ZHOVKVA, Ukraine – A mere 30 kilometers from Lviv, the architectural brainchild of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci is in full view.
With its sweeping central square, streets partially covered in Italian arches, sizeable churches and a dominant palazzo, the little town of Zhovkva – with 13,000 inhabitants – is as close as one will get in Ukraine to seeing what da Vinci dreamed would be his “ideal city.”
Conceptualized in 1488 when the plague was ravaging Europe – Milan, the city where the artist lived, had lost nearly a third of its population to the Black Death – da Vinci believed a better designed city could ward off illness and mortality. Many European cities in da Vinci’s era were densely populated; garbage was routinely deposited into narrow and dark streets and poor sanitation was constant, allowing germs and disease to quickly spread.
Da Vinci envisioned a city that would be more spacious and was split into two levels: Lower levels would be used by carts and animals, while upper levels, which had wider streets, would be used for foot traffic. Canals were dedicated to commercial purposes, as well as a sewage system. Of his style of urban planning, da Vinci said “only let that which is good looking be seen on the surface of the city.”
Because the ideal city was so grand in scale and required entire cities being rebuilt, it never came to fruition as da Vinci – who was considered a polymath because of his expertise in so many areas, including architecture, engineering and invention – envisioned it. Yet he introduced a concept that became appealing to European urban planners, including those who inhabited the territory of modern-day Ukraine.
Conception In the 17th century, Italian architects and sculptors Paolo de Ducato Klemenci and Paolo Dominici applied da Vinci’s ideal city concept to Zhovkva and its existing structures. Both were well-known in the region.
Paul the Lucky built Lviv’s Golden Rose Synagogue (destroyed by the Nazis in 1941), while Paul of Rome, also active in Lviv, erected that city’s Bernadine and Uspenskiy (Dormition) churches, as well as several buildings on the Ploscha Rynok, or Market Square.
“The city complex in Zhovkva is unique not only because it is the only well-preserved realization of the ideal city in Ukraine, but is also an extremely rare type of planning among the nearly 200 preserved ideal cities in Europe.”
- Mykhailo Kubai, assistant head of restoration at the State Historical Architectural Preserve in Zhovkva.
The result of their planning is a town impressive in scope. One half of Zhovkva’s center is lined with streets covered by Italian arches – no other city in Ukraine has them – while the other half is dominated by Paul of Rome’s St. Lawrence Church, which boasts friezes of military scenes.
Other churches and buildings are scattered about, positioned on streets reminiscent of those found in Italy. Holding the complex together is the massive Zhovkva Castle, which has words in Latin inscribed beneath the roof on its backside.
Zhovkva’s famed castle dominates the town’s central square. A renovated statue of Mary is in the foreground. (Natalia A. Feduschak) “The city complex in Zhovkva is unique not only because it is the only well-preserved realization of the ideal city in Ukraine, but is also an extremely rare type of planning among the nearly 200 preserved ideal cities in Europe,” said Mykhailo Kubai, assistant head of restoration at the State Historical Architectural Preserve in Zhovkva.
“As a whole, it is an important phenomenon in the historical stage of the active addition to eastern Slavic traditions, with high achievements of the Renaissance. Its historic academic meaning is hard to overestimate.”
Western Ukraine’s Brody was also built as an ideal city, but the privatization boom in the 1990s changed the city’s architectural design. “The city was rebuilt, with structures added to and torn down,” said Luda Baibula, Kubai’s colleague and who is an expert on Zhovkva’s Jewish heritage. “Because it had less commerce, Zhovkva was preserved.”
History Zhovkva was first inhabited in the 14th century. In 1594, the Polish military commander Stanislaw Zolkiewski, who gave the city his name, fortified the settlement and built Zhovkva castle. The town did not, however, reach its peak in the latter half of the 17th century, after King Jan III Sobieski made Zhovkva his royal residence.
As leader of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for 22 years, Sobieski brought it much-needed stability after a turbulent period of war, which included the 1648 Bohdan Khmelnitsky-led Kozak (Cossack) uprising.
Along with the two Paolos, some of the region’s finest architects worked in Zhovkva, with Sibieski’s blessing. The names of many remain unknown to modern scholars, although those who are boast impressive resumes.
Petro Beber, Sobieski’s architect, for instance, rebuilt the Zhovkva castle, constructed several buildings, including the town’s famed Renaissance-style synagogue, erected in 1687, and its town hall, which no longer exists. Eventually, the little town that boasted a population of 1,500 people became one of Europe’s most beautiful so-called city-residences and was home to five monasteries, four Roman Catholic Churches and two synagogues.
Modernity Today, Zhovkva has 51 architectural monuments, 49 of which have national significance. Zhovkva’s Jewish community, however, was particularly renowned; the town became a center of philosophical thought and book-making.
The first Hebrew printing press was opened in 1692 by Uri Phoebus ha-Levi from Amsterdam. As one of the first printers of Judaica books in what is modern-day Ukraine and Poland, for the next eight decades Uri Phoebus, his sons, grandsons and relatives dominated Hebrew book-making in the region.
In 2001, the Ukrainian government supported a local initiative to preserve and restore Zhovkva. The 20-year program envisions not only restoration works, but renewing destroyed architecture, as well as conducting historic and academic studies.
As a result, buildings in the center are slowly being renovated. Zhovkva’s castle, which needs some $8 million in refurbishments, has been saved from ruination. Eventually, it will house a stage for open air concerts in its impressive courtyard, a museum, conference center and small hotel.
Zhovkva’s one remaining synagogue, the one built during the Renaissance, was included on a list of 100 threatened world monuments in 1999. Located just steps from the city center, it recently got a new roof. Plans are in the works to convert it into a museum of Jewish culture and history.
City officials had hoped some renovations would be completed by the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, which would have helped boost tourism, but that is now unlikely to happen.
Under former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Zhovkva received money for restoration as part of those allocated for the games’ preparation. The current government, however, has cut restoration funding completely.
Still, Kubai said Zhovkva’s officials are dedicated to restoring the city to its previous grandeur so visitors and residents can continue enjoying Ukraine’s one example of da Vinci’s ideal city.“That will happen, no matter how long it takes,” he said.
