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Lviv tourist information
Lviv tourist information
The city has a multicultural history. It was founded in 1256 by King Danylo Galytskiy and fell under Polish control in the 14th century. Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Germans and others lived there together for centuries.
The Polish king John II Casimir founded the Lviv University in the 17th century and Lviv was by this time one of the most important cities in the Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth, along with Krakow, Warsaw, Gdansk and Vilnius.
In 1772 the city was taken by the Habsburgs and in Austrian times it was known under the name of Lemberg, the capital of Galicia. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, it was returned to Poland.
As result of World War II Stalin moved the Soviet frontier westward so Lviv became part of the USSR, as Lvov (still widely frequent, even locally). With the Ukrainian independence in 1991, the name was officialy changed to Lviv.
Lviv is located in the most Ukrainian region of Ukraine; as a Soviet province, most signs were put only in Ukrainian, and only a few also in Russian. Because of its Polish and Austro-Hungarian history, Lviv has a Central European flair in its architecture that makes it one of the most beautiful cities in Eastern Europe.
Its tourist potential is yet undiscovered because infrastructure is rather undeveloped and most people don't speak any foreign languages except Polish, Russian and German. This is changing among young people, some of whom will speak at least a little bit of English. Nevertheless, visiting Lviv is very rewarding for the pioneer traveller, as life is extremely cheap here and the place has a truly authentic feeling, unlike places like Krakow or Prague, which are swamped with tourists.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Lviv
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Lviv - updated Apr 2024
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Lviv Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.