- Mickiewicz Square
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Coordinates: 49°50′22″N 24°01′48″E / 49.83944444°N 24.03°E
The Mickiewicz Square (Ukrainian: Площа Міцкевича, trans. Ploshcha Mitskevycha) is one of the main squares in the city of Lviv, Ukraine.
Contents
Location & History
The square lies between the Lviv's old town and southern part of midtown, and was planned and created in the first half of 19th century after the demolition of the old town's defensive walls in the late 18th century. From 1843 it was primarily known as Ferdinand Square (German: Ferdinandplatz, Polish: Plac Ferdynanda), in honour of the Austrian governor of Galicia, Ferdinand Habsburg-d'Este. In 1862 it was renamed St Mary's Square (Polish: Plac Mariacki) when a monument dedicated to her was erected in the area. Today it bears the name of Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, whose monument was placed in the central part of the square in 1904.
Lviv prior to World War II was inhabited mostly by Poles and Jews, and belonged to pre-war Poland. In 1939, the Soviet Union in the course of the Invasion of Poland annexed the city. As the new occupant administration perceived St Mary to be a rather inappropriate patron for the square in the centre of the now-Soviet city, the square underwent "secularisation" and was renamed Mickiewicz Square (Polish: Plac Mickiewicza, Russian: Площадь Мицкевича).
Although the majority of Polish Lvivians were expelled after the second permanent Soviet annexation in 1945 and the city repopulated with Ukrainians and Russians, the monument wasn't demolished during the Soviet era, and instead was kept; as well as the name of the square.
Adam Mickiewicz Column
Mickiewicz's Column with the Sprecher tenement house (to the left), and the bell-tower of the Latin cathedral (to the right) in the backgroundThe monument composes of a 21-metre-high column made of Italian granite, and a 3-metre-high statue of Mickiewicz being granted his poet's lyre by the genius of poetry, with some additional elements including the golden torch of Inspiration on the top of the column. Standing in the central part of the square, it was erected in 1904, with the official opening ceremony held on October 30th. It was designed and carved by Polish sculptor Antoni Popiel, who won the contest for the design in 1898.
The rear of the column base contains the coat-of-arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Other Square Features
- Monument to St Mary with adjacent fountain. The figure of St Mary, on the order of countess Seweryna Badeni, was sculpted in white, Trembovlian marble by Johann Nepomuk Hautmann from Munich in 1859, and brought to Lviv the same year. In 1904, when the monument of Mickiewicz was erected, the figure was moved north from the centre of the square and remodelled according to a competition won project by Michał Łużecki. In Soviet times, the figure was removed from the top of the fountain and placed in the Boim Chapel (since moved to St Andrew's Church). The fountain was topped with a vase instead. The original composition, including a copy of the St Mary figure, was reconstructed in 1997.[1]
- Sprecher's tenement house. The six story high edifice with mansard roof, was ordered by Jonas and Gizela Sprecher and constructed between 1914 and 1922, according to a design by Ferdynand Kassler from Michał Ulam's architectural bureau. The architecture contains a mixture of neoclassical and early modernist features. Due to its height and size it was dubbed Lviv's first "skyscraper".
- Hotel George. Constructed as a luxury hotel in 1900 according to a design by Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner & Hermann Hellmer with sculptural decoration by Leonard Marconi.
References
History Armenian Statute · Dormition Brotherhood · Jesuit Collegium · First Siege by Cossacks · Second Siege by Cossacks · Lwów Oath · Siege by Turks · Leopolis Triplex · Stauropegion Institute · Stauropegion Press · Ossolineum · Galician Rada · Halytsko-Ruska Matytsia · Prosvita · Ruthenian Triad · Ruthenian National House · Hutsul Secession · Batiars · Lwów Eaglets · Battle 1918 · Pogrom 1918 · Battle 1920 · Secret Ukrainian University · School of Logic · School of Mathematics · Battle 1939 · Massacre of Lviv professors · Lviv pogroms · Lemberg Ghetto · Lwów Uprising · Sknyliv airshow disaster
Religion Armenian Cathedral · Cathedral of St. George · Chapel of the Boim family · Bernardine Church · Bridgettine Convent · Carmelite Church · Convent of Benedictines · Church of St. Anne · Church of John the Baptist · Church of Mary of Snow · Church of St. Elizabeth · Church of St. Mary Magdalene · Church of St. Onuphrius · Church of the Dormition · Church of the Purification, Lviv · Church of the Transfiguration · Dominican Church · Jesuit Church · Latin Cathedral
Attractions Arena Lviv · Arsenal Museum · Bandinelli Palace · Black Kamienica · Catholic University · Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów · Freedom Boulevard · Government House · King Cross Leopolis · Korniakt Palace · Lviv High Castle · Lviv University · Lychakivskiy Cemetery · Market Square · Mickiewicz Square · National Museum · Polytechnic University · Liubomyrsky Palace · Metropolitan Palace · Old Town · Pharmacy Museum · Pototsky Palace · Sapieha Palace · Scottish Café · Shevchenkivskyi Hai · Theatre of Opera and Ballet · Town Hall · Ukraina Stadium · Union of Lublin Mound
Transport Categories:- Lviv
- Town squares
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