Back to Lemberg

Watching the events unfold in Ukraine is an extraordinary experience, inexplicable and completely alien to our own lucky sense of democracy. A deal has now been signed between the opposition leaders and Yanukovych after seemingly endless and tortuous negotiations. I cannot comprehend the current situation, but it was surprising, strange even, to hear within the reports about the events in Ukraine mention of Lvov's history as a far easterly outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when it was known as Lemberg. Seemingly, the unionist, European flavour of the city, pictured here at the beginning of the 20th century (and looking much like Vienna or Brno), is still much in evidence. The city has been an opposition stronghold, where 100 years ago it was part of a seemingly unified Europe.

I don't want to dismiss plans for a Ukraine being part of the EU. After all, I am hugely pro-Europe, agreeing with Richard Harries on Thought for the Day this morning when he said, 'I regard myself as Christian by religion, Welsh by nationality, British by citizenship and European by culture'. Yet as I remarked at the National Gallery in October, if we look back to the fin de siècle, what might we learn? Certainly war and recessions test our resolve. That's hardly news. But should we cling together or do we fight it alone? Often, in answering these questions, we have to confront difficult and much bleaker realisations than we would hope. Pervasive liberal societies don’t always proffer great culture; that seemingly comes from it being placed under the cosh of conservatism. And a unified Europe may not ultimately be a peaceful proposition. It certainly wasn't in 1914. But we must cling to the hope that it will be in 2014.

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