Współczesny Lwów: między tożsamością narodową a historycznymi zaszłościami .......... 223

CONTEMPORARY LVIV: BETWEEN NATIONAL IDENTITY AND HISTORICAL PAST

Lwów/Lviv is a city that experienced dynamic transformation of public space in period after the collapse of the communism. It was a consequence of changes of identity that were caused by the process of building an independent state and by creating a historical policy, which was a reaction for the problems that appeared because Ukraine for centuries did not exist as an independent state and it could not develop its own identity discourse. The issue of Lwów/Lviv is even more complicated because its cultural form is carried out through confrontation with two mutually competing discourses: post-Soviet and Polish. What is more, also the disparity among pro-European aspirations of Ukraine (inspired by liberalism and ethnical pluralism) and ethnocentrical discourse, based on symbols taken from the 20th century authoritarian nationalism should be mentioned. The purpose of the paper is to present the sources of the examples material manifestation of the Western-Ukrainian vision of the Lwów/Lviv’s identity that base on historical Ukrainian nationalism. Within this category not only naming streets, monuments, memorial plaques can be mentioned, but also the examples of informal signifing of the space, especially activities performed by representatives of the tourist business. Material artifacts are an expression of the confrontation of the above mentioned discourses. They are a realization of the call to take power over the space in one’s own city, to eliminate the influence of foreign hegemons and to restore the historical justice. Material manifestations of discourses create further discourses. The paper presents an analysis of relations among Western-Ukrainian discourses on identity and their material manifestations and compares the myth of Lwów/Lviv created by its residents and by the external observers.