This year’s Christmas weekend I spent in Lwów - a city in a western Ukraine. The city is considered as the cultural and historical center of Ukraine but also it is a historical center for Poland. Before WWII the city was belonging to Poland and was a second largest cultural centre around that time.
The city went through many historical turmoils and has a lot of Polish, Austrian, German, Armenian and Russian influence. History of this town is very complicated and to fully understand it, one needs a lot of investigation and careful interpretation. It is a very interesting that even thought the city went through many hard times, pretty good chunk of architecture survived. Walking Throughout Lwów I was able to find buildings dating from 13th century! (the historic city centre is on UNESCO list). Architecture is pretty fascinating there and worth further studying.
Polish presence in Lwów has a very long history. It was on and off part of Poland and Polish identity since 1345 until WWII. Since Lwów was a Polish city for a long time there are plenty of evidence of Polish existence. On a personal note, my grandpa - Jerzy Plejewski went to study law in Lwów around 1924. He studied in John Casimir University (modern day Ivan Franco University of Lviv) which was one of the best in Europe around that time. Many famous people graduated from that school such as Rudolf Weigl (biologist and inventor of the first effective vaccine for epidemic typhus), Bruno Schultz (novelist and painter), Raphael Lemkin (lawyer who introduced the term "genocide", an author of the United Nations' Convention on Genocide), Mark Katz (mathematician, pioneer of modern probability theory) and many, many others. My grandpa had a long and successful career as a lawyer and even until this day some people remember his ability to navigate throughout complicated property law. I was able to walk thought the same street and go to the law school building where my grandpa was spending his early adulthood. It was a great feeling I could be a part of it!
I only have a lot of problem with modern day politics in Ukraine. There a lot of hatred on political level (and religious level too but it is a topic for a longer discussion). I even don’t know where to start. It seems like the government (and the church) has a problem with is history and does not know how to deal with its multiculturalism and rich influence of other countries and cultures (not mentioning internal problems such as widespread corruption and pretty visible poverty).
One of examples which is kinda shocking for me is the fact that I saw a lot of clear evidences, such paintings, sculptures or houses of famous Polish people, and they were never mentioned as Polish. They were introduced as “famous residents of Lwów”...their true nationality was never stated or even sometimes falsified....and it is true also with famous people from other nationalities. It seems for me that the government is looking for its own Ukrainian identity since the country is so young, and tries to erase some history. In my opinion they are not going to build strong fundaments by hiding the truth. I am really averse to that because my parents lived under communism regime in Poland for many years and they also were thought false history. When the communism in Poland fell they had to realize completely new history without soviet propaganda attached to it which was super shocking for them.
Overall the city made a pretty big impression on me, after the first shock of rudeness toward me (because I am Polish) and visible lower standard of living wore off, I actually started to enjoy and appreciate this place. I mingled with some locals, went to Polish Church where I met huge community of Pols who throughout generations cultivate their roots and language (It was very heart warming to see). I saw a lot of mixed (Ukrainian, Polish, Russian etc) couples who do not care about differences in languages, roots or even religion and rise their children in multicultural spirit.
Of course I took my camera with me and was trying to take as many pictures as I can. I was hypnotized by the night aura of Lwów...The city is a really nice place for photographers and could be a great background for movies and photo-shots because of its unique and authentic architecture.
Summarizing my trip: The architecture is fascinating, I really recommend “Vintage” and “George” hotels. Lwów has variety of tasty and inexpensive restaurants (I really loved “mons & pivs”). I recommend this place as a weekend gateway if you are in Europe. People are pretty nice and welcoming too on the second glance...
