The best way to see how Lviv and Lvivites wanted to "show themselves" to the guests of the city is through the stories of imperial visits. In addition to the fact that these visits were very important and revealing, their example can be used to trace the evolution of welcoming guests and self-presentation over the course of half a century. And there were other visits and other guests, less significant, but no less revealing.
The symbolic role of Franz Joseph in the system of ideas about imperial power is described in the text about the emperor's visit to Lviv. However, the figure of the emperor was informationally present in the city even in his physical absence. It was quite evident, in particular, during various celebrations, jubilees or anniversaries.
Volodymyr Barvinskyi was an ideologue of the populist movement, a writer and the founder and editor of the "Dilo" newspaper. His death and funeral in 1883 marked the beginning of the formation of the Ukrainian national pantheon at the Lychakivsky cemetery.
Lviv was the center of three metropolitanates: Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Armenian Catholic. In the late 19th century, two of them became distinctly "national", which was also reflected in the ceremonial enthronement of hierarchs.
Unlike the 300th anniversary of the Union of Brest, the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Rus was symbolically connected not with Rome, but with the East Slavic space.
The reburial of Markiyan Shashkevych in Lviv on November 1, 1893 is considered one of the most significant "national manifestations" of the Ruthenians in the city. Apart from the mass character of the event, the figure of the poet himself as a "people's awakener" is important, by analogy with national poets of other nations.
A series of religious celebrations dedicated to the Catholic jubilee was organized by the Lviv Metropolitanate of the Greek Catholic Church. In them, not only religious but also national affiliation was manifested and loyalty to the monarchy was demonstrated.
The anniversary of the "liberation of the peasantry", which was marked by a celebration in the capital of the crown province, was a confirmation of the status of Lviv both as a place where public policy was made and as a symbolic city for which national projects competed. The large-scale character of the "Ruthenian action" was, as usual, to be provided by peasants from throughout the province.
