Ivan Franko Park (Парк імені Івана Франка), formerly known as Kościuszko Park and the Jesuit Gardens, is a park in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It is the oldest park in the country.

History

In the 16th century, the land of the park was the property of the Szolc-Wolfowicz family and Antonio Massari, a Venetian consul. They passed the property to a Jesuit order. The park's former name Jesuit Gardens derived from that history. The monastic residents built a brewery and an inn with the elegance of Italian refinery. During a siege by Moscow's army in 1655, a rampart wall was built around the property. By the end of the 18th century,

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I, ...

, following his policy of confiscating monastic holdings, ordered the establishment of a municipal park in Lviv. In 1799, restaurateur Johann Höcht leased the park and opened a French resort on the site. It was redesigned by horticulturist Karl Bauer as a landscaped park in 1855.Ivan Franko Park (formerly, Jesuit Gardens)
''Lvivcenter.org''

Location

The Ivan Franko Park (

) is located on a hillside of the Lviv Heights between Lystopadovoho Chynu and Krushelnytskoi Streets. It is near

Lviv University The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of highe ...

, which is also named after

Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (, ; 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, translator, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, ethnographer, and the author of the first d ...

. The park fills a parallelogram between Marshalkovska, Mitskevych, Mateyko and Krashevsky Streets (presently, Universitetska, Lystopadovoho Chynu, Mateyko, and Krushelnytskoi). A large statue of Ivan Franko towers over the park.Jozef Wittlin, Philippe Sands
City of Lions
''Books.google.fr'', 21 March 2017

Ecosystem

The park contains maples, oaks, linden, chestnut, and other trees of varying ages.

References

Lviv Parks in Ukraine {{Lviv-geo-stub