Ukraine! Day 8: Lviv

We started the morning with a tram ride to another UNESCO site, Lychakiv Cemetery.


From Wikipedia: "Since its creation in 1787 as Łyczakowski Cemetery, it has been the main necropolis of the city's intelligentsia, middle and upper classes. Initially the cemetery was located on several hills in the borough of Lychakiv, following the imperial Austro-Hungarian edict ordering that all cemeteries be moved outside of the city limits."


From Lviv.info: "Lychakiv Cemetery is one of the most grandiose and significant European necropolises. It was founded in 1786 and since then only the outstanding, well-known and wealthy people have been buried there - culture, art and science figures as well the political and administrative elite of the capital of the Kingdom of Halychyna (Galicia) and Lodomeria. At the beginning of the 16th century the territory used to be taken for a cemetery of the unfortunate. Today it is a museum and a burial-vault covering the area over 42 hectares. The museum contains sculptures and architectural buildings by the most well-known artists and sculptors."


One of the many beautiful walks through the cemetery.



The grave of singer Volodymyr Ivasyuk. I had read about him before the trip. He was a music sensation here in the 60s and was found hanged in the woods in the early 70s. At the time it was ruled a suicide though few believe he could have done it himself. It was forbidden for people to take to the streets but they did anyway and they held a mass funeral for him. Now it's believed that he was murdered, as it was not possible he could have hung himself in the manner he was found.



More random beautiful gravestones:




About a 30 minute walk north of the cemetery is the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. It's an open-air museum that houses many old buildings from villages across Ukraine. Many of these were very lucky to be saved at a time when so many buildings were being town down by the Soviets. The museum is almost too big to easily walk around in a few hours so only saw a small portion of it. We concentrated on the Cossack and Hutsul houses.




Another stop I was really looking forward to was Potocki Palace. The palace was built in the 1880s by Alfred Józef Potocki. That name probably means nothing to you, but he's the grandson of Jan Potocki, author of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa! It was the closest thing I could find in Lviv related to the author.


On the way back to the historic center we walked around a bit more before dinner then headed back to the hotel for the night. We're not looking forward to tomorrow, our last night in Lviv and our last night in Ukraine.





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