The Ukrainian community in Ruska Street in Lviv in the years 1550–1585: legal and socio-topographical aspects

Abstract

For Lviv’s Ukrainians Ruska Street was the only “legal” place to settle in the town centre. As shown by the municipal books, after conflagrations in 1527 and 1571 the Ukrainian district consisted of 23 plots, on which stood mostly good-quality stone buildings, which constituted approximately 10% of all the housing in the centre of the town. Most of the Ukrainians who owned property at Ruska Street were merchants. They gathered capital to reinforce the legal position of the Ukrainian community, marked by privileges, accorded constructions and the reconstruction of the church in Ruska Street. Almost all artisans arriving in Lviv rented workshops in the suburbs, and only the richest were able to buy houses in Ruska Street. The legal and economic subsoil of the Ukrainian community of Ruska Street facilitated successful reforms in community life in the 16th century, when the famous Dormition brotherhood in 1586 was reorganized on new principles. The brotherhood initiated many successful reforms in the cultural and educational life of the Ukrainian community in all Ukrainian lands.