Part One: Lviv, Ukraine
The first stop in my upcoming European tour is the gorgeous
city of Lviv (or Lwow, if one likes the Polish name, Leopoli in Italian, or
Lemberg, if one feels Habsburgishly nostalgic… being from Trieste, I have the
feeling that will feel right at home!
I have never seen any of the places I am going to visit on
the tour, nor, with exception for Croatia, set foot on any of the countries! So
I am trying to do a little research to be as “efficient” as possible in my
visits between rehearsals and performances.
I
found a great website, lviv.travel, where I took most of the
information that I am reporting here, you can visit it for a much more
detailed descritpion.
The city of Lviv was given her name in 1240 from Lev, the
son of king Daniel, ruler of the Medieval Ruthenian kingdom of
Galicia-Volhynia…imagine having a city named after you by your dad. It was the capital of the Halychyna-Volyn
Principality, and owed much of its power (this, throughout its history) to its location in the middle of the
trading routes between the East and the states of central Europe. In case one
wonders, Marco Polo never passed even close, as he would sail from Venice
either to the Black Sea or the very east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Lviv’s history was
mostly connected to Poland’s…the end of my tour, is it a sign? Lviv had one of
the largest collections of Polish books, some major Polish Cultural centers,
and it was a Polish king who granted the title of university to the existing
Jesuit college which eventually became the modern university. As it is
recounted, it was the King of Poland Kazimierz III who saw the beautiful hill by
the Poltva river and decided to build his own castle there…the high Castle,
resembling a lute! The King called German craftsmen and builders to build the
most technologically advanced city at the foot of the hill. This Gothic and
very German looking urban dwelling was completely destroyed by a fire in 1527
and the new Renaissance city was build by Italians!!
The High Castle is
of course gone now but, on a pretty tangent, while I was searching for images of the
High Castle in Lviv, I found this (the Swallow’s Nest, as it is called, is near
Yalta on the Black Sea, so I won’t be even near it, but still…any resembles
with Miramare in Trieste??):
Apparently, every inhabitant of Lviv was a natural selling
genius, this was also favoured by the rights of storage that the city obtained in
1379. This meant that every merchant passing through the city had to put his
goods on sale in the city for three weeks and could carry on only what had not
been sold, they could also not trade with themselves but only with locals. One
of the most popular items in the market? Wine, of course! From Italy, Spain,
Greece.
Some interesting random facts:
- Lviv was the first
European city to have street lights -in 1853-, with kerosene lamps,
- Since 1555 there has been a decree to preserve the unique
Klepariv cherries,
- The historic centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage list for its marvelous
urban, architectural, and cultural fusion.
I am excited!
