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Prince Danylo Halitski of Galicia, a former
principality of Kyivan Rus, founded Lviv, the biggest city in Western
Ukraine, as a fort in the mid-13th century. The first mention of Lviv in
early chronicles is from 1256, although archaeological excavation in
1993 revealed that the first settlements appeared in the 6th century.
Galicia, with Lviv as its chief city, has kept its identity despite many
boundary changes and centuries of rule by outside powers.
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Lviv quickly became the centre of trade and commerce
for the region. The city's favourable location on the crossroads of
trade routes led to its rapid economic development.
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Galicia was taken over by Poland in the 14th century.
Its nobility eventually adopted the Polish language and religion - Roman
Catholicism but the vast majority of people remained Ukrainian Orthodox
and later joined the Greek Catholic Church, which acknowledged the
Pope's spiritual supremacy but adhered to the area's Orthodox forms of
worship. From 1356 the burghers had the right of self-government, which
implied that all city issues were to be solved by a city council,
elected by wealthy citizens.
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The first half of the 17th century appeared to be the
most active period in the city's development, by that time there where
25-30 thousand people. About 30 craft organizations were active by that
time, involving 133 different specialities. Starting
in the second half of the 17th century there was a decline in Lviv's
development.
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In the First Partition of Poland (1772), Galicia
became part of the Hapsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire but remained
dominated by Poles.
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In 1784, the first university was opened. Lectures
were held in Latin, German, Polish and Ukrainian.
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In the second half of the nineteenth century,
construction, trade, transport and industry started to develop rapidly
until the First World War started. Towards the end of the 19th century,
Lviv became the centre of a new Ukrainian national movement. Many
prominent cultural and political leaders lived in Lviv, among them Ivan
Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, it was a meeting place of Ukrainian,
Polish, and Jewish cultures.
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With the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire at the end
of Word War I, Lviv was proclaimed capital of the independent Republic
of West Ukraine. But the troops of the re-emergent Poland seized the
city, and Lviv returned to Polish rule until the Red Army took control
in September 1939. L'viv was occupied by Germany from 1941 to 1944.
Almost entire Jewish population was murder in concentration camps in
Lviv and elsewhere. In 1944, Lviv again went under Soviet rule.
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L'viv was an important centre of activities of
Ukrainian dissidents. Since late 1980s the city became a leading force
in Ukraine's movement towards sovereignty and democracy.
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The activity of the Greek Catholic Church, prohibited
in 1946, started again, the RUKH movement won the elections. On August
24, 1991 Lviv began a new era as the Supreme Council of Ukraine adopted
a declaration of independence.
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Now, L'viv a major economic and cultural centre on
the Western region of independent Ukrainian state. Despite tremendous
difficulties, economics reforms, among them privatisation of enterprises
and land proceed in L'viv more rapidly than in many other Ukrainian
economics centres.
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