Shadows of a Forgotten World

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:

I love to post about ghost signs and fortunately I've come across quite a few more of them in Lviv since I wrote my first post about them almost three years. Here's more from my collection. Some have already been painted over but others are still being liberated from the covering plaster. "Maka Grys i Owies" (Flour, Grits, and Oats) Probably says "lakier(y)" (varnish) On one of the buildings that used to comprise Jan Lewinski's factory.  Sadly, this is one of the one's that has been painted over:       Wekslarski Sq.  (the name of the square before 1939 - currenty Koliyivshchyna Sq.) probably "fasola" (beans) These two are located in entranceways:   A lovely ghost sign on a beautifully dilapidated house "Fryzjer" (hairdresser) Stripes designated stores run by Ukrainians or Jews   Ghost sign liberation (progress over the course of the last fe...

The building at 3 Drukarska Street was built c. 1543, and was owned by Stanislaw Schtansl Scholtz. The building later become known as “Under the Mother of God” because of a statue of the Virgin Mary on the façade. In 1858 the building housed the St. Sophia Association of the Blind. Goods that arrived to Lviv were kept in stored in the courtyard of the building. At the end of the nineteenth century the building was demolished because it had fallen in disrepair. Interestingly, the picture of the original building shows nineteenth-century ghost signs.  Judging from the signs, there was a warehouse for paper (sklad papieru) and in the building to the right paraffin (kerosene) oil (nafta niezapalna) w as sold . 1543-1898 *** The new building, which was built in 1898, was designed by the architect Jan Lewiński. The façade also had a sculpture of the Mother of God. Starting in 1900 it housed Jan Muszyński’s vodka and liqueur factory (founded in 1894). His factory specialize...