You're reading: Lviv, a treasure chest for every traveler

LVIV – I first came to Lviv with college friends several years ago on a rainy October day. 

We were very short on money, so we stayed in a cold dormitory, split one portion of a meal between the two of us at the famous Kryivka Café, and made mulled wine in our neighbor’s kettle. However, we felt happy and free. We climbed up the Vysokiy Zamok hill and enjoyed a panoramic nighttime view of Lviv, drinking Stariy Rynok (a local liquor) as the music of Goran Bregovic played in the background. Much has changed since, but my love for Lviv remains the same. 

A young woman in an old-fashioned Austrian dress sells sweets on Rynok Square, one of Lviv’s most prominent features.

When visiting a city more than a few times, you normally start to feel like you know every corner, but you will never get this feeling in Lviv. Ask anyone who’s been here at least once, and they’ll quickly name the city’s main attractions: Rynok Square, City Hall, the Opera Theater, and several favorite restaurants. But the treasure chest of Lviv’s attractions offers much more. So don’t fail to give some attention to exploring the less frequented parts of the city.

Unlikely posters in the courtyard

On my most recent trip to Lviv I occasionally stopped at 2 Leva Street, and was astonished at what I saw. The building’s walls here were covered with images of the Virgin Mary, paintings by Taras Shevchenko, and portraits of Soviet leaders Joseph Stalin and Leonid Brezhnev. 

The locals simply explained the images as demonstrating their “passion for history.” They didn’t forget about modern history, either. Pictures of imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and posters from the 2012 soccer championship also adorned the walls. 

Favorite movie location 

Lviv once served as a backdrop for Paris. In 1978 the city was the filming location for “d’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers,” based on an Alexandre Dumas novel and probably the most popular costume drama film ever made in the USSR.

The scene in which Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d’Artagnan fight the guardsmen of Cardinal Richelieu was shot in the courtyard of the Armenian Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary on Virmenska Street. The cathedral is currently under repair and the courtyard is closed, but it is still visible through an iron fence. 

Among other famous movies filmed in Lviv are “The House of Flying Daggers” (China, 2004), “Grandads-Robbers” (USSR, 1968) and other lesser known movies. Yet Paris remains the city’s most popular “role.”

Nuns walk down a Lviv street.

Statues, pavement, and gifts of royalty

Another thing that strikes the eye are the many small and large statues of the Virgin Mary. White and brightly painted, they can be found everywhere – at building corners, in the reliefs of walls, in tiny chapels. The cult of the Virgin Mary came to Lviv in the 17th century, when the city belonged to Poland. In 1656 King John II Casimir named the Virgin Mary a special patroness of the Polish Crown, and promised to spread the practice of her worship. Half a century later, Tsar Peter the Great also contributed to the appearance of Lviv’s streets: after his coach got stuck in the mud in Rynok Square, the streets of Lviv were paved. 

Lviv’s biggest antique market is located near the monument to Ivan Fyodorov, the first printer in Ukraine and Russia.

New dining experiences

Of course, a visit to the secretive nationalistic Kryivka Café is a mandatory Lviv experience, but the city has much more interesting venues to offer. 

For instance, the Masonic Lodge, a restaurant at 14 Rynok Square, jokingly calls itself “the most expensive restaurant of Galicia.” At first glance, prices here are extremely high. For example, beer costs Hr 100, and an average meal is Hr 1,000. But the prices will be reduced ten times once you present a special pass that you’re supposed to receive when entering the venue. Entering the place is itself an adventure, since everyone must pass through an old-fashioned apartment on the second floor of a building on Rynok Square. In the apartment one may meet its old dweller, wearing a robe and willing to tell stories about masons. Another quirk is that white gloves must be worn while eating here.

If you want to spend the evening among Lviv’s artistic elite, you should visit Under the Klepsydra Café, located on Virmenska Street. Here, a cup of strong Lviv coffee is served with fortune cookies, and live jazz music plays in the evening. The café is in the same building as Dzyga, a famous association of artists, community leaders and entrepreneurs, so many of the clientele come from the local artistic community. 

Kyiv Post photographer Anastasia Vlasova can be reached at [email protected].