathedral St. Yuriy's Cathedral The 16th and 17thcenturies were the time of architectural boom. The influences of the Renaissance and Baroque styles can be easily discovered in many of the houses built then and preserved to our days (Uspenska Church; St. Yura Cathedral, Dominican Church, etc.).At the end of the 19th-early 20th centuries Lviv acquired its water supply and sewage systems, electric light in the streets which were paved. Boulevards and parks were laid out, and the architecture of those times reflects the advances of European architecture combining them with Ukrainian national traditions.In 1975 Ukrainian Parliament gave the central part of Lviv the status of a National Preserve. Public awareness Getting Lviv on the UNESCO list would help attract the public attention to a number of problems that are to be urgently dealt with. Due to a number of natural processes some architectural landmarks are in danger of being damaged by underground waters. The restoration and repair work is slow and often is behind the rates at which the old buildings are ageing. Water supply and sewage systems cannot meet the requirements of a big modern city. The growing traffic creates additional dangers to the architectural landmarks through vibration and pollution. There is a lot be done yet to preserve the architectural glory of the central part of Lviv for the generations to come. Olesky Castle Yard In addition to being a historical and cultural centre Lviv is a place of much diplomatic and trade activity.Its geographic situation is very advantageous for maintaining trade between Eastern and Central Europe on the one hand and Ukraine and Russia on the other. The city has started attracting investors, both foreign and domestic. Investments are very important for Lviv whose budget is very low now. In fact, the city gets only about a third of what it should have in order to maintain the infrastructure of the city in a proper order. The people who were elected to the City Council several years ago knew what they wanted to do and they had developed a plan of actions. Means of transportation, water supply, drainage road repair, heating systems are the things on top of the list of priorities. Private business The City Council and Mayor have decided to do everything possible in order to avoid a heavy dependence on the state budget. Private business and capital is actively engaged instead. Privately owned buses and minibuses carry passengers along the most important routes. In addition to bringing considerable sums of money to the city budget in tax revenues, these new private transportation ventures have created many jobs. The same trend can be observed in janitors' business and elevator-repair business. A growing share of house maintenance service is getting into private hands. here is an increasing number of private dentists and doctors, public notaries, schools of all kinds springing in town.One of our own companies has created equipment needed for road maintenance and repair whose quality is not worse than that of German-made machines.The city authorities are pursuing a policy that supports entrepreneur ship and private initiative. We are trying to avoid excessive control over them. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian laws, regulating private business are very inadequate and do not encourage investments. That is why we want to launch a project which will promote private enterprise. A number of measures are designed to create the right atmosphere for the development of private business.We reduce local taxes for some categories of private businessmen, find premises for their offices, help them establish contacts with foreign businessmen and otherwise encourage private business.One of our concerns is the creation of new jobs for the working people of Lviv. After the closure of many factories that used to work for the military-industrial complex, dozens and dozens of thousands of Lviv citizens have been laid off and some employment must be found for them in other spheres of economy. One of them is tourism and services. We have worked out a number of programmes the realization of which will require a lot of private and public effort and expenditure (Water; Energy Supply; Garbage Processing; Electric Transportation; Railroads; Air Terminal; Hotels; Roads; Parking Lots). Tourist business generates many new jobs. Our getting on the UNESCO list will help solve the problem of maintenance of architectural landmarks. We cannot do it only through our small budget. So, we offer private businesses to rent some of the architectural landmarks at very low costs but on one condition that they will invest certain sums of money within certain periods of time into the renovation and maintenance programmes. We are confident the city of Lviv will overcome the problems it is facing and will continue to attract visitors and tourists. Monument to the I.Fedorov, 1977 Monument to Adam Mitskevych, 1900 Vasyl' S. Kuybida is the Mayor of the City of Lviv. He was re-elected to the city Mayor on March 29, 1998 Mr. Kuybida is a representative of a new generation of Ukrainian politicians. He is a person of vast education. He studied at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Lviv University, continued his studies upon graduation at a graduate school, getting his degrees of MS and Ph.D. In the late eighties and early nineties he became active in the RUKH national movement and was elected to the Lviv City Council. Mr. Kuybida went on with his education and collected several more degrees in law. In 1994 he was elected Mayor. Professor Kuybida holds several degrees in science and in law. He is an Academician of the Academy of Construction of Ukraine, a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Management, a representative of Ukraine at the Congress of Local and Regional Councils of Europe, a member of the Association of Cities of Ukraine, a member of the Writers' Union of Ukraine. In fact, he holds many more memberships and titles. He has been awarded a medal for distinction in work. Mr. Kuybida is married and has a son and a daughter.   2002...Lviv...Easter Christ is Risen! ArtUkraine.com Photo Year 2002 Four years have passed since the above article was written. Lviv now has a new mayor, Mr. Lubomyr Buniak, who won his elections campaing promising a full-day water supply to all Lviv residents. But all these details become secondary once you find yourself in this magnificent Ukrainian town of Lviv. Tourists Relaxing in the Popular Cafe Dzyha ArtUkraine.com Photo Our visit to Lviv happened to be during the Easter holidays and what became perhaphs our biggest impression was the number of tourists mainly from Poland and other Eastern European countries on its streets. The budget hotels were full and those who vere lucky enough to get in did not seem to mind that the conditions in those hotels were different from what a typical European hotel would look like. After all, who would want to waste time at the hotel while Lviv with its magic of narrow medieval streets, grandeur of churches, quiet greenery of the parks , and hospitality of the residents was waiting outside... Children Playing in Front of the Wooden Church Shevchenkiv Haj (Shevchenko Grove), Lviv ArtUkraine.com Photo Old Lady Selling Ballons in Downtown Lviv ArtUkraine.com Photo View of the Wooden Church Shevchenkiv Haj (Shevchenko Grove), Lviv ArtUkraine.com Photo "Welcome to Ukraine" Magazine, Issue Number One, 1998 Kyiv, Ukraine, http://www.wumag.kiev.ua With Contributions and Additional Photos by ArtUkraine.com, 2002 Not for reproduction or distribution, FOR PERSONAL and ACADEMIC USE ONLY

   back