Lviv

The stormy and extremely interesting history of the unique Ukrainian city Lviv is seven and a half centuries long. Lviv emerged in mid-13th century as the capital of a powerful Eastern European state – the Halychyna-Volyn Principality. Owing to its unique geographical location at the intersection of the main trade routes between the West and the East, in the 15th-17th centuries Lviv became the leading trade centre of the Eastern Europe and the largest city in Ukraine. Having spent half of a millennium in the European cultural space, the city turned into a genuine architectural gem, a centre of book printing, crafts and arts.

In the 18th-20th centuries Lviv as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire became known as the city of technical innovations. For instance, kerosene and the kerosene lamp were invented here. In early 20th century Lviv became the capital of the third largest oil producing region after the USA and Russia. Lviv spent the period between 1939 and 1991 under the reign of totalitarian Soviet Union. From the first days of Ukraine’s independence Lviv obtained the status of the cultural and spiritual capital of the Ukrainian state. 

In 2004 Lviv acted as the principal social catalyst of the democratic Orange Revolution. Quite recently, in 2006, Lviv celebrated its 750th birthday.

World Heritage Committee in Kyoto (Japan), Lviv was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The following reasons for the inclusion of Lviv in the World Heritage List and the compliance with the following UNESCO criteria were named:

Criterion Р С’: In its urban fabric and architecture, Lviv is an outstanding example of the fusion of Eastern Europe architectural and artistic traditions with those of Italy and Germany;

Criterion B: The political and commercial role of Lviv attracted to the city a number of ethnic groups with different cultural and religious traditions, who established separate yet interdependent communities within the city, evidence for which is still discernible in the modern townscape.

The territory of the Lviv Historic Centre Ensemble covers 120 ha of the Old Russ and Medieval part of the city, as well as the territory of the St. George’s Cathedral on the St. George’s Hill. The buffer area of the Historic Centre, which is defined by the historic area bounds, is approximately 3,000 h