Here !
Posted on 11/17/2005 1:09:02 PM PST by lizol
Europa: Ukrainian city wants to reclaim its past
Richard Bernstein International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2005
LVIV, Ukraine Beautiful but poor is a common shorthand description of this city of 800,000 people in western Ukraine, and it takes only a few hours here to sense the accuracy of the phrase. Lviv, which was once as European as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and wishes to be part of Europe again, is not in Europe, at least not as defined by the border of the European Union, though it is a mere 70 kilometers from here.
This is the periphery. Here is where Europe officially ends, even if the end has an arbitrary, technical quality to it.
The plain fact is that there seems no particular coherence to the reality that the Polish city of Chelm, just on the other side of the Bug River from here, is part of Europe, while Lviv is not. Both, after all, were cities in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia, Lviv bigger and vastly more important than Chelm. Both were part of Poland for something on the order of 500 years, including at least a few decades of the 20th century, before the Nazis invaded and then Stalin moved the territory of Ukraine to the West, and Lviv became just another battered and tragic city in the Soviet Union.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Poland and hence Ukraine strike me as being much MORE European than Turkey.
Where is the Europe to Asia border, anyway?
Beautiful, but poor.........Just like me.......
It's usually given as a line tracing the path of the Ural Mountains in Russia, down to the Caucasus.
Haha. Thanks for the laugh. Good line.
Here !
Why not give Lvov back to Poland and give Breslau back to Germany. All the Poles who were forced out of Lvov to Breslau can go back to Lvov and all the Germans back to Breslau?
Ooops. I guess that is not to be suggested!
Ural Mountains and Caucusus Mountains
As a Polish Breslauer let me ask why not give Alaska to Russians and L.A. to Mexicans. OOOps the latter has been done already ;)
I'm from L'viv myself. I hadn't visited my native city since 1993. I plan to visit in the next few years to visit graves of my maternal grandparents and paternal great grandparents. I heard that center of the city "Market Square" where you can find 15th and even 14th century buildings was beautifully renovated. However, on the periphery, many neighborhoods still experience periodic interruptions with water supply for which Lviv was always notorious since Soviet Times. Soviet style management--renovate the facade but don't take care of life essentials -:))))
I'm mixture of ethnic Russians and Russian Speaking Ukrainian Jews. Lviv now predominantely ethnic Ukrainian city as many Russian Speaking Jews and Russians left for W. Europe, United States, Russia, Israel and pretty much the rest of the world. Lot's of folks from Lviv and the rest of Ukraine are working abroad. Those who return, bring their money which keeps Lviv economically afloat. At least that's what I know as of now. Let's hope that the life of ordinary people will be improved.
Ron
PS. Free Galicia!
No problem ! Pics are great--thanks for posting them ! Surely I recognize many places. I love opera theatre. At one point Lviv (or Lwow) was called Paris of E. Europe because boulevard where Opera Theatre is located reminds Champs Elysees.
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