City of Lions

By Walter Kish

On the last weekend of September, the city of Lviv celebrated its 750th anniversary and threw what was likely biggest party in its history. Of course, the number 750 is a loose interpretation – the origins of Lviv undoubtedly go back much further. Since prehistoric times, people have inhabited the banks of the Poltva River, around which the original city was built. Yet, it was in 1256 that the name Lviv is first mentioned in an ancient chronicle, so 2006 provided an opportune time to stage a celebration.

The exact origins of the settlement may be somewhat obscured by mythology, but the common story is that the early ruler of the Halych and Volhyn principalities, Danylo Halytsky of the Romanovych dynasty of Volhynia, built a fortification on one of the many hills overlooking the modest Poltva river, and a town rapidly grew around its base. Danylo named the town after one of his sons, Lev (Lion), and it soon became an important centre for commerce, lying astride a major trading route linking the Black Sea to the northern kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania. 

Since the earliest of times it was a colourful, multicultural community with significant populations of Rusyns, Armenians, Germans, Tatars, and later Poles, Jews and many others. During the 13th century it was devastated by Mongol invasion and shortly thereafter passed under the control of Poland, which dominated the next 600 years of its history. In 1360, the Polish King Casimir the Great built the original Vysokiy Zamok (High Castle) on the famous tall hill that overlooks the city; its ruins are a popular tourist destination to this day.

Lviv has lived a dual existence through its history, not only as one of the major focal points of western Ukrainian history and geography, but it has always also been considered by the Poles to be a major Polish city playing a crucial role in their past. Polish and Ukrainian history is intertwined in a difficult and often bloody relationship that spans almost seven centuries. Both Poland and Ukraine claim Lviv as their own, and it has only been in the past decade that both countries have reconciled themselves to the wisdom of keeping past conflicts in the past, and recognized the necessity of building a more constructive and neighbourly relationship. 

Whatever conflicts there may have been in the past, the anniversary celebrations of a few weeks ago brushed them all aside as hundreds of thousands of visitors from Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Germany and elsewhere crammed the city. The weather contributed to the festivities with the finest sunny and warm fall days as could have been asked for. An extensive program of events included entertainment, folk-arts and crafts exhibits, a film fest, a jazz festival, a medieval combat tournament and many other events that kept the throngs occupied well into the wee hours. Top performers and groups from across Ukraine performed on the many stages set up throughout the city. President Yushchenko was there too, of course, to open things up in an official capacity, and he was accorded a polite and warm public welcome, but it was Yulia Tymoshenko who stole the show. Although she was notably not at any of the events in an official capacity, she was mobbed whenever she made an appearance or strolled through the crowds.

The highlight of the weekend was the grand concert staged in front of the Lviv Opera House starring Lviv’s most famous daughter, Ruslana. Following her characteristically high energy rock performance, she produced a grand finale by conducting a full orchestra in an impressive symphonic adaptation of her famous “Wild Dances” theme while a stunning light, laser and firework display lit up the skies above the centre of the city.

The city has been a whirlwind of renovation, construction and cleaning up for most of the past year, and it showed as Lviv presented a spruced-up face to visitors, its cleaned cobble-stoned streets and newly painted buildings gleaming in the sun. In fact, one of the most pleasant memories I have of the weekend is enjoying a pint of fine Lvivske beer on the outdoor patio of  the Kniaziy Kelekh, one of the many fine historic restaurants lining Prospect Svobody in the centre of town, and admiring the incredible architecture and sense of history that surrounds you at every turn. Incidentally, our table provided solid Canadian representation for the celebration, as we were accompanied by the well-known diasporans Liubko Markevych, from Edmonton, and Danylo Bilak from Oakville, who proved that even lawyers know how to party. 

The City of Lions has seldom looked better, though realistically it still has a way to go before it can join the ranks of such places as Prague, Budapest or Krakow. Hopefully, this celebration and the associated exposure can serve as a springboard for Lviv to attract sufficient attention and investment for it to do just that.