Almost everyone has heard of the colorful courtyards of Odessa, but there are no less interesting courtyards in many other cities of our country. Today we will tell you about the ancient city of Lviv from the little-known side of the stories, legends and mysteries of city courtyards. Of course, Lviv is famous for its famous monuments that speak eloquently for themselves, but in the quiet courtyards hidden from the bustling city, you can find no less interesting sights.
In general, modern Lviv is very popular among tourists from all countries. The city beckons and fascinates with its ancient architecture, narrow cobblestone streets, cafes with the famous Lviv pastries, chocolate shops... In addition, Lviv often hosts various festivals, exhibitions, fairs and many other interesting events that can entertain the city's residents and its guests quite well. Most often, tourists only see this ceremonial part of the city, indicated in guidebooks. However, interesting and unique things and sights can be found not only on the central streets. It is in the cozy Lviv courtyards that the real life of the city of Lion takes place, events and dramas take place here, the fates of residents are formed here, love tragedies are brewing here, curses are struck, estates are lost, evidence is swept away and in general, a lot of interesting things happen that are not available to the facade of life.
Often, even the inhabitants of the yard themselves do not remember its history very well, let alone the guests who want to listen to local legends. But there are researchers who are interested in these parables, legends, and urban events, and one of them is historian Alisa Vasilyeva. She deals with this kind of local "yard" history and can share interesting destinies of the city's residents and storylines. However, we should not forget that history is not only the past, which has already happened, but also those events that are happening right now, before our eyes.
Courtyard on grave slabs
A courtyard with the same name, at number 7, is hidden on Virmenska Street. It is surrounded by the Armenian Cathedral, a former nunnery, and the Archbishop's Palace. These buildings were built in the 14th century, and the money for them was donated by Armenian merchants. The main attraction of this courtyard is the old cemetery, or rather, its remains. Tombstones with epitaphs in Polish and Armenian remind us of it. These tombstones are called "khachkars", the oldest of which is over 600 years old. Local belief says that the more the deceased's sins are erased under the feet of people walking on it, the more sins will be forgiven. The day when this inscription disappears completely will be a happy one - the soul of the deceased will go to heaven straight from purgatory. Historian Alisa Vasilyeva, however, claims that the dead are long gone and all the remains were taken out of the city long ago as part of the fight against unsanitary conditions more than 200 years ago. Lviv then fell under the domineering hand of Austria-Hungary, and all the cemeteries within the city were destroyed or relocated.
The yard that did not hear children's laughter
The townspeople believe that such quiet and initially inconspicuous courtyards, like the one at 8 Drohobycha Street, reflect the essence and color of Lviv courtyards. It was here, in this courtyard, that the last gas lamp in the whole city burned. A house has been preserved here, where there was a functioning blacksmith shop back in the 19th century. However, all this is not very significant against the background of the fact that this courtyard became famous for the fact that a terrible evil witch once cursed it, and none of the women living here could get pregnant, and the muffled laughter of children was never heard within the walls of the courtyard. Legend has it that once upon a time, a married couple lived here who really did not want to have their own children, and in order not to accidentally get pregnant, they asked for help from a local witch. The witch agreed to help them in their desire, but set one condition: a child's voice would never disturb the silence of this courtyard, and none of the local residents would have children either. There are rumors that this curse is still in effect. However, there is no way to verify whether this is true or not: the site of the former courtyard is now home to the Museum of Ancient Graphic Techniques, as well as a local art studio called "Lithography." Therefore, the storks have probably forgotten their way here.
Dangerous well
One of the pearls of Lviv is considered to be the Bernardine Monastery, whose quiet and peaceful courtyard hides its unspoken secrets nearby. They say that in the monastery's well, monks once drowned children born from their relationships with the Poor Clare sisters. In the 19th century, a 200-meter-long underground passage was discovered here, which led to the monastery. The soldiers of the Turkish army that surrounded Lviv began to dig this passage in 1672. However, during the excavation, a storm arose, and the excavation that had begun was filled up, along with the Turks who did not have time to get out. Later, the remains of this structure were used during the construction of a new underground passage, and this was not so long ago, in the last century. There is another legend according to which corpses left after the plague and the heads of soldiers who fought in the army of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, which was besieging the city at that time, were thrown into the monastery's well. This legend could have arisen because at the time when Lviv began to be cleaned of cemeteries, the Bernardine Monastery was last on the list. And when the burials were taken out of its territory, local residents could watch as numerous carts were taking out loads of human bones, many bones, and they all left from the gates of this particular monastery. So the impression was created that the largest number of burials were taken out from there, and the rich human imagination turned the well into a bottomless source of corpses. It is also said that there was one place where in 1484 a saint was buried - Jan of Dukla, he was the patron saint of Lviv. And then a stream broke through from this place, which was regarded as a great miracle. Jan was then reburied, and where the key was, a well was dug, later decorated with a rotunda.
Italian courtyard
There is also an Italian courtyard in Lviv. This is the patio of a palace (which was built in 1580), built to order by one of the richest Lviv residents in the entire history of the city - Konstantin Kornyakt. He was a Greek merchant who controlled the entire wine trade in the Black Sea region, and was a fairly famous patron of the arts. He was allowed to build an unprecedented luxury on the central city square - a palace with as many as six windows. The courtyard of this famous palace is very similar to traditional courtyards in Italy, plays based on Shakespeare's works were even staged here. Today, the Lviv Historical Museum operates here, and the courtyard can please its visitors with a cafeteria.
Lviv story about Romeo and Juliet
At the address of this courtyard (6 Rynok Square), since the 1400s, there was a place where local craftsmen learned to shoot - the so-called "shooting range". It was necessary to be able to shoot to protect the city and family in case of an attack by an enemy army. After some time, in the middle of the 19th century, the courtyard was able to boast a new "shooting range", which was built in the style of romantic historicism. Now this building is used more for social events than as a defensive or educational structure. And in the winter of 1866, it was here, in this building, that Lviv's "Romeo and Juliet" arrived for a ball in honor of Christmas - they were Wanda Monet, sixteen years old, and the famous artist Arthur Grotter, twenty-nine years old. They fell in love with each other from the first meeting, but Wanda's parents opposed their relationship, and the artist's health was undermined by tuberculosis. And a year later, Grotter died in France, and his beloved sold her jewelry to finally bury her lover's body with dignity in his homeland.
Lost estate
The Semensky Palace was built long ago on a place that had a bad reputation. One legend says that once, a long time ago, robbers lived on this place, brutally robbing travelers passing by alone. And now the criminal acts of the robbers so outraged the heavens that one day a thunderstorm thundered, and lightning struck the house in which the robbers were. It burned it to the ground along with everyone who was there. Later, a palace was built on this place by order of Count Konstantin Semensky, but later his descendants repeatedly rebuilt the building. And it so happened that one of the heirs, a noble nobleman and no less noble gambler, lost to such despair that he was forced to bet on the estate, which had been passed down from generation to generation. Thus, in the event of his loss, the estate passed into the possession of the city. And so the gambler was unlucky. But the poor children were lucky, for whom a gymnasium was set up in this building.
Later, after the war, a Soviet school operated here instead. When the USSR collapsed, the descendants of the Semenskys, who live overseas, tried to restore their rights to the property by seizing it from the state, but it did not work out: documents found in the archives proved that the estate was legally, so to speak, lost to the city, so the heirs remained with their own. Now the palace provides a roof for a school - boarding school No. 102, which teaches children with developmental problems.
Below street level
A small courtyard at 5 Rybna Street is unusual in that it is located below the level of the street itself, and as if it slides down. And the house at the same address is also unusual: it has three floors, but only two of them are visible from the street. The street itself, 70 meters long, was named in honor of Maria Snizhna for several centuries. Now this name is borne by a church built next door by German colonists in the 14th century. Nearby is the trading square of the old city. In 1871, this street received a new name - Rybna, and the square became known as the Old Market. This area has long been a suburb of the city, and ethnic Ukrainians who were forbidden to live in the central parts of the city settled here.
Later, a Jewish community began to settle in this area. Despite the fact that the courtyard was quite modest, it mysteriously housed a cotton wool factory, a fabric store, a bakery, a carpentry workshop, as well as the society for deaf and dumb Jews "Beat". Entrepreneurs and teachers with private practices lived here.
Nostalgic memories
Although the yard on Knyazya Leva Street 2 is not a monument, it gained its popularity through the efforts of local residents: when it was necessary to take old and seemingly unnecessary junk to the landfill, the residents decorated the yard of their two-story house with objects from the Soviet era. Thus, from an ordinary average yard, it turned into a nostalgic place with old sofas, posters and reproductions. Many of the things located here will be familiar to anyone who lived in those days, and will certainly cause a poignant feeling of the past, the times of the Khrushchev thaw or the Brezhnev stagnation. In addition, the wall of the gate preserves a plaque with a list of the building's residents. Previously, similar plaques could be seen on all the houses of the city, but now it is a museum exhibit.
These are Lviv courtyards, shrouded in their stories and legends, and filled with a unique atmosphere.
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