Urban Image Database

Postcard depicting the inofficial Aleksandr Fredro Square (today Shevchenko Boulevard). In 1871-1944 the place was called the Plac Akademicki, or Academicki Square. In the foreground part of the small park can be seen with an element of the monument to Count Fredro (1897, by sculptor L. Marconi). At the far left the building No. 28 in then Akademicka Street can be seen (constructed in 1897 by Jakub Bałaban). Beginning in 1912 the building housed the Corso Cinema. Left to right are: building No. 25 in Akademicka St., constructed in 1911 by Jan Schulz; view of Fredro St.; building No. 27 on the intersection of the former Fredro and Łozyński streets (constructed 1908-1909 by Zbigniew Brochwicz-Levynskyi), home to the famous Szkocka (Scottish) Coffeehouse in 1909-1939; view of Łozyński St, which was constructed in 1913 in place of the park, surrounding the Fredro Palazzo.

The photograph shows the moment of the opening of the monument to poet Adam Mickiewicz, which took place on October 30, 1904. The day of the opening became a holiday in Lviv: flags were hung out, facades and balconies were decorated, in the cathedral a High Mass was celebrated on this occasion. Poet’s son Wladyslaw Mickiewicz came to Lviv to take part in the celebration, and a famous Lviv composer Stanislaw Niewiadomski wrote a cantata on this occasion. It was performed on the ceremony of the opening by a choir of more than 150 people.

View of Lviv from the recently created (1816) boulevard, known as Gubernatorski Valy (from Striletska Square). From the left to the right:  the Korniakt Tower (the belfry of the Uspenska Church), the Dominican Church, the Latin Cathedral belfry, the tower of the old Town Hall (as before 1826), the Dominican Church in Shyroka Street (now Kopernika Street), Greek Catholic St. Yuryi (St. George) Cathedral (in the background). On the right, the facade of the Trinitarians’ Church with two towers (built in 1729). After 1784 Lviv's university was situated here, and after the fire caused by shelling in 1848 and further reconstruction, Preobrazhenska Church is now located here (since 1906). Such lithographs were the predecessors of modern postcards and continued the European tradition of urban landscapes, started in Italy in the 16^th century. In the forefront, a new Lviv leisure habit of the time – walking through the park near the city center, first signs of a new age of broad avenues and public space.

The postcard depicts what is today known as Halych Square with a view of the former Roman Catholic Bernardine Church (now a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of St. Andrew the First-Called). To the left is building No. 7, which in 1902-1934 housed the Central Coffeehouse. To the right is a small park by the building of the criminal court. In the centre of the park a fountain was located with a statue of a water nymph, constructed in 1890 by T. Błotnicki. Today a other fountain and a small café stand in their place.

The picture shows a view of the Triumphal Arch which was erected on Horodotska Street (former Grudecka str.) at the beginning of the Railway Alley following the project of architect Karol Boublik. The bust of Franz Joseph I is seen in the center of the Arch, above it there is the coat of arms of the city of Lviv. The temporary Arch was constructed in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph I during his visit to Lviv. He came to the city on the occasion of the General Provincial Exhibition which took place in “Stryjskyi” Park on October 5-10, 1894. In the background there is an old railway station while on the left side one can see the building of Chernivetsky railway.