Remnants of Medieval Advertising in Lviv

Medieval ads and signs have survived in and around Lviv’s Rynok Square. Usually these were metal signs or stone carvings located above entrance ways. The emblems marked the locations of guilds, workshops, stores, taverns, etc. Signs during these times used symbols as the general populace was illiterate.

Entrances to taverns were marked with lion heads, often with a bunch of grapes in its mouth.

Grapes marked the entrances to restaurants.

Emblem of a tailor’s workshop on a building on Rynok Square

Relief of Like the Evangelist (Patron of painters) – emblem of painter's workshop – located on Krakivska St.

Workshops and stores were often marked with metal signs. An iron key marking a locksmith's workshop from the 19th century still survives on a 17th-century building.

Some other signs that were used but no longer are found in Lviv are: bundle of hay marking where beer was sold; lion with a lock marking a locksmith’s workshop; a horse marking a blacksmith’s workshop; a saber marking a gunsmith’s workshop.