There are many monuments in Ukraine. In Skadovsk, Zaporozhye and Kharkov there are still monuments depicting Lenin. In Odessa they adore the pedestals dedicated to Utesov and the Duc de Richelieu, the former mayor and governor-general of this Black Sea pearl. In Berdyansk, except Lenin, revolutionary Shmidt and the monument to the local council of Bolsheviks, for the last 20 years, like mushrooms after rain, memorials to the tandem of Bender and Balaganov, Plumber, Toad and even Resortnik appeared. Therefore, it was natural to see the appearance of Monument to Danil Galitsky in Lviv, although the citizens were late with its installation by eight hundred years.
Danilo the First was a Russian prince. He ruled the principality of Galicia-Volhynia, so he was fixed in the historical annals under the nickname Galitsky. The monarch belonged to dynasty Romanovich or Rurikovich, that is was the direct heir of Vladimir Monomakh on a male line. The mother of Prince was the Byzantium princess, the daughter of emperor Isaac II nicknamed Angel. After the transfer of the throne to her son, while still only Vladimir-Volynsky, Anna withdrew to a monastery.
The importance of Danylo Galitsky for the crystallization of the modern Ukrainian nation could not be diminished by Soviet, Imperial-Russian, or Austro-Hungarian historians. The prince spent the best years of his life to piece by piece assemble the Galicia-Volhynia state, conceived by his father Roman Mstislavovich. In this case, he was not squeamish, neither trips to the Golden Horde, nor matchmaking to the Hungarian kings. He boldly entered the struggle with European monarchs for the Austro-Styrian throne, the right to which one of his daughters-in-law had. Danila Galitsky’s battle and tactical successes were so great that all his sons were later married to maidens from the best royal families from Hungary to Lithuania, and his viceroy, a voivode, sat in Kiev.
Thanks to the creative activity of Danil Galitsky, such cities as Lviv and Kholm, Kremenets and Danilov, Stizhok and Dorogochin appeared. The prince invited foreign merchants and skilled craftsmen to the newly formed cities, granting them privileges, and thus favoring the economic development of his settlements.
According to Hrushevsky, it was the child of Danila the First — the Galicia-Volyn principality that became the direct successor of Kievan Rus. And having fallen into decay after the death of the founding father in 1264, it became a stimulus for the development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the odious Moscow power.
Only in 2001, «the second Solomon», as chroniclers called Prince Danil, was a monument erected in the city founded by him. For this purpose the best place was chosen on the Galician Square in the eponymous district of Lviv. By the way, the square was formed in the XIII century, at the Galician Gate, during the construction of fortifications around the city. From the square started trade routes to the salt mines of the Carpathians, which brought the principality a considerable income.
The monument to Danila Galitsky is an equestrian statue cast in bronze. The prince is dressed in a chain mail and a small crown, with a cloak developing behind his back. The right hand of the founding father is stretched out in an indicative and commanding gesture. Experienced travelers could compare the nine-ton Lviv sculpture with the «golden» Dresden horseman, representing the Elector of Poland and Saxony August the Strong, or with the Bronze Horseman Peter the Great, towering over St. Petersburg, but the Ukrainian monument is less pompous and more spiritual.
Sculptors Vasyl Yarych and Roman Romanovich, as well as architect Yarema Churilik managed to convey the thoroughness and goodness of the deeds done by Danila Halytskyi to this landmark of Lviv. The figure is mounted on a granite parallelepiped weighing 60 tons. The total height of the memorial is 10 meters, so everyone who came to rest in Lviv, will easily find the bronze figure of the prince, towering over his Galicia-Volyn land.