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Lviv

Lviv ( or ; ; ; see below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine. Lviv also hosts the administration of Lviv urban hromada. It was named after Leo I of Galicia, the eldest son of Daniel, King of Ruthenia.

Lviv (then Lwów) emerged as the centre of the historical regions of Red Ruthenia and Galicia in the 14th century, superseding Halych, Chełm, Belz, and Przemyśl. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia from 1272 to 1340, when it went to King Casimir III the Great of Poland in a war of succession. In 1356, Casimir the Great granted it town rights. From 1434, it was the regional capital of the Ruthenian Voivodeship in the Kingdom of Poland. In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, the city became the capital of the Habsburg semi-autonomous Polish-dominated Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. From 1918, between the wars, the city was the centre of the Lwów Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic. There it flourished in culture, industry and academia such as the Lwów School of Mathematics, the Lwów Historical School () and the Lwów School of Economics. After the German-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the massacre of Lwów professors took place, and Lwów was eventually annexed by the Soviet Union.

The once-large Jewish community of the city was murdered in large numbers by the Nazis and Ukrainian police during the Holocaust. For decades there was no working synagogue in Lviv after the final one was closed by the Soviets. The greater part of the once-predominant Polish population was forcibly expelled during the Ukrainian massacres of Poles and later with population transfers between Communist Poland and Soviet Ukraine in 1944–46.

The historical heart of the city, with its cobblestone streets and architectural assortment of Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-classicism and Art Nouveau, survived Soviet and German occupations during World War II largely unscathed. The historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List; however, it has been listed as an endangered site due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 1991, Lviv became part of the independent nation of Ukraine.

The city has many industries and institutions of higher education, such as Lviv University and Lviv Polytechnic. Lviv is also the home of many cultural institutions, including a philharmonic orchestra and the Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Provided by Wikipedia