Hello there!
Today I will continue sharing about my little walks and discoveries during my short recent trip.
The entryway of the next building on Ivan Mazepa Street also turned out to be unlocked. I cautiously stepped inside and froze at the entrance, struck by the elegant beauty of what I saw. Underfoot lay the same terrazzo tile as in the previous building. The pattern on it indicates the year construction was completed—1910. The letters F and K stand for the initials of its first owner, the prominent local engineer Fajbisch Israel Katz. As you can see, many Jews lived in what is now western Ukraine, a result of the Pale of Settlement that existed in the Russian Empire.
Terrazzo tile is a finishing material made of marble, glass, granite, or quartz chips embedded in a cement or polymer base. It is resistant to wear, moisture, and damage.
So, here I was, standing before one of the city's finest architectural gems. This stone building was originally erected as an elite tenement house, with apartments rented by affluent residents of Stanyslaviv.
The building is one of the most striking and monumental examples of Art Nouveau architecture in Frankivsk. The mosaic floor is a unique touch of the past that has miraculously survived to this day, enduring two world wars and the Soviet era.
Engineer Katz understood that he could command higher rent for elegance and comfort, so he spared no expense on the finishes. The facade and entryway interiors were adorned with lavish floral ornaments, intricate moldings, plaster flowers, and decorative lanterns.
Further down the street, we see another building designed in the same Art Nouveau style, built in the exact same year upon the commission of the engineer Fajbisch Katz, whom we already know.
This is one of my favorite buildings from childhood. Amidst the typical utilitarian and faceless Soviet architecture, it felt like a mysterious castle. When I was a child, it was a school here. My dad worked in it for a few years. Now it is closed, and I hope it will be restored.
This neo-Gothic building was erected in 1895 as the Queen Sofia Girls' Seven-Year School. Sofia Holszańska was the fourth wife of the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło, known as a patron of education.
My daughter and I walked together almost every day, and both of us kept discovering things we hadn't noticed before. Somewhere, an old building had been torn down, with a new one springing up in its place. Elsewhere, the authentic look had been carefully preserved.
My daughter shared that when she was a child, she didn't understand my love for these one- and two-story houses. But now, she finally gets it.
On one of the small streets, we were surprised to spot a pair of women's shoes standing by a fence. Who left them here, and why?
I didn't come just to visit and relax.
September is my mom's birthday. So I wanted us to all celebrate together—myself, my mom, my brother and his family, and my daughter with her husband. We decided to host the celebratory dinner at the "Dim Muliarovykh" restaurant, located in a historic building. As soon as I stepped across the threshold, it felt like I was transported back to my childhood. It seemed as though I was visiting close family. High, big old doors would open any second now, and one of our relatives would come out, hug me, look into my eyes, and smile—How are you doing?...
None of us had been here before, and that was definitely something we needed to fix. The administrator gave us a free tour of the building, and now I'll share it with you.
The story of the restaurant began when the current owner wanted to open an Italian restaurant here. During renovations in 2012, personal belongings walled up by previous residents were discovered in the walls. Among the items were Austrian korunas, old receipts, as well as a photograph of a woman and a notebook. On the back of the photo was the name Stefaniia Muliarova, and the notebook contained culinary recipes.
The businessman became curious about who these people were, and upon learning their whole story, he realized that instead of Italian cuisine, this place should be a restaurant featuring local Galician cuisine, where dishes would also be prepared using the original recipes of the former resident.
The building was constructed during the Austro-Hungarian period by the wealthy lawyer Isaac Goldfeld for his family. Isaac's eldest son married Stefa Muliarova, a local resident from Yaremche. She was known for her culinary recipes, which blended Galician, Hutsul, Polish, and Austrian culinary traditions.
The photo shows women of three generations. ❤️
Mom was extremely happy. We don't get together all that often. It's a pity my husband couldn't be with us, but he is a serviceman now and doesn't control his own time.
And this year, Mom was also gifted some very beautiful flowers. Is there a woman in the world who doesn't love flowers at any age?
In short, I was also very glad that Mom liked how I organized everything. Our joint gift from all of us was a new big-screen TV. We finally got rid of the old cathode-ray tube Toshiba. Mom could barely see the picture on the old, small screen. Now she is very pleased.
That's it. I finished writing, reread it...
I am glad that I finally wrote these last few posts after quite a break.
I am incredibly grateful to you for remembering me and for your support.
My silence is because I don't know what to write about. Behind these outwardly pretty photos, there is no former joy and delight. That is why I don't pick up the camera. Because its focus won't capture what has been the focus of my life for five years now. Most often, it's not the war, not hatred, but pain. So much pain... Sometimes it turns into hopelessness and despair.
Everyone is used to me being strong. I'm used to being strong, too. That's why I keep searching for a reason to keep living every single morning after waking up. Literally every single morning. What will make me get out of bed today? Make some food. Go outside. Do a few exercises. These simple actions don't always come easy to me. That's what my life is like now. I feel like a cracked vase that just refuses to shatter into pieces. And yet, I am grateful for what the war hasn't taken away from me yet—my beloved, my daughter and mom, and a roof over my head. Just simple things like that.
Thank you for your time, and I wish you a wonderful weekend!
P. S. You know what we wish each other most often in Kyiv? A quiet night. A peaceful weekend. That means—no shelling.
Don't ask Ukraine to stop defending. Ask Russia to stop attacking!
