#zhovkva

[lelejskagora]

ukraine by Retlaw Snellac Photography Via Flickr: Visit of Zhovkva (near Lviv).

[estetyka-chichky]

[vintage-ukraine]

City council building in Zhovkva, Lviv Region, 1984

[kyitana]

Старовинне місто Жовква, Львівська область, Україна / Old Town Zhovkva, Lviv Region, Ukraine

[thesacred-and-theprofane]

For some reason I took lots of photos of doors in Zhovkva. 

[thesacred-and-theprofane]

St. Trinity wooden church (1720), Zhovkva, Ukraine

[thesacred-and-theprofane]

Жовква

I discovered today that this little town is one of the best day trips that you can take from Lviv. Plus, it is ridiculously easy to get to; bus 151 goes between Zhovkva and Lviv quite frequently.

There are several really beautiful churches: Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Orthodox (so representative of the broader historical context of this region). We saw the relics of St. Parthenius who is apparently the patron saint of Galicia. Unfortunately, most of the churches were closed probably because this week was all holiday.

We tried to go into the Jewish synagogue, but that story was quite the adventure so I'll write a whole post about it later. The synagogue was destroyed by the Nazi's in 1941 and the building now is just a desolate shell.  We had a discussion with a worker in the Tourist Information Center about the synagogue and what should be done with it. He thought it would be better turned into a theater or something else, but I thought it was better left as a ruin. We both agreed that the best scenario would be restoration.  

Speaking of the Tourist Information Center, the man that works there was a fountain of information about the city.  He told us all of Zhovkva's claims to fame; it was the residence of King John Sobieski who was a great patron of the arts, Peter the Great lived there for 4 months, Ivan Mazepa visited several times, a guy who helped invent the hard drive was born there, and finally it was designed to be a utopian city.

Overall, it was a great day, but I am now exhausted!