The photo shows two houses at the northern section of the Ringplatz (Piata Unirii, Central Square). These houses were all one storied and belonged to the “first generation” of stone buildings, dating back to the first half of the 19th c. They all had shops on the ground floor, among them the studio, publishing house and paper shop of the famous photographer Leon König who was one of the main publishers of postcards in the Bukovina. <br />

Those buildings were destroyed during the Second World War and have never been replaced ever since, exposing the fire wall of the neighbouring buildings to the Central Square. Since 1999 a monument for the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko is trying to fill the gap.<br /><em>Helmut Kusdat</em>