The region is named after the city ofLviv which was founded byDaniel of Galicia, theKing of Galicia, in the 13th century, where it became the capital ofGalicia-Volhynia. Daniel named the city after his son,Leo. During this time, the general region around Lviv was known asGalicia–Volhynia— one of the strongest and most stable kingdoms in Eastern Europe of that time.
Given its historical development, Lviv Oblast is one of the leastRussified andSovietized parts of Ukraine, with much of its Polish andHabsburg heritage still visible today.
In Ukraine today, there are three provinces (oblasts) that formed the eastern part of theKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. Two of these, Lviv Oblast andIvano-Frankivsk Oblast were entirely contained in the kingdom; the third oblast ofTernopil was mainly in the kingdom apart from four of its most northerly counties (raions). The counties of the Kingdom of Galicia remained largely unchanged when they were incorporated into successor states; with minor changes as detailed below, the current counties are almost co-extensive with those of the Kingdom.
During the 2014Euromaidan protests, the region is also notable for having declared independence from the central government led byViktor Yanukovych who started to use active military force against protestors.[10] During Ukraine'sdecommunization process that accelerated after 2014, Lviv Oblast became the first region of Ukraine to remove all its Soviet-era monuments by January 2024.[11]
The terrain of Lviv Oblast is highly varied. The southern part is occupied by the lowBeskids mountain chains running parallel to each other from northwest to southeast and covered with secondaryconiferous forests as part of the EasternCarpathians; the highest point isPikui (1408 m). North from there are the wide upperDniester river valley and much smaller upperSan River valley. These rivers have flat bottoms covered with alluvial deposits, and are susceptible tofloods. Between these valleys and Beskyd lies the Precarpathian upland covered with deciduous forests, with well-knownmineral spa resorts (seeTruskavets,Morshyn). It's also the area of one of the earliest industrialpetroleum and gas extraction. These deposits are all but depleted by now.
In the central part of the region lieRoztochchia,Opillia, and part of thePodolia uplands. Richsulphur deposits were mined here during the Soviet era. Roztocze is densely forested, while Opillia and Podolia (being covered withloess on which fertile soils develop) are densely populated and mostly covered by arable land. In the central-north part of the region lies the Small Polesia lowland, geographically isolated from the rest ofPolesia but with similar terrain and landscapes (flat plains with sandyfluvioglacial deposits andpine forests). The far North of the region lies on theVolhynia upland, which is also covered withloess; coal ismined in this area.
The climate of Lviv Oblast is moderately cool and humid. The average January temperatures range from −7 °C (19 °F) in theCarpathians to −3 °C (27 °F) in theDniester andSan River valleys while in July the average temperatures are from 14–15 °C (57–59 °F) in the Carpathians to 16–17 °C (61–63 °F) inRoztochchia and 19 °C (66 °F) in the lower part of theDniester valley.[12] The average annual precipitation is 600–650 mm (23.62–25.59 in) in the lowlands, 650–750 mm (25.59–29.53 in) in the highlands and up to 1,000 mm (39.37 in) in the Carpathians, with the majority of precipitation occurring in summer. Prolongeddroughts are uncommon, while strong rainfalls can causefloods in river valleys. Severe winds during storms can also cause damage, especially in the highlands. The climate is favourable for the cultivation ofsugar beets,winter wheat,flax,rye,cabbage,apples, and fordairy farming. It is still too cold to successfully cultivatemaize,sunflower,grapes,melon,watermelon orpeaches in Lviv Oblast. In theCarpathians conditions are favourable forAlpine skiing 3–4 months a year.
According to the2001 Ukrainian census,ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 94.8% of the population of Lviv Oblast,ethnic Russians for 3.6%, andethnic Poles for 0.7%.[13][14][15] Notably, the comparison of the 2001 Ukrainian census (mentioned above), with the last Soviet census of 1989 reveals that in those 12 years the number of Poles in the Lviv Oblast declined by 29.7% which, in the opinion of "Wspólnota Polska" Society defies explanation, and could possibly be attributed to the intensiveUkrainization of the Roman Catholic Church.[16]
According to the2001 Ukrainian census,Ukrainian was the native language for over 95% of Lviv Oblast's population: it was the dominant language in almost all of the city, town, and village councils of the oblast, only one village council of the region wasn't predominantly Ukrainian-speaking.
Lviv Oblast was one of the few oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR where the share of Ukrainian speakers was increasing despite theRussification of Ukraine carried out in the USSR.[17] Native language of the population of Lviv Oblast according to the results of population censuses:[18][19][20][21][22][23]
Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Lviv Oblast.[25]
On 18 September 2018, a moratorium on the public use of Russian-language cultural products was imposed in Lviv Oblast by a decision of theLviv Oblast Council.[26][27]
According to a poll conducted byRating from 16 November to 10 December 2018 as part of the project «Portraits of Regions», 90% of the residents of Lviv Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 7% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 1% believed that Russian should become the second state language of the country. 2% found it difficult to answer.[28]
On 20 September 2022, Lviv Oblast Council approved the «Comprehensive Programme for Strengthening of the Ukrainian Language for 2023—2026», the main objectives of which are to strengthen the positions of the Ukrainian language in various spheres of public life in the oblast and toUkrainianize therefugees from other regions of Ukraine.[29][30]
According to the research of theContent Analysis Centre, conducted from 15 August to 15 September 2024, the topic of which was the ratio of Ukrainian and Russian languages in the Ukrainian segment ofsocial media, 93.9% of posts from Lviv Oblast were written in Ukrainian (87.3% in 2023, 86.0% in 2022, 52.4% in 2020), while 6.1% were written in Russian (12.7% in 2023, 14.0% in 2022, 47.6% in 2020).[31][32]
After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Lviv Oblast, as well as Ukraine as a whole, experienced a gradualUkrainization of the education system, which had beenRussified[33] during the Soviet era. Dynamics of the ratio of thelanguages of instruction in general secondary education institutions in Lviv Oblast:[34][35][36][37][38][39][40]
According to theState Statistics Service of Ukraine, in the 2023—2024 school year, of the 286,111 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Lviv Oblast, 285,367 (99.74%) were studying in classes whereUkrainian was the language of instruction, while 744 (0.26%) were studying in classes wherePolish was the language of instruction.[43]
Drohobych, the second largest city in Lviv OblastTruskavets, a small resort town in the Carpathian foothills.Architecture inStryiHalf-timbered old villa in the Carpathian foothills inStryi Raion
The city of Lviv contains a well-preserved main square (Rynok) and numerous historical churches. Other sites of interest are the historicLychakiv Cemetery, the local museum of folklore, and the ruins of the famousVysokyi Zamok. The name of the castle is closely tied to the name of the city. There is also a museum of military artifacts, the "Arsenal".
Well-preserved local wooden churches, castles, and monasteries can be found throughout the Oblast. One of them is theOlesko Castle which is first recorded in 1327. Another castle that was built at the end of the 15th century isSvirzh Castle in the village of Svirzh. One more and no less famous castle is thePidhirtsi Castle. Its architectural complex consists of the three-story palace, Kostel, and small park. In Roztochia is also located the Krekhivsky monastery in the beech-pine grove at the foot of the Pobiina mount. The whole complex consists of the Saint Nicholas Church, the bell tower, numerous service structures, and defensive walls with towers. Another site worth of mentioning is the Tustan city-fortress which is built in the rock. The site was nominated as the historical and as the natural wonder of Ukraine. There also a nature complex in the valley of the Kamianka river in Stryi Raion. Another natural wonder of the region is the Kamin-Veleten (Rock-Giant in English) which is located near city ofPidkamin inZolochiv Raion. The name of the local city meansUnder the Rock. A local museum of Ukrainian art and an institution of higher learning (Ivan Franko State University) are also present.
Twointroduced banded land snails, the Grove Snail (Cepaea nemoralis) and White-Lipped Snail (C. hortensis) are found here.[55]C. n. was intentionally brought here in the late 1800s, but thegenetic analysis of Gural-Sverlovaet al., 2021 shows continued introductions have also occurred ever since.[55] (The geographic distribution of both suggests they arrive through thegardening trade, as is known from other countries.)[55] This analysis shows several distinct arrivals ofC. n. yielding several present-day populations in and around Lviv.[55]
^Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after theircapital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (Ukrainian:обласни́й це́нтр,romanized: oblasnýi céntr,IPA:[oblɐsˈnɪjˈtsɛntr]). The name of each oblast is arelationaladjective—in English translating to anoun adjunct which otherwise serves the same function—formed by adding a femininesuffix to the name of the respective center city:Lʹvív is the center of theLʹvívsʹka óblastʹ (Lviv Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Lviv Oblast,Lvivshchyna.
^Buko, Andrzej (2008).The Archeology of Early Medieval Poland. Leiden: Brill. p. 307.ISBN978-90-04-16230-3.
^Wijaczka, Jacek (2010). "Szkoci". In Kopczyński, Michał; Tygielski, Wojciech (eds.).Pod wspólnym niebem. Narody dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (in Polish). Warszawa: Muzeum Historii Polski, Bellona. pp. 204, 206.ISBN978-83-11-11724-2.
^Stopka, Krzysztof (2010). "Ormianie". In Kopczyński, Michał; Tygielski, Wojciech (eds.).Pod wspólnym niebem. Narody dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (in Polish). Warszawa: Muzeum Historii Polski, Bellona. pp. 118–119.ISBN978-83-11-11724-2.
^Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 313,315–317, 324, 331.ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
^Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, "Equality, Efficiency, and Politics in Soviet Bilingual Education Policy, 1934-1980," American Political Science Review 78 (December 1984): 1019-1039.
^«Статистичний щорічник України за 1998 рік» — К., 1999."Джерело".pics.livejournal.com. Retrieved2024-12-26.
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