Transformation of the Symbolic Space of the City of Halych in the Mid to Late 20th – Early 21st Century

Abstract

The transformation of the symbolic space of the city of Halych from the second half of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century is investigated in the article. The work is based on the analysis of archival and historical documents, field materials collected by the author through the method of participant observation during the 2022–2023. The symbolic space term is used currently in various scientific studies: in cultural anthropology (O. Hrytsenko, H. Bondarenko), in semiotics (R. Barthes), in urban studies (E. Soja, R. Čepaitienė and others), in Ukrainian sociology (V. Sereda, O. Obukhova). The planning and architecture of the city, its landscape, toponymy, monuments as well as the elements of external design of the streets, squares and buildings are used together to create a symbolic space, where collective memory, identity and social dynamics of local communities are formed. In the 1930s, the places of worship have dominated in the urban space of Halych: the Greek-Catholic Church of Christmas (the 14th century), the Roman-Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Volodymyr’s Orthodox Church, the synagogue and the Karaite Kenesa, thus reflecting the ethnic and confessional structure of the population of the city. Part of the walls of Halych Castle is preserved on the Castle Hill, being the evidence of the historical significance of the city. The process of communization has started after the incorporation to the Soviet Union (September, 1939): streets and squares are renamed, Soviet monuments are erected. The places of worship are destroyed or reequipped. The Church of Christmas has become an Orthodox one forcibly and the only active. Participation in parades and meetings to commemorate the Soviet holidays has become a common practice for the population. A tradition to lay flowers at the monument to Lenin by the newly wedded couple has appeared. The central part of the city is a zone of official, formal events of ideological matter at that time as well as the Halych Castle remains a favourite place of family, youth leisure, the space for informal intercourse. Essential transformations of the urban public space of the city of Halych start after Ukraine has gained independence. In 1990 the monument to Lenin is dismantled and the central square of the city has got the Christmas Square name. In 1988 a monumental equestrian sculpture to King Danylo Halytskyi has appeared there. The process of streets’ renaming continues. New churches and chapels (over 20) are built, a number of commemorative plaques and monuments to the participants of the Ukrainian national resistance, public and cultural figures of the city and the region (about 10) have been placed on municipal houses. Nine memorial annotation plaques are dedicated to soldiers died in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Christmas Square today is the main symbolic space of the city, a place where various activities and communications take place (both public and private). Halych Castle continues to occupy an important place in the cultural life of the city. Many significant scientific and cultural events representing Ukrainian historical and musical heritage occur here, influencing the formation of the identity of the local population.