Brief History of Lviv

Lviv was founded as a fort in the mid-13th century by Prince Danylo Halitski of Galychyna (Galicia), a former western princedom of Kievan Rus Empire (ancient Ukraine with its capital city Kiev - the most powerful and, geographically, largest state in Europe in the 11th century; Kiev was razed by Mongol raiders in the 12th century). The Galicia became the Kingdom of Galicia after Danylo had been crowned in Peremyshl (now Przemysl, Poland). The city Lviv was named after King Danylo’s son Lev (Leo). The first mention of Lviv in early chronicles is from 1256, although archaeological excavation in 1993 revealed that the first settlements appeared in the 6th century. Galicia, with Lviv as its chief city, has kept its identity despite many boundary changes and centuries of rule by outside powers.

Lviv quickly became the centre of trade and commerce for the region. The city's favourable location on the crossroads of trade routes led to its rapid economic development.

Galicia was taken over by Poland in the 14th century. Its nobility eventually adopted the Polish language and religion - Roman Catholicism but the vast majority of people remained Ukrainian Orthodox (Greek form of Christian worship accepted from Constantinople by Kievan Rus in 988) and later joined the Ukrainian Catholic Church which acknowledged the Pope's spiritual supremacy but adhered to the area's Greek Orthodox forms of worship. Poland changed the name of Lviv to Lwow. From 1356 the burghers had the right of self-government, which implied that all city issues were to be solved by a city council, elected by wealthy citizens. In 1661 the first university was opened and was named after the name of the King of Poland, Jan Kazimierz II (now Ivan Franko National University of Lviv).

In the First Partition of Poland (1772), Galicia became part of the Hapsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire but remained dominated by Poles. Austria changed the name of Lwow to Lemberg and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia.

In 1784, after a break the former Jan Kazimierz University was reopened and then renamed after Austrian emperor Kaiser Jozef II. Lectures were held in Latin, German, Polish and Ukrainian.

In 1844 the Technical Academy was opened in Lemberg (later it became Technical School in 1877, Lviv Polytechnic Institute in 1939 and National University “Lviv Polytechnic” in 1994).

In the second half of the nineteenth century, construction, trade, transport and industry started to develop rapidly until the First World War started. Austria contributed parks, cobble stone streets, quality architectural buildings and Lviv Opera House (a small copy of the Opera House of Vienna).

Towards the end of the 19th century, Lviv became the centre of a new Ukrainian national movement. Many prominent cultural and political leaders lived in Lviv, among them Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, it was a meeting place of Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish cultures.

With the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire at the end of Word War I, Lviv was proclaimed capital of the independent Republic of West Ukraine. But the troops of the re-emergent Poland seized the city, and Lviv returned to Polish rule until the Soviet Army took control in September, 1939 (In accordance with the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact Lviv together with Western-Ukrainian lands was annexed to the Soviet Union). Lviv was occupied by Germany from 1941 to 1944. Almost entire Jewish population of Lviv was murdered by Nazis. In 1944, Lviv again went under Soviet rule. During the periods 1939-1941 and 1944-1949 hundreds of thousands of Western Ukrainians were treated by Stalin regime as an enemy of Soviet Union, and as a result they were murdered or exiled to labour camps in Siberia (Eastern part of Russia). Part of Ukrainian and Polish populations of Galicia did manage to escape to Western Europe, North America and Australia before Soviet occupation.

Soviet Union changed the name of Lviv to Lvov. Lviv was an important centre of activities of Ukrainian dissidents in 1960s. Since late 1980s, during Gorbachev’s perestroika, the city became a leading force in Ukraine's movement towards sovereignty and democracy.

The activity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, prohibited in 1946, started again, the RUKH movement won the elections. On August 24, 1991 Lviv began a new era as the Supreme Council of Ukraine adopted a declaration of independence.

Now, Lviv is a major economic and cultural centre on the Western region of independent Ukrainian state. Despite tremendous difficulties, economics reforms (among them privatization of enterprises and land) proceed in Lviv more rapidly than in many other Ukrainian economics centres.

In 1998 Lviv was inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Cities.