City of Lions, Leopol, Leopolis, Leopoli, Galicia, Halychyna, Lemberg, Lvovas, Lwów,L’vov, Lvov,L’viv,L’wiw, Lviv ….
  The epochs, rulers, governments, regimes, names of the city replaced one another, but its spirit and traditions always remained unchanged.
  The first written mention about the glorious city of Lviv is dated by the year 1256. It was built by the order of the King Danylo Halytskyy and named on behalf of his son Lev (translated as “Lion”). Since those ancient times, Lion is the symbol of the city. Stone lions are standing motionless at city facades and portals, keeping watch under the City Hall and on the High Castle Hill, lying tired near the Powder Tower.
  After the fires in 1527 and 1556, nearly all gothic architecture was destroyed; instead, the city architecture today is richly represented by baroque, renaissance and classicism styles. In December 1998, the ensemble of the central historical part of Lviv city was included into the UNESCO World Heritage List.
  Lviv, the capital of Galicia and the seventh city of Ukraine by the number of population, slowly achieves fame of the fashionable tourist city (since 2005, Ukraine is the member of World Tourist Organization). It is situated at the distance of 80 km from the Polish border and presents the most western part of Ukraine.
  Lviv gave birth to and was a home city of such famous people as: Mykhaylo Hrushevskyy, Andrey Sheptytskyy, Solomiya Krushelnytska, Stanislav Lem, Joseph Rotblat, Leopold Zacher von Mazoch, Roman Viktyuk, Volodymyr Ivasyuk, Franciszek Mozart, Yakov Rosenfeld, Rudolf Weigl, Ludwig von Mises, Ivan Fedorov, and many others. 
  Lviv city has many sister cities. Among them: Winnipeg, Krakow, Lublin, Budapest, Kutaisi, Freiburg, Saint-Petersburg, Rochdale, Novi Sad, and Samarkand.
  In May 2004, Lviv singer Ruslana won the Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the first Ukrainian singer, who held the top place in this contest.
  On June 2001, the city was visited by the Pope John Paul II.
  In 2012, Lviv will be hosting the European Football Championship EURO 2012.

 

Lviv City Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May.

  When you come to Lviv, you should first of all visit: Market Square and Market Tower (height – 65 meters, 408 footsteps), Pharmacy Museum, Armenian Church, Dominican Church, Arsenal Museum, Saint George Church, High Castle, Shevchenkivkyy Hay Skansen, etc. Also you should certainly taste the aromatic Lviv coffee and visit the Brewery Museum!
  The old Lviv is famous for its good cafes, candy stores and restaurants.  We recommend visiting the following cafes and candy stores: “Synya plyashka” (“Blue bottle”), “Cukiernia” (“Candy shop”), “Vienna coffee”, “Freska” (“Fresco”), “Pazh” (“Page-boy”), “Kvitka” (“Flower”), and restaurants: “Amadeus”, “Veronica”, “Prague”, “Kupol”, “Vienna coffee”, “U pani Stefy” (“At Stefa’s place).