Pre-Soviet Advertising Columns

A handful of pre-Soviet (I'm guessing Austrian-era, so pre-WWI) advertising columns are still found in the center of Lviv. These are still used for their original purpose – to post concert and theater announcements.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ukrainian Alphabet and the Soft Sign

Image
There are several differences in the Ukrainian alphabets used in the diaspora and in Ukraine, in particular, what we call the alphabet, the way we pronounce the letters, the melody we use when singing the alphabet (or the lack there of a song), as well as the difference I only recently discovered - the placement of the soft sign. In Ukraine the soft sign "ь" doesn't come at the end of the alphabet as I learned, but third to last. It was quite a big shock for me to discover. However, this was a relatively recent change. In 1990, the soft sign was moved from the end of the alphabet to the place after the letter "щ" as it is in the Russian alphabet. I'm surprised it wasn't moved back a year later when Ukraine gained its independence. First of all, we usually say "азбука" or "абетка" while in Ukraine it is more common to say "aлфавіт" or "абетка" (for children). When we (at least my Chicago diaspora community) sing
Read more

The Archaic Language of the Ukrainian Diaspora

Image
Please go to my new website Forgotten Galicia to read this post (an updated version). Click here . Over the last several years my interest in languages and dialects has grown. I have become very fascinated by the way the Ukrainian language has developed in the diaspora vs. Ukraine. The Ukrainian language spoken in the diaspora is the language that was spoken in western Ukraine before WWII. The majority of Ukrainian immigrants who went to the West during and right after WWII were from Galicia and Western Ukraine. Galicia had had a long history of Polish rule and influence, thus the language spoken there had a lot of Polonisms. This language didn’t evolve much in the diaspora, so Ukrainians still speak this language. (Though there has been some English influence on the language.) Furthermore, it retained several archaic words relating to technology (for example, in the diaspora we still usually say загасити світло (extinguish the light) , which harks back to a time when fire was us
Read more

Antique Metal Roller Shutters in Lviv

Image
Lviv still has quite a few Austrian- and Polish-era metal roller shutters, which cover windows and doors of old storefronts. Some of the shutters are still used; most, however, look as if they haven’t been opened in decades. The panels with the locks are stamped with the manufacturer’s mark – typically the company’s name and location, some even with a street address, such as the company N. Bielicki Lwów , which was located on ul. Gródecka 43 (Horodotska St.). this panel is upside down - I think because several old shutters were used to patch up this door as seen in picture below Prague
Read more