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Lviv

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Ploshcha Rynok (Market Square) with historic buildings Black Mansion and Dominican Cathedral in background.

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Overview

If you’ve spent time in other Ukrainian regions, Lviv will come as a shock. Mysterious and architecturally lovely, this Unesco-listed city is the country’s least Soviet and exudes the same authentic Central European charm as pretourism Prague or Kraków once did. Its quaint cobbles, bean-perfumed coffeehouses and rattling trams are a continent away from the Soviet brutalism of the east. It’s also a place where the candle of Ukrainian national identity burns brightest and where Russian is definitely a minority language.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Artifical flowers decorating small winged angel statue on grave at Lychakivske Cemetery.

    Lychakivsky Cemetery

    Lviv

    Don't leave town until you've seen this amazing 42-hectare cemetery, only a short ride on tram 7 from the centre. This is the Père Lachaise of Eastern…

  • National Museum-Memorial of Victims of the Occupation Regimes, or Lonsky Prison which was used as a political prison of the Polish, Soviet and Nazi regimes.

    National Museum and Memorial to the Victims of Occupation

    Lviv

    This infamous building on vul Bryullova was used as a prison by the Poles, Nazis and communists in turn, but the small and very moving exhibition over two…

  • High Castle Hill

    High Castle Hill

    Lviv

    Around a 2km walk from pl Rynok, visiting the High Castle (Vysoky Zamok) on Castle Hill (Zamkova Hora) is a quintessential Lviv experience. There’s little…

  • Ploshcha Rynok (Market Square) with historic buildings Black Mansion and Dominican Cathedral in background.

    Ploshcha Rynok

    Lviv

    Lviv was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1998, and this old market square lies at its heart. The square was progressively rebuilt after a major…

  • Lviv History Museum – Rynok 24

    Lviv History Museum – Rynok 24

    Lviv

    This branch of the Lviv History Museum expounds on the city's very early days starting with early cultures that inhabited Galicia and ending with the…

  • Ratusha

    Ratusha

    Lviv

    The city fathers have occupied this location since the 14th century, but the present-day Italianate look dates to 1835. In a sign of openness and…

  • Apteka Museum

    Apteka Museum

    Lviv

    This fascinating pharmacy museum is located inside a still-functioning chemist's shop dating from 1735. Buy a ticket from the pharmacist and head down…

  • Lvivarnya

    Lvivarnya

    Lviv

    Revamped in 2017, the museum belonging to Lviv's brewery is an impressive, modern experience, a world away for the rickety post-Soviet repositories of the…

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