Interview | Urban Media Archive

History of One Street

The ensemble of Bohomoltsia Street was built in 1904-1908 by Ivan Levynskyy’s architectural and construction bureau and is a great example of Secession in Lviv. This small and cozy street that was designed for the city’s middle class witnessed the turbulence of the 20th century and can be used as a case study for tracking down Lviv’s past.
The project “Lviv in the 20th Century: The History of One Street” was one of the first oral history studies implemented by the Center for Urban History. It was initially entitled “The Oral History of Bohomoltsia Street” and aimed to document the stories of the street’s current residents – their experience of settling in, living conditions, awareness of the history of their building/ street/ district, communication with other parts of the city. The conversations revolved around their everyday life, their contacts with the neighbors, and the degree to which their daily routines were linked to their building/ street/ district. In this context, the experience of each individual resident is an important piece of a broader historical picture as the interviewees talked about resettlement, turbulent postwar times, and interethnic relationships. These individual stories give buildings and streets a human face and attribute a more personal meaning to remote historical notions and hard statistical data.
The development of methodology and fieldwork within the frame of this research project was implemented by Halyna Bodnar. Alina Zhurbenko has prepared these materials for their presentation on the web.