In one of Lviv’s cafes, Dim Lehend (House of Legends), there is a room dedicated to the old Galician language (which is similar to the language spoken in the diaspora). Old words and old newspaper clippings decorate the walls.

This sidewalk stamp says: “Zarząd Miejski m. Łucka” (Municipal Board of the City Lutsk). This curb dates from the interwar period when Lutsk was part of the Second Polish Republic (1920-1939).

Volodymyr Koziuk started documenting thatched-roof houses 30 years ago. First he started painting them, then taking photos of them. “When I was searching for these houses, everyone laughed at me: ‘What a fool, spending time on old houses,’” says artist and philanthropist Volodymyr Koziuk. Volodymyr doesn’t regret all the time […]

We sing certain Ukrainian songs in the diaspora that are unknown or have been forgotten in Ukraine. I think the most powerful and saddest one is “Mamo.” It’s about a boy who during WWII was in the Majdanek concentration camp. (The camp was named after the Majdan Tatarski district in […]

Giovanni Zuliani (1843-1909) moved from Italy to Lviv and in 1892 founded a company specializing in mosaic and granite terrazzo prepared in Venetian style, marble ornamentation of walls and furniture, and all kinds of cement work. The company had branches in three other Galician cities: Stanisławów (Ivano-Frankivsk), Chernivtsi, and Krakow. […]

Terrazzo is a composite material made from marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other chips and poured with a binder. This material was used to pave many entranceways, stairwells, and communal spaces in Lviv’s buildings. It was often decorated with geometric designs, the year of installation, the name of the manufacturer, […]

The first houses in Winnetka were built in 1836.  Few of the nineteenth-century houses remain. The oldest surviving house is the Schmidt-Burnham House, which was built c. 1837. This one is now a museum. This red one was recently torn down 🙁

The trend of hand-painted signs continues on this newly renovated building on Lviv’s main square. This time, in addition to the usual Ukrainian, Polish, German, English translations, there is also French, Italian, Spanish, and Chinese. (Though there is a mistake in the Italian translation—should be “teatro” and not “theatre.”) A […]

I found an old benchmark in Przemyśl, Poland, located on a little post near the city’s central river, the San. You can read more about benchmarks in this post about Lviv’s benchmarks. The outer ring reads “Znak Wysokosci” (Height Marker), followed by 2 letters and 4 numbers, looks like AA-0001, […]

Old photos are windows to the past, to a forgotten world. I’m fortunate to have quite a few old family photos, which allow me to get a glimpse into the lives they led. I decided to share some of these photos with a correspondent from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who […]