Ukraine -- New Web Resources on L'viv

Memorial plaque at the Golden Rose synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The L'viv Center for Urban History of East Central Europe has posted on its web site some valuable and easy-to-use new resources about Jewish heritage in L'viv. All are part of the Center's ongoing "L'viv Interactive" project on local history, culture and architecture.

One is a detailed description and photo gallery on the Golden Rose Synagogue.

The other comprises two galleries of images relating to the "Inner" Jewish community quarter, where the Golden Rose is located, not far from the main market square, or Rynok. They are part of a research project on the district being carried out by third-year architecture students. Its aim is

to accumulate a database of scholarly elaborations of archival and bibliographical data, live research, as well as visual (videorecordings, photogallery, graphic materials) and verbal (interviews) information. This data can contribute to the cause of discovering, bringing back and renewing the memory of the Jewish legacy in Lviv.

The project proposes to illuminate the history of the city quarter, once inhabited by Jews, provide detailed descriptions of Jewish sacred and public buildings, and trace the development of residential construction, supplemented by information on the owners and residents of the houses. The project will contribute to the cause of illuminating and popularizing Jewish history, culture, tradition and art, both for the residents of Lviv, and for visitors to te city, as the Jewish legacy of Lviv is undoubtedly an important element of promoting the city.

The project was envisioned as an experiment for the historic part of the city, which is included in the UNESCO cultural heritage list.

One of the galleries is a catalogue of images showing the places where mezuzahs were once placed on doorposts -- scars that were once a frequent sight in many towns in east-central Europe.

The other is a set of drawings of specific buildings in the neighborhood.

Lviv Klezmer Festival next Sunday

    




The second "LvivKlezFest" will take place Sunday in and around the inner Jewish quarter of L'viv, near the ruins of the Golden Rose synagogue -- a final late-night concert will take place in the square next to the ruins.

Participating bands come from Poland, Germany, Israel, Russia, and Ukraine, and there will be workshops, guided tours and other participatory events as well as concerts.
It's wonderful to the the (rather crumbling) district used in this way.



Here's the press release:

The Festival of Klezmer music “LvivKlezFest”  will welcome its guest for the second time on July 25, 2010 from 10.00 a.m. until 23.00 p.m.

You will enjoy the theatrical Jewish wedding procession on the streets of medieval Jewish quarter which will be adorned by playing of  Klezmer groups from different countries. Then the ceremony will fluently turn into a great long-lasting gala-concert on the ancient square near the legendary synagogue “Golden Rose”.

You will be also offered the master-classes on Jewish dance and handicrafts, walking tours in Jewish quarter and, certainly, you will taste traditional Jewish cuisine.

Those who will visit this big holiday of Jewish culture in Lviv  in the very heart of Eastern Galicia will get unforgettable feelings due to the combination of natural scenery in conjunction with unique Klezmer music.

The Festival is organized and supported by  All-Ukrainian Jewish Charitable Foundation  “Hesed-Arieh” (Lviv),   “Joint Center”(Kiev), Company of Emotions “!Fest”(Lviv).

ALL LOVERS OF JEWISH MUSIC, DANCES AND SONGS ARE WELLCOMED!

The Schedule of «LvivKlezFest-2010» (July 25, 2010)

10.00–13.30     Every half-hour free tour walks in  the Jewish quarter  of the city (the tour walks will start  from the cafe "Diana", Rynok square)

from 12.00  -  Theatrical performance "А hаsеnе in Galitsie" - "Jewish wedding-party in Galicia" accompanied by  Klezmer orchestras - (cafe "Diana", Rynok square); Treating, master-classes on Jewish handicrafts  -  (Br.Rogatyntziv street); Jewish workshops - (Staroyevreyska street).

14.30–23.00    Gala-concert ”Muzl Tov!” - “Happiness”! with participation of klezmers from Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Poland (Arsenalna square, across the  synagogue “Golden Rose”).

Ukraine -- Report on Cemetery Clean up and exhibit at Sniatyn

More on Ukraine -- Check Sam Gruber's blog for a long post and photographs about an "archeology of memory" project this past  summer organized by the Center for Urban History in L'viv to clean up the Jewish cemetery in Sniatyn, rescue tombstones that were used to pave a courtyard, and stage an exhibition.

The Center's web site reports:

The goal of the project was to return the attention of the inhabitants of Sniatyn to the multi-national and multi-religious heritage of their city with the help of the two week program of a volunteer camp made up of youth from Ukraine, Poland and Germany. The program included fixing up and recording the architectural cemetery ensembles of the city. Concurrently the camp become an opportunity for participants of the volunteer group to become acquainted with the heritage, as well as contemporary life of Sniatyn. The work of the volunteers focused on two cemeteries in Sniatyn - Jewish and Christian, which are found not far from one another. The Christian cemetery is still used as a place of ritual events. The Jewish cemetery is in a state of neglect and ruin, and gravestones are being destroyed by spreading tree roots. Both cemeteries are monuments to the culture and history of the city, witnesses of the life and death of Sniatyn’s past inhabitants.

 Nineteen young people took part in in the two week project at the end of July and beginning fo August.

The project was realized by the Centre for Urban History within the framework of the program "Memoria", which was initiated by the foundation "Memory, responsibility and future" and was led together with the Stefan Batory Foundation. The goal of the program is to inspire young people to look for traces of shared culture and history in the border territory. The geographical focus of the program is Central and Eastern Europe, where for centuries people from different cultures, religions and languages co-existed. The Second World War and the Holocaust, deportations and changing borders after 1945 almost completely destroyed the diversity of these territories.  That is why, within the framework of the "Memoria" program, events are organized with the participation of young volunteers from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Russia, Belorus and Ukraine, which are aimed at the preservation of historical monuments, acquaintance with different aspects of border area history and culture and formation of contacts with the inhabitants of these populated points, where the camps take place.