On October 7, the street of Ivan Vakarchuk – doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, honored professor, long-term rector of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine – was solemnly opened in Lviv. The opening of the street was attended by the relatives of Ivan Vakarchuk, the mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovy, representatives of the regional government, the rector and the academic community of LNU. And Franka, students, deputies.
The street is located in the Halytsky district of Lviv, next to Ivan Franko Park. It connects Yan Mateyka and Ustiyanovich streets.
“When Ivan Vakarchuk worked either as a minister or rector, he was always ahead. He took the hit. He was hated by the bureaucratic machine, but loved and adored by the students. He gave a certain trend. It is difficult to be a leader, it is difficult to take responsibility. But I’m glad that the deputies took responsibility, and we have Ivan Vakarchuk Street in Lviv,” Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said during the opening of the street.
At the same time, Ivan Vakarchuk’s son – Sviatoslav – thanked everyone for their support and honoring his father’s memory.
“For our family, this is a great honor and a very warm event. I want to thank the whole community for their support, for honoring my dad’s memory. And also to all those who directly made the decision regarding the appointment: deputies, mayor, commission members.
For my father, the most important thing was to make all of us – children, students and everyone around us – educated, deep people who are responsible for their words and actions.
Thank you for preserving this memory,” said Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.
Previously, st. Ivana Vakarchuk’s name was Kindrata Ryleeva. It was renamed as part of the decolonization of toponymy within the Lviv MTG. To date, new Ukrainian names have been assigned to 47 streets.
In total, 53 streets named after Russian figures or with names associated with the Russian Empire, Russia or Soviet propaganda will be de-Russified in the Lviv Territorial Community. Two streets from this list were decided to join the existing ones, as they are very small. Another street was renamed within the garden cooperative. The complete list of streets is on the Lviv City Council website.