Lviv: Did You Know?

After an overnight train journey from Odessa to Lviv, we arrived at the Grand Hotel in the center of the city. It is a gorgeous hotel with a ton of history-built in the mid 1900's, it was the first building in Lviv to get electricity!

The hotel had the most incredible architectural details- the crown moulding, the staircases, the amazing chandeliers.

I'm not sure my photographs are doing it much justice.

Anyway, if you're interested- check out the website.

http://www.ghgroup.com.ua/en/house-of-grands.htm

We took a city tour, and learned all kinds of wonderful trivia. Lviv is the city of lions, named after Lev- the son of then King Daniel. Of course, there were beautiful churches, and a great center of town in which each and every building had meaning. However, I'll post some more obscure facts about Lviv.

For example- did you know that the gas lamp was invented in Lviv?

Yup.

And there's a monument dedicated to Jan Zeh and Gnat Lukashevych who discovered the oil chemical filteration and distillation system to create the gas lamp.

Also- did you know that the concept of masochism originated in Lviv?

The author- Leopold Von Sasher Masoch had written a novel about the concept (supposedly autobiographical) called Venus in Furs. It is said that he was furious that he would go down in history for the invention of masochism and not something more enlightened and grand. Fact is, he was the editor of a very progressive magazine that promoted women's suffrage and he also worked for years against local anti-semitism- but oh well! It's masochism he's known for-it's pretty hard to not be over-shadowed by such scandal!

There's a cafe with the statue of Leopold called Mazoks Cafe and Arun and I decided to have dessert there. The decor was incredibly interesting. The interior was bathed in red lighting and there were whips and chains and leather everywhere. When the waitress handed us the menu, she also handcuffed Arun. There were a ton of props laying around so people were having a blast taking pictures.

Us included!

Of course, Lviv has all the charms of a gorgeous Eastern European city.

It would be a shame to not mention that there is a beautiful Opera and Ballet Theater in Lviv...and the book market that surrounds the monument of Ivan Federov (a Russian typographer) ... and the fact that Lviv was home to Mozart's son (and many other composers).

Lviv is also an academic center- with many old universities including Lviv University which was a Jesuit establishment founded in the early 17th Century.

I should also mention that Lviv does have the history of being the site where the centuries old Jewish Community was desimated when Jews and the Polish intelligentsia were murdered in pogroms established by the NKDV and NKGB. Between the Soviets and the Germans, much of the Polish Roman Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues were destroyed.

Let's end on a few shots of Lviv: The Opera House and the Book Market.