Stryiskyi Park – the most magnificent park in Lviv
The birth of Stryiskyi Park
The park was created by the legendary Lviv park master and engineer of the city plantations Arnold Roering. He laid it in 1879 on the site of ravines and Stryi cemetery, closed half a century before. Rering planted almost 40 thousand trees in the park. Among them was even a tree that has survived as a species since the days of dinosaurs. And in 1887, the lower alley was decorated with a monument to Jan Kilinski, the hero of the Polish revolution led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a general and ally of George Washington. So, Kosciuszko was one of the creators of the United States. With the advent of this monument, the park was named after Kilinsky. Subsequently, the name Stryisky did win.
Regional exhibition. Tram and cable car
An unexplored event breathed new life into the park. In 1894 Lviv hosted the Regional Exhibition. It was timed to coincide with the century of the already mentioned Kosciuszko uprising. To celebrate the uprising, they painted a huge picture with a width of 150 m wide and 15 m in height, then as much as 700 kg of paint was spent on it. The picture became the basis of the panorama (Racławice panorama). And a separate pavilion was built for it. Now it has a gym. And the panorama after the Second World War traveled to Poland, to Wroclaw.
The Regional Exhibition showed the advanced achievements of science and economics of the province (hence the name – regional). Similar exhibitions were held in iconic European cities. Exhibitions in empire capitals, such as Paris, London and Vienna, were especially large.
Exquisite and fabulous pavilions of the exhibition occupied the upper terrace, then still empty of trees. Unfortunately, most of them, although they resembled palaces, were nevertheless temporary, and did not live to this day. For the sake of the exhibition, Lviv even laid an electric tram (the second in Ukraine after Kyiv) and a power plant. And over one of the ravines of the park, an air connection was then laid – a cable car.
Eastern Auction
In the interwar period, “Eastern Trades” were held on the site of the Regional Exhibition. Who have been working for more than one year, as the Regional Exhibition, but for 17 years in a row. And their pavilions, no longer temporary, but capital, have survived to our time, albeit in a somewhat revised form.
Interestingly, for the new exhibition, a narrow-gauge railway was created for the supply of goods. Subsequently, it will be converted into a children’s railway, where Lviv schoolchildren are still learning to work.
The first football match in Ukraine
On the territory of the park you can find the outlines of the stadium where the first professional football match on the territory of modern Ukraine was officially held. However, the monument to this match was not placed on the site of the stadium, which somewhat confuses even connoisseurs of football places. The game took place in 1894 between the teams of the Sokol societies of Lviv and Krakow. We even know that then in Lviv there was a moderate temperature, +24 °C, and the first goal was scored by the second-year student of the teacher’s gymnasium Volodymyr Khomytsky. Instead of the gate, flag bars were killed. But the story about this event needs a new post. In the meantime, we note that then the Lviv residents won.
Panorama, Ivasik and the ruins of the castle
The cable car has not survived, but a magnificent panorama now opens from the water tower, on top of which the restaurant operates.
On the upper alley there is a musical fountain “Ivasik Telesik”. And in the center of the park you can try to find the ruins of a mysterious castle. The castle, under the influence of romanticism, was immediately built in the style of picturesque ruins.
For the praise of antiquity through ruins, speak to open hearts more than whole volumes of literature. The story is romantic! Especially park. Come here too, feel comfort, pride in the achievements of our ancestors… Well, near the ginkgo tree, remember the dinosaurs. By the way, Lviv singers have already composed a song about him.
