The Lions of Lviv
A lion guards the Town Hall in Lviv.
We're going to be writing about a legendary group of Ukrainian dissidents called Lion's Society later this week, so I thought we would first set the tone with a roar!
Lviv is a city that has always been associated with lions, nearly all the way back to the city's founding by King Danylo in 1256. That's because Lev, Danylo's son, was the namesake of Lviv and his name means 'Lion'.
I am not sure you could walk for more than a couple meters in the old part of Lviv without seeing some lion imagery carved into the stunning architecture. A local historian, Yuriy Haida, and his colleagues counted 4,500 of them in 2012 – though I would wager there are quite a few more…
So perhaps let's cut ourselves a slice of some Lviv cheesecake, make some coffee, and have a look at some examples!
From the facade of the Lviv Opera.
(We wrote about the opera house here)
This one has an optical illusion from two angles 🙂
Another view from the Lviv Opera.
These ones are especially watchful.
Even the trashcans are lionly!
This old timer lion was sculpted all the way back in 1589!
_______________________________
We wrote about the city extensively in these posts: Early History of Lviv | Lviv in the 19th Century | Lviv in the 20th Century | Lviv Today
We also wrote posts about the two kings who were key to the city's founding, here: King Danylo | King Lev
_______________________________
The 943rd day of a ten-year invasion that has been going on for centuries.
One day closer to victory.
🇺🇦 HEROIAM SLAVA! 🇺🇦
by duellingislands
1 comment
Oh that poor medieval lion – just thinking of all the things it has seen, if I had lived through that many wars I would probably look like that too! The poor thing. Then again if it could talk I bet it would have some amazing stories 🦁