Russia’s recent brutal attack on Ukraine has immediately been followed by massive aid that Poles and Polish authorities have provided to their Ukrainian neighbour. As a result, relations between the countries improved significantly.
The settlement of the lion statues in the Lviv cemetery is a symbolic example of this new reality.
„Today, at the Cemetery of the Lviv Eaglets, the lion statues guarding the entrance to the necropolis were unveiled, which is symbolic for Poles,” informed the head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Michał Dworczyk.
The politician thanked the Ukrainian authorities for this gesture. „Long live Poland, long live Ukraine!” he wrote.
The Cemetery of the Defenders of Lviv is a separate part of the Łyczakowski Cemetery in Lviv. There are graves of participants of the Battle of Lviv, who died between 1918 and 1920. This clash was part of the war waged at that time between Poland and Western Ukraine.
The lions guarding the Glory Monument at the Defenders of Lviv Cemetery, commonly known as the Eaglets’ Cemetery, have become a symbol of those who died in the fight for the city.
The Monument and the lions were unveiled on the 11th of November 11, 10 years after the opening of one of the most famous cemeteries of the Second Polish Republic.
In August 1971, the Soviet authorities decided to liquidate the Lviv Eaglets’ Cemetery. The stone lions that stood in front of the triumphal arch were transported to the outskirts of the city.
In 1989, the employees of the Polish company Energopol, which was building a nuclear power plant in the city of Khmelnitski, began tidying up the area of the devastated cemetery as part of their free time.
The Ukrainian authorities repeatedly suspended conservation works in the cemetery. It was only in 2005 that the Lviv City Council agreed to complete the works on the cemetery agreed upon in the Polish-Ukrainian agreement.
Two stone lions – once an integral part of the Colonnade of the Monument to Glory – have returned to the Lviv Eaglets Cemetery in December 2015. Unfortunately, the statues remained covered as a „symbol of the Polish occupation of Lviv„.
As a result, it happened on several occasions that the lions would be “set free” by some Polish activists before being hidden again and so on. Even surveillance cameras had to be installed in order to stop the frequent unveiling of the statues.
Today, Poles can appreciate the lion statues without breaking the law. Let us hope that this symbolic gesture represents only a first step towards a genuine and long-term improvement of Polish-Ukrainian relations.
Cover photo: Polsat News/Adam Malik
Images: Michał Dworczyk, Lwów – Leopolis Semper Fidelis, Tomasz Muskus, British Poles
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
