Any budding social anthropologists searching for the key to a modern Ukrainian national identity need look no further than the country’s flourishing ethno-folk subculture. This eco-friendly and somewhat pastoral passion for ancient Ukrainian styles, riffs and motifs is visible in everything from pop music to high street fashions, but nowhere more so than when traversing the annual summer season of Ukrainian ethno festivals. These fun and unpretentious outdoor festivals have been attracting increasingly large numbers from all age brackets for the past decade to what are essentially celebrations of an eternal Ukrainian spirit which transcends the grubby politics of the post-independence age. Fittingly, this folklore fiesta phenomenon has its roots in West Ukraine and remains very much centred on the country’s unofficial cultural capital, Lviv

Throughout the centuries Lviv has changed hands and experienced more war than any other city in Europe, but throughout it all it has always remained a place instilled with a sense of bohemian bonhomie. This ambience is surely best experienced in the laid back environs of one of the city’s ever-growing number of stylish and inventive summer terrace options. Lviv Today took a look at the 2010 summer terrace scene and found a scene bustling with creativity and more than ready to step up to the challenge of Euro 2012.

For foreigners who do not read the Cyrillic alphabet navigating round Ukraine has always been a Herculean task and a major psychological barrier. Luckily this challenge will now be considerably less daunting thanks to a new initiative to erect English language street signs throughout Lviv as part of efforts to boost the West Ukrainian city’s reputation as a trail-blazing tourism focus.

The art of medicine frst came to medieval Lviv in the 13th century when Constance, the wife of Prince Leo, founded a pharmacy and hospital within the grounds of the Dominican Monastery. However, for most Leopolitans the city’s medical history remains intrinsically linked to the building which to- day houses Lviv’s Pharmacy Museum.