EURO 2012: The city guide - Lviv

Lviv was founded in 1256 in Red Ruthenia by King Danylo Halytskyi of the Ruthenian principality of Halych-Volhynia, and named in honour of his son, Lev

Lviv is a city in which tradition and architecture harmonically combines the spirit of pate eras and the present. There are mixed and barokko Gothic, Renaissance and Romanesque, Rococo and Ampire, eclectic and contemporary constructivism.

With its unique geographical position at the crossroads of major routes merchants between West and East, Lviv in the fifteenth and seventeenth century was a major center of Eastern European merchant and belonged to one of the largest cities in Europe.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lviv became the capital of the world's third region after extraction of oil, the U.S. and Russia.

Huge impact on the culture and architecture of Lviv was the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and Poland.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Lviv remained a part of the independent Ukraine, for which it currently serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast, and is designated as its own raion (district) within that oblast.

The historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. More recently, in 2006, the city celebrated its 750th anniversary.