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Ivan Franko
Ivan Franko is one of the most famous writers from Ukraine,
he knew fourteen languages and today his picture can be seen on the Ukrainian
twenty hyrnia bill.
Ivan Franko was born in 1856 and his family called him
Myron. His father was also a writer and
his family was very wealthy. They had a
very big yard and even had servants.
While Ivan was a child his father died and soon after his mother also
died and he had to live with unrelated people.
When Ivan finished school he started studying literature at
Lviv University, which is now called the Ivan Franko National University. Ivan wrote poems, books and news articles for
newspapers and magazines. Ivan Franko
mostly wrote about politics and the truth about was going on in Ukraine Besides
writing Ivan also helped start the National Democratic Party in Lviv. Ivan went to prison three times because of
his writing and his involvement with politics.
In 1886, Ivan married Olha and they living in Vienna,
Austria for a while and then in Lviv. Ivan wrote a book of poems for Olha called Of Tops and Bottoms.
Later in his life, Ivan got a bad disease and could not use
his right hand. He continued to write by
having his son write what he said. Even
though he began life in a wealthy family and was well-known and a great writer,
Ivan was very poor the last years of his life.
Ivan Franko died in 1916.
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The Lviv Opera Theater
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One of the most spectacular opera houses in Europe is
located in western Ukraine in the city of Lviv.
The Lviv Opera Theater’s original name was the Grand Opera Theater. They started to build the theater in
1897. The building was built by the
Austrian Empire. It took three years to
build. The building was built on the
Poltava River, but don’t expect to see the river because it runs through a pipe
underground. The grand opening was on
October 4, 1900. The first opening
performances were a ballet, Mid-Summer Night, an opera about people in the
Carpathian Mountains and also a comedy.
The Lviv Opera House is very beautiful inside and on the
outside. The inside has many gold
decorations in the halls and on the walls.
There are also many bronze statues and two marble staircases in the
foyer. The theater seats many people
with fancy red valor cushioned chairs. The outside
of the theater is also amazing. On the top of the theater are three bronze
statues, but the rain made the bronze turn a green color. There are also many Corinthian columns. It also has a very big balcony. Many statues go around the top.
My family and I went to see the opera house. It was very amazing. We went there to see the ballet, Swan Lake by
Tchaikovsky. Near the stage was the
orchestra which you could see. We didn’t
sit on the bottom, we got to sit in the first balcony. It was so beautiful, we even got dressed
up. I even got to see the river under
the building. I hope we go there again.
