Quick Facts on the City of Lviv

• The city of Lviv is located in the western part of Ukraine, at the shores of the Poltava river, 80 kilometres away from the border of Poland. Currently, its population is about 735,000 people, most of whom are ethnic Ukrainians speaking the Ukrainian language.

• Lviv’s date of birth is derived from the first written mentioning of this city in the medieval chronicles - the year of 1256. Tradition states that the city was established by King Danylo Halytsky and named after his son Lev (Lviv) Danilovich Halitsky.

• Within 1272 - 1349, Lviv was a capital of an independent Galicia-Volyn Principality. Ceased by Poland in 1349, it became a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and stayed under the Poland rule until 1772. Within the period of 1772 - 1918, the city belonged to Austria and Austro-Hungary and was called Lemberg.

• Until 1939, Lviv was a highly cosmopolitan city with diverse population, rich European culture, and thriving religions, including Jewish synagogues and Roman (mostly worshipped by the Polish), Creek (typical for the Ukrainians), and Armenian forms of Catholicism.

• After being under Poland again for a short while, the city of Lviv was invaded in 1939 by a tandem of the Soviets and German Nazis and, after the end of the Second World War, in 1945, was annexed by the Soviet Union.

• Under the Soviet rule, Western Ukraine was kept on a tight leash. Most churches were closed, with the only remaining open one being the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Lviv. The official use of the Ukrainian language was mostly banned throughout most Western Ukraine.

• With the collapse of the Soviet Empire, Lviv became a part of independent Ukraine on August 24, 1991.

• Lviv’s historical center is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.