New Pictures of Industrial Lviv

New pictures showing postwar industrial Lviv were contributed to the photo collection on the Lviv Power Lift Trucks Factory as part of the visual database ‘Urban Images’.

The pictures presented in the collection are part of the album of the Lviv Power Lift Trucks factory. They tell about first stages of establishing operational facilities (1948-1951). The images documented the process of construction of new manufacturing units, arrangement and equipment of facilities, launch of the assembly line, design, testing and production of new machinery. Moreover, the pictures show the life of workers such as their daily work at machines, welcoming delegations, May Day demonstrations, celebration of new machinery outputs. The new materials also include samples of Photo album pages of the Lviv Power Lift Trucks Factory with original signatures.

Lviv Power Lift Trucks Factory was established in 1948 within the Soviet government program to develop industry in Lviv, on the basis of the Plant for Gas Equipment (Ukrgazaparat). It was the first enterprise in the USSR focusing on power lift trucks production, the highly needed machinery in the times of postwar reconstruction. Within only a year the plant managed to launch mass production lines. One more year saw modernization of the first sample of a power lift truck and the launch of an assembly line. In 1996, the production processes at the factory were disrupted.

You can view full collection of images of Lviv Power Lift Trucks Factory, or the gallery of selected images.

Credits

Сover Image: New workshop of the factory, 1949. Collection of Maria Ferneza / Urban media archive