Our cities’ and buildings’ physical spaces, urban and rural landscapes, hold secrets to how people used to live, hold traces of previous eras. Embodied in outdated signage, beautiful antique craftsman, and remnants of outdated infrastructures, these mementos of a bygone world serve as are our physical connections to the past.
I came across a lovely prewar photograph of the outside of a hat shop in Lviv. The hand-painted sign reads in Polish “Pracownia czapek – wykonuje po najtańszych cenach,” which means “Hats workshop – produced at the cheapest prices.” In addition to Polish, it includes a Yiddish translation as well […]
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In one of Lviv’s courtyards I stumbled across a curious sign pointing to a water level. My first thought was that it is a benchmark—a point of known elevation marked for the purpose of surveying. However, unlike the other prewar benchmarks that I have seen in Lviv—small metal plaques with […]
My best guess is that this mysterious cement bowl-like contraption found in the corridor of one of Lviv’s old buildings is an umbrella holder…
In many of Lviv’s old buildings there is a porte-cochère, a passageway through a building designed to let carriages pass from the street to an interior courtyard. Along the sides of the porte-cochère is an elevated platform, which functioned as a sort of sidewalk for people to be able to […]
Serbia’s capital changed hands dozens of times in the past few centuries: Ottoman/Austrian rule 16th–19th centuries Ottoman/Serbian rule 1804–1878 Serbian rule 1878–1914 Austro-Hungarian/Serbian rule 1914–18 Kingdom of Serbia 1918 Yugoslav Kingdom 1918–1941 Nazi/Croatian rule 1941–1944 Yugoslav Republic 1944–1991 I found some relics from Austrian rule, namely antique roller shutters made […]
A few year ago, I came across this ghost sign when only a small part was visible. Fortunately, the rest of the sign was recently liberated: SIECZKARNIE KULTYWATORY MŁOCARNIE KIERATY CHAFF-CUTTERS TILLERS THRESHERS HORSE MILLS It seems at some point this space sold farming machinery, though I haven’t been able […]
It’s not often I find an old photograph of Lviv with signage that is still visible today. One of the few examples is a prewar photograph of a milk house, the storefront of which still displays the multilingual signs of the long-gone establishment, as can be seen in this post. […]
Koubar & Vinklat Manufacturer’s Mark I think this was part of a lock mechanism, maybe for some roller shutters. The top part says “up” an “down” with arrows which way to turn. Hutter & Schrantz Manufacturer’s Mark Hutter & Schrantz is one of the oldest companies in Austria. It was […]
I found some nice examples of terrazzo and mosaic flooring in Prague, and they are all in rather good shape, despite being over 100 years old. In addition to the year of installation/construction, I also found one example with the greeting “Salve” (“Welcome”), which is also found in some of […]
Barta & Tichý Praha was one of the most famous ceramic factories in Europe. Here is an example of their work which I found in Prague: This factory has a connection to Lviv, for in the 1880s the famous architect Jan Lewiński opened a store in Lviv where products from […]
A sampling of guard stones from Prague:
