The Magical City by Andrii Lysenko

One of my coolest memories is visiting
the capital of Ukrainian culture, Lviv city. This city is well known by it’s age and glorious history. Lviv, which is the largest city in western Ukraine with a population around 900 000 now, was named in the honor of the Leo I, the eldest son of Daniel, King of Ruthenia, in 1256. I went there in the first half of January when there was rough snow layer covering the city and remains of Christmas decorations in shops. And many people were in the central historical part of the city with big smiles on their faces and kids were also laughing when played snowballs. There is an old western legend that every year at the Christmas strong snowfall comes by the evening. Every dweller – boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, elders and youth walking about the Market Square – the most famous square in the city, which was planned by traditional European settlement: the central square surrounded by living quarters and fortifications. Around the square, there are 44 tenement houses, which represent several architectural styles, from Renaissance to Modernism. One thing that just can’t be forget is Bandinelli Palace, was built in late Renaissance style in 1593. During the war it was ruined, but now it is renovated and also appears to be the highest point of the city’s historical part. There are also famous houses in the center. King John III Sobieski Palace, also called Little Wawel. It was originally built in 1580, for a Greek merchant Konstanty Korniakt, hence it is sometimes called The Palace of the Korniakts. I easilyremem bered a Venetian House with it’s Renaissance-style, remodeled by Pawel Rzymianin for a consul of Venice, Antonio Massari. On the front wall, there is a stone lion of Mark the Evangelist, a coat of arms of Republic of Venice and the date 1600.Also there is one house that deserves tourist’s attention that called Scholz-Wolf House. As most houses in central part it’s was built in 1570 for the Scholz-Wolf family, which came to Lviv from Silesia. It is richly decorated; on the second floor there is a sculpture “Baptism of Christ”, probably by Herman von Hutte or Sebastian Czeszko. There were a lot of places worth seeing but in spite of the fact that my journey to Lviv was full of bright memories, it was short. I put big hopes to be back in such a place that everyone should visit.