Ivano-Frankivsk, formerly known as Stanisławów, was one of the largest cities in Galicia, and so it is no wonder that many relics of its prewar past can still be found in the urban landscape. In particular, quite a few manhole covers and storm drains still serve the city’s infrastructure.  From […]

To find traces of Lviv’s prewar past, one must not forget to look down from time to time. Indeed, below our feet are hiding hundreds of manhole and utility covers, which have been serving the city’s infrastructure since before the war. These Austrian- and Polish-era cast iron plates cover buried […]

I’ve found only one example of a Hungarian-made antique roller shutter in Lviv. (However, I eventually I did find a roller shutter made by the same company in Mukachevo.) It was made by a company called Paschka és Társa (Paschka and Co.) in Budapest. It covers the storefront of an […]

In Vienna one can still find the covers to WWII civilian bomb shelters. Originally I thought these metal grates were either storm drains or vaults lights with missing glass, but I discovered that in fact they were covers for ventilation shafts and emergency exits. Across the territory of Nazi Germany […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

In Prague I come across one antique sink, which was still in it’s original location, though it is no longer used for its original function. Now instead of water, the sink holds a candle. The sink is located in a tiny courtyard of an old building, which today houses a […]

Most of the antique roller shutters that I found were made by the company DUKO, which also made shutters for Mukachevo, thus they likely date from the interwar period. Antique shutters made by other companies. I’ve seen the same lion symbol on shutters in Vienna, Berehovo, and Lviv.

“Vodovod” means “water supply” in Czech