About Lviv

Lviv  (1772-1918: Lemberg) - a city in western Ukraine, the notional capital of Western Ukraine and Galicia, the regional center of Lviv region, seventh in population in the cities of the country. In 2007 Lviv had 830 000 citizens. The city is often called the cultural and tourist capital of Ukraine, which received official confirmation in 2009 when Lviv was proclaimed "cultural capital of Ukrainian tourism" .

The city was founded by King Danylo  and named after his son - Lev (Lion). The first written mention about Lviv dates back to 1256.

In 2008, British newspaper «The Times» in its Ranking “Best European city to visit on a week end” gave the third place to Lviv.

In 2009 the magazine "Focus" called Lviv the most comfortable Ukrainian city.

Since 1998, L’viv is a World UNESCO Heritage site

It encompasses 55% of all Ukrainian monuments of cultural significance and 1.5 million museum artefacts.

Interesting dates

1387-1704 during 317 years, citizens of Lviv stood over a hundred enemy sieges.

1574 – the first book in Ukraine («the Apostle») was printed in Lviv by I. Fedorov.

1661 – the first university in Ukraine, the Jesuit Academy, was founded in the city of Lviv.

1776 – Gazette de Leopol weekly, the first newspaper in Ukraine.

1848 – the first newspaper in Ukrainian «Zorya Halytska».

1848 – the first politic organization in Ukraine was established in Lviv (Holovna Rus’ka Rada)

1853 – the first oil lamp in the world was invented in Lviv in the pharmacy «Under the Golden Star» («Pid Zolotoyu Zirkoyu») by chemists Johan Zeg and Ignatsy Lukesevych.

1861 – the first Ukrainian railway Lviv – Przemysl was constructed.

1864 – the first Ukrainian professional theater was founded in Lviv.

June 27, 2001 – the record number of people in the history of Ukraine (approximately 1.5 million visitors) came to the Mess of Byzantine rite said by the Roman Pope John Paul II at the Lviv hippodrome.