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Lviv in Winter: Trailed by Shadows From History
December 2018 in Western Ukraine
‘Beautiful,’ says the English man standing next to me. ‘A really romantic place to stay.’
‘Romantic?’ scoffs Irina, our guide. ‘It’s known as the Tower of Death.’
Lviv’s Citadel is a former military garrison, built when these lands lay within the Austrian Empire. Now it’s a 5-star hotel in Western Ukraine. Its crenelated wall, surmounted by a modern black roof, reminds me of an Afghani pakul or chitrali hat, but it has a dark history. Irina tells us that the occupying Nazis turned it into Stalag 328. ‘Thousands of Soviet prisoners of war were starved to death here.’
‘They’ve covered that up well,’ mutters Nathan, the English man. True, the glass entrance emits an orange blaze of cheerful comfort, cocooning those who step inside from the snowy manicured gardens.
‘But the windows . . .’ I say, pointing to the cavities punctuating the curving brick wall — the sole clues to the hotel’s suffocating past.
Nathan shrugs and turns to his girlfriend, but Irina nods. ‘It’s controversial,’ she admits. ‘People wanted the building restored, but it could have been a museum, not a five-star hotel. But hey, we’re in Ukraine, where money talks.’
