Petro Radkovets was born on April 27, 1964 – the most recognizable tour guide of Lviv, local expert and popularizer of its history and culture. On February 4, 2023, he died suddenly.
Today, on the occasion of the birthday of a “professional Lvivian”, a memory route was presented in Lviv, which was developed by Petro Radkovets’ colleague Diana Borysenko in cooperation with the tour guide’s family and the Lviv Tourist Office.
“The idea of creating this route came to us almost immediately after saying goodbye to Piotr Radkovets. On the eve of his death, we had a lot of joint meetings, where we discussed the current tour industry in Lviv. In the end, thanks to these meetings, he became the first guide to join our “The City Heals” project and conducted the first excursion for military personnel undergoing rehabilitation in Lviv. Peter had an incredible amount of ideas and a very strong energy, which he shared with everyone. Therefore, we were simply forced to continue his case. This route was created so that people who, unfortunately, will not be able to go on an excursion to Petro Radkovets, can feel his special atmosphere, his mood and the Lviv that Petro loved to talk about,” says Khrystyna Lebed. head of the Lviv tourism department.
Diana Borysenko, who developed the named route, communicated very closely with Peter Radkovets, so she agreed to this idea of the family and the mayor’s office without hesitation.
“It is a great honor for me to present the pilot route in memory of Pyotr Radkovets today. I am sure that today he will walk this route next to me. This tour covers the route from the eastern defensive walls to the western through the medieval city. Petro said that he does not tell, but reads tours, and their participants are not clients, but friends with whom he walked through Lviv. It is in this atmosphere that I will try to transfer everyone who will visit the tour today,” said Diana Borysenko, tour guide, author of the Pyotr Radkovets memorial route.
The route through the city center and lasting 1.5 hours consists of the following parts:
1. Ruska Street is the “salt” of Galicia
Dormition (Voloshka) church, 8th school, “Dniester” insurance company, “Golden ducat” coffee shop
2. “About the holy and the sinful”
Monument to Drovniak Nikephoros-Epiphanius, Dominican church
3. “When Armenians still lived on Armenska”
Art cafe “Dzyga”, “Facet” and “Facetka”, “Pir roku” building, “Virmenka” coffee shop
4. “45 tenements: a minute for each, and the hour has passed”
Market Square, Palazzo Bandinelli, lions at the Town Hall
5. “Smile at a lion – and he will smile back”
The Boim Cathedral and Chapel
6. “The sun on the river that is not there”
Liberty Avenue
“Petro called himself a professional Lviv resident and even had his own logo, which was depicted on his business cards. He himself studied the history of Lviv, became a local expert, made himself and created his own image, which became one of the most recognizable in our city. This is an important figure for the history of Lviv, which is worth recording, and this route is the first step on this path. I am very glad that even after his death, we have the opportunity to partially continue his work. For Peter, the development of tourist Lviv was very important and he continued his work even during the war. During one of his last excursions, he said that it is very important for us to continue to live, work and smile,” Omelyan Oshchudlyak, Peter Radkovets’ son-in-law, emphasized.
An excursion along the Pyotr Radkovets memorial route can be ordered at the Tourist Information Center of Lviv on Sq. Rynok, 1. Diana Borysenko conducts it. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the excursion will be transferred to the Pyotr Radkovets fund, which will be created by his family and friends.
Interesting facts from the life of the well-known tour guide Petro Radkovets – on the official tourist site lviv.travel: https://lviv.travel/ua/news/petro-radkovets