The photo shows three houses of the eastern section of the Ringplatz (Piata Unirii, Central Square). The house on the left side at the corner with the Russische Gasse (Str. Romana, vul. Ruska) is one of the older houses on the Ringplatz most likely built before 1850. It has been recently restored, but no floor was added. The eastern side of the Ringplatz was and is a little elevated and was known as Pardini Höhe (Pardini height) until World War two. It got its name from the then well known publishing house and bookshop Pardini located in the house with the cupola in the middle of the photo. This was also the home of the long term mayor of Chernivtsi in th 19th c., Anton von Kochanowski. <br />

Next to it another appartment building, built in 1821 as a one-storied house. The second floor was added in 1877. It has shops on the ground floor, among them a Salamander shoe shop. All three buildings are basically unchanged to this day. <br />

The photo also shows the streetcar (in those days called tramway in Chernivtsi), introduced in 1897. The tramway track shown on the photo is the line number 1 circulating between the Volksgarten railway station and the river Pruth. The waggon is an open one, used only in summer time. It was produced by Ringhoffer in Prag-Smichov in 1904. <br /><em>Helmut Kusdat</em>