Western Ukraine, July 1944 - The Red Army drives the Nazis out of Lviv, bombs are being dropped on this sumptuous porcelain city. Almost miraculously, this precious architectural jewel remains almost intact...
Western Ukraine, July 1944 - The Red Army drives the Nazis out of Lviv, bombs are being dropped on this sumptuous porcelain city. Almost miraculously, this precious architectural jewel remains almost intact. But the city is too sophisticated and free for the Soviet power. Behind its unaltered Hasburg facades, a slow decline sets in.
The Ruthenian (Ukrainian) capital city of Galicia (Halychyna) in the 13th and 14th Centuries, Lviv was taken over by the Polish until the partition of their kingdom in 1772. At the edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from now on, Lviv became "Lemberg" and appeared in its full blossom at during the reign of Kaizer Franz Joseph. It was radiant, attracting great Ruthenian minds, as well as Poles, Jews, Germans, Italians...
In the period between the two wars it became Polish Lwow, then Soviet Lvov in 1939. Coveted by various countries for a long time, it gained its independence in 1991, this time as Ukrainian Lviv. Nowadays, its streets, classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, recalls a rich cosmopolitan past, where the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and the eclectic style of the 19th century are mixed.
But, trapped in the economic crisis which befalls the post-Soviet Ukraine, Lviv finds it difficult to recapture its lost glory. The imprint of the Soviet times and of the more recent modernization devoid of taste have disfigured the now dilapidated city in some places, the grandness of Lviv being now but a myth.
Nevertheless, in the shadow of Kyiv, Lviv the provincial city still stands apart, retaining its unique character. This museum in the open air is slowly being restored, and the poetry of this place is strangely seducing. Its cobbled roads, its little cafes (kavyarnyi), its tramways, its churches, theaters, its Opera House vaguely remind some of us of the Paris of the past, others of Vienna, Prague, Krakow. Lviv is probably a remote synthesis of all these elegant cities.
With nightfall the city is far from teeming with activity. Except for a few celebrations, it falls into slumber and becomes transformed. This is when the town holds its mysteries in darkness, defied here and there by variegated and uncertain shimmers of light. Through its shadows and decrepit facades one can get a glimpse of the town’s soul and its legends.
This urban decor of secret and outdated beauty is not to last for long. A few steps away from the European Union, Lviv and its Genius Loci are hardly known at all, but this rare pearl will not take long to attract the crowds. With each advancing year, it will shed the imperfections that hold the charm of a bygone era.
© Cyril Horiszny
