Urban Image Database

A figure of St. Jan Nepomuk used to be situated on a bridge near hotel “De Russie” – “Russian” (1796). In the 1830ies it was moved to the end of Sviatoho Jana street (Shevchenko avenue, crossroads of Fredra, Gertsena and Saksaganskoho streets) and put on the bridge across Poltva, which was then flowing in the middle of the street. In 1890 Poltva was finally hidden under the ground, and the statue of St. Jan was dismantled and moved to St. Mykolaya church; the further fate of this monument is unknown.
On the right a sign with the inscription “Frischgebäck” can be seen – probably bread could be bought in this building.

The picture shows a view of the Triumphal Arch which was erected on Horodotska Street (former Grudecka str.) at the beginning of the Railway Alley following the project of architect Karol Boublik. The bust of Franz Joseph I is seen in the center of the Arch, above it there is the coat of arms of the city of Lviv. The temporary Arch was constructed in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph I during his visit to Lviv. He came to the city on the occasion of the General Provincial Exhibition which took place in “Stryjskyi” Park on October 5-10, 1894. In the background there is an old railway station while on the left side one can see the building of Chernivetsky railway.

The oldest Lviv secular monument to Hetman Stanislaw Jablonowski, the defender of Lviv against the Tatars (1695), was constructed approximately 1752-1754. According to Y. Biryulyov the sculptor was probably Sebastian Fesinger. The statue of the Hetman originally stood in the courtyard of the old JesuitCollege, his mortal remains having been buried in the Jesuit church. During the restoration of the church the monument disappeared but was accidentally rediscovered by a journalist (Hippolyt Stupnitsky) in the middle of the 19^th century in the backyard of house № 13 in Karl Ludwig Street. At the public expense the monument was restored by the sculptors Paul Eitel and Leopold Schimser and in 1859 it was erected in the city boulevard / street. Since then these places were called "Hetmanski Valy" (Hetman Ramparts) and "Hetmanska" Street. In the background there is a house which used to stand in "Tekhnitska" Street (nowadays "Nyzky Zamok" Street). Today there is a small market here known as "Vernissage".

Postcard depicting the inofficial Aleksandr Fredro Square (today Shevchenko Boulevard). In 1871-1944 the place was called the Plac Akademicki, or Academicki Square. In the foreground part of the small park can be seen with an element of the monument to Count Fredro (1897, by sculptor L. Marconi). At the far left the building No. 28 in then Akademicka Street can be seen (constructed in 1897 by Jakub Bałaban). Beginning in 1912 the building housed the Corso Cinema. Left to right are: building No. 25 in Akademicka St., constructed in 1911 by Jan Schulz; view of Fredro St.; building No. 27 on the intersection of the former Fredro and Łozyński streets (constructed 1908-1909 by Zbigniew Brochwicz-Levynskyi), home to the famous Szkocka (Scottish) Coffeehouse in 1909-1939; view of Łozyński St, which was constructed in 1913 in place of the park, surrounding the Fredro Palazzo.

View of Lviv from the recently created (1816) boulevard, known as Gubernatorski Valy (from Striletska Square). From the left to the right:  the Korniakt Tower (the belfry of the Uspenska Church), the Dominican Church, the Latin Cathedral belfry, the tower of the old Town Hall (as before 1826), the Dominican Church in Shyroka Street (now Kopernika Street), Greek Catholic St. Yuryi (St. George) Cathedral (in the background). On the right, the facade of the Trinitarians’ Church with two towers (built in 1729). After 1784 Lviv's university was situated here, and after the fire caused by shelling in 1848 and further reconstruction, Preobrazhenska Church is now located here (since 1906). Such lithographs were the predecessors of modern postcards and continued the European tradition of urban landscapes, started in Italy in the 16^th century. In the forefront, a new Lviv leisure habit of the time – walking through the park near the city center, first signs of a new age of broad avenues and public space.