Shadows of a Forgotten World

A folk band from Przemysl  —  Krajka, together with Ukrainian musicians  —  released a new album dedicated to the lands that lie along the current Polish-Ukrainian border. "The album contains traditional music from the Polish-Ukrainian borderland, from the regions of Kholm, Lubaczow, Przemysl, to the Carpathian mountains and valleys. These lands were once replete with the splendor and richness of culture, traditions, and ethnos. Today this music is largely unknown and forgotten. It has been reconstructed using recordings gathered during field expeditions and from available materials  —  to save it from oblivion and bring back its ancient luster." "The album 'Krajka. W domu' contains songs exclusively from the Polish-Ukrainian borderland. This territory, on which from time immemorial reigned a balance of diverse cultural components, was brutally destroyed by the war and postwar deportations. The expulsion of Ukrainians, Boykos, and Lemkos is above ...

I came across a curious German-language benchmark in one of Lviv's courtyards. Unlike the other pre-WWI benchmarks that I have seen in Lviv, which are small simple plaques in Polish, this one is much larger, in German, and even includes a relief of a hand pointing to the leveling mark. The sign reads:  XXX Zolle über den Wasserstand  (30 Feet Above Sea Level) And while this one was from the Austrian-era (the building where it is found dates from 1911), it was not part of the first leveling system created in Lviv (1880-1888), which was used to construct Lviv's first sewer system. More on Lviv's benchmarks can be found here . Example of Polish-language benchmark from original network Z.W. = Znak Wysokosci (Height Marker)

Several years ago I read about an old Jewish prayer room that was discovered in the basement of a building in Lviv. Finally, thanks to my friend Sarah who obtained instructions on how to find it, I was able to see it in person. (Though only on our second attempt did we actually find a way inside. More about our adventure can be found in Sarah's blog post .) Tucked away in the corner of a not-so-easily-accessible courtyard is a small staircase that leads down into the basement room that housed the prayer room. The only remnant is the painted ceiling with two lions and the Ten Commandments. The history behind this prayer room  —  when it was established and why  —  is still unknown. But according to Jewish Family Search : "Most probably this was a private house owner's prayer room or a shtiebel for Jewish families living nearby." The room is found in a building that dates from 1911, in a neighborhood south of the city center (which by the way was not one of ...

The makeup of the population of Galicia changed drastically after WWII, one reason being the Soviet-Polish population exchanges in the years right after war, during which most of the Poles that lived in Eastern Galicia moved or were deported to the territory of current day Poland. The traces of these Polish communities can be found in the countryside, where abandoned Roman Catholic churches ( kościół  in Polish or  kostel  in Ukrainian) can be found in many villages. Under the Soviets, churches and synagogues were re-purposed, used often as warehouses, stables, museums, etc. While some of the Greek Catholic churches were renovated and today are used by the communities for worship, very few kościółs were resurrected as there are few practicing Roman Catholics in the villages. A  kościół in a  village near Zolochiv St. Maria Magdalena Kościół (built in 1924) in Vovkiv During Soviet times the church served as a mineral fertilizer wareh...

My great (x5) grandparents Feliks and Tekla Lipiński moved to the village of Koltiv (Kołtów) from Lviv in 1811. Feliks was invited by Count Józef Baworowski to his estate in the countryside to conduct his court orchestra. The former landlords, the Starzeńskis, built a beautiful garden house on a high hill where the court orchestra would often play. Feliks and Tekla's son, the famous violinist and composer Karol Lipiński , often visited them in the village. Nothing of the garden house, the palace, the graves of the noblemen or my relatives, or any other traces of these times remain. Much was destroyed during WWI, and in WWII Koltiv found itself on the front. While Brody is remembered for the "Brody Cauldron" when in 1944 the Red Army encircled Brody and destroyed the German forces, the neighboring region was called the "Koltiv Corridor," due to the fact that the German front in the Koltiv area was shattered by the Soviet army, which broke through a narrow gap i...

Serbia's capital changed hands dozens of times in the past few centuries: Ottoman/Austrian rule 16th–19th centuries Ottoman/Serbian rule 1804–1878 Serbian rule 1878–1914 Austro-Hungarian/Serbian rule 1914–18 Kingdom of Serbia 1918 Yugoslav Kingdom 1918–1941 Nazi/Croatian rule 1941–1944 Yugoslav Republic 1944–1991 I found some relics from Austrian rule, namely antique roller shutters made in Vienna: One made by Julius Rosenthal (I've come across shutters made by ES. Rosenthal in Vienna and Lviv - possibly same family) and another made by Joh. Anderle, examples of which can still be found in Vienna and Lviv . I wasn't able to find any information about the manhole covers, but judging by the wear and tear and fonts, I believe that many of these may date to before date to before WWII. And here's a really slick boot scraper!

Barta & Tichý Praha was one of the most famous ceramic factories in Europe.  Here is an example of their work which I found in Prague:  This factory has a connection to Lviv, for in the 1880s the famous architect Jan Lewiński opened a store in Lviv where products from Barta & Tichý were sold. A few examples of these tiles can still be found in Lviv:

Buildings in Prague have two numbers: a descriptive number (číslo popisné) and a reference number (číslo orientační). The descriptive number is unique within one cadastral area. Today these numbers can be found on red plaques, but the original numbers were either painted or engraved onto the buildings or etched onto the front door windows (as is the case with conscription numbers in places like Lviv and Vienna ). In the nineteenth century, Prague’s buildings were given new orientation numbers, which are arranged sequentially within the street or square and are meant to help one find a particular house on a street. Today these numbers are found on blue plaques. “The first descriptive numbering was ordered by Maria Theresa in 1770 and implemented in 1770–1771. The series was given successively as the soldiers went through the settlement describing houses with numbers. Thereafter, every new house was allocated the next number sequentially, irrespective of its location. Mo...