Lviv is one of the leaders in establishing a new identification on the renamed streets of the city. The head of the NGO “Decolonization. Ukraine” Vadim Pozdnyakov.
“Lviv is the first city in terms of replacing street signs on renamed streets. For example, in Ivano-Frankivsk, there are only a few new signs on the streets that were renamed more than a year ago. And I found about a hundred that were not dismantled. And in Lviv it is much better. Lviv is one of the demonstration cities. Although there is still work to be done: there are still several streets that need to be renamed,” said Vadym Podznyakov.
As Oksana Stelmakh, deputy head of the culture department of the LMR, noted, last year 53 streets in Lviv were designated for renaming. Today, 50 of them have new names. The street renaming working group continues to work.
The official also added that there is now an appeal regarding two Soviet monuments in Vinnyky and Bryukhovychy. However, there are burials under them. “The situation is not easy. And now the city is working on this issue,” said Oksana Stelmakh.
In addition, in Lviv, dismantled Soviet monuments that have value are stored in the “Territory of Terror” museum. “The works of the Soviet period have a style such as socialist realism, and often such monuments, or mosaic panels, or bas-reliefs were made or designed by famous artists. And we consider it expedient to keep them in our museum. In order for future generations to have an understanding of the totalitarian regime,” the official said.
As Vadym Pozdnyakov noted, today in the Lviv region, about 40 streets remain to be renamed and they are the first in Ukraine to complete this process. And in terms of the number of dismantled monuments, Lviv Oblast ranks second in Ukraine, after Transcarpathia. He added that Vinnytsia Oblast ranks last in terms of decommunization rates in Ukraine.
By the way, according to the information of the Department for the Protection of the Historical Environment, within the framework of decommunization, today in Lviv, the inscription “Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic” was removed from almost 40 old-style protective boards placed at monuments of cultural heritage.