[Cz-L] Times of Israel article on Czernowitz

almost skipped over it and left it for later because headline showed up
in my feed as dealing with "Ukraine"

Times of Israel
With few Jewish neighbors, residents of Ukrainian town attend ‘cinegogue’
Locals in Chernivtsi, once home to a sizable Jewish population, now see
movies in a former house of worship
By MARIA DANILOVA November 24, 2012, 9:05 pm 0

CHERNIVTSI, Ukraine (AP) — Onion-domed Orthodox churches. Solemn
Catholic cathedrals. Cobblestone streets lined with mansions. A movie
theater built on the ashes of a synagogue.

These landmarks stand as testament to the shifting identities of the
Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi. As wars raged and empires fell, Chernivtsi
reflected the heritage and traditions of its residents and rulers:
Austro-Hungarian, Jewish, Romanian, Soviet and Ukrainian. Today, a walk
around Chernivtsi is a journey through time, from a statue of a Habsburg
emperor to a deserted Jewish cemetery to a Soviet tank.

But Chernivtsi has many faces. While it offers lessons in the often
painful history of 20th century Europe, its elegant prewar architecture
and streetscapes have earned it the nickname of the Little Paris or
Little Vienna of Ukraine. Streets signs may be hidden by grapevines
laden with fruit; wedding processions parade down romantic cobblestone
streets, and portraits of Austrian rulers line the walls of a cafe.

Chernivtsi was founded as a Slavic fortress on the Prut River in the
12th century. It was part of the medieval principality of Moldavia until
being annexed by the Austro-Hungarian empire in the late 18th century.
Renamed Czernowitz, it flourished under the Habsburgs and grew from a
small provincial town into a bustling, ethnically diverse center of
trade, crafts, culture and education.

With the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918 at the end of World
War I, the region became part of Romania. Soviet forces briefly occupied
Chernivtsi at the start of World War II, but were soon ousted by
Nazi-allied Romanian forces. The Red Army retook it in 1944 and
incorporated it into the Ukrainian republic, which is now Ukraine.

Chernivtsi was a vibrant center of Jewish life, with Jews representing
about a third of the city’s population

The jewel of the city is a giant palace-like complex that originally
housed Orthodox church leaders. It is now the home of Chernivtsi
University and a UNESCO heritage site. Built in the late 19th century by
the renowned Czech architect Josef Hlavka, the monumental central
building turns into a landmark Orthodox church on one side and a soaring
clock tower on the other. On weekdays, the campus is filled with
students, but on weekends, it’s taken over by tourists walking slowly to
appreciate its full magnificence. The university’s icon-lined Church of
Three Saints is also a popular destination for exchanging vows, while
the manicured bushes, lawns and park are perfect for wedding photo
shoots, the brides in white and grooms in black, trailed by
photographers and droves of friends and family.

University Street runs from the school to the Chernivtsi movie theater,
which serves as an unlikely reminder of the city’s Jewish history.
Before the war, Chernivtsi was a vibrant center of Jewish life, home to
several dozen synagogues and some 45,000 Jews, or about a third of the
city’s population. Only a third of the Jewish population survived the
Holocaust and the war, and most of them then emigrated to Israel and the
United States. Today, Chernivtsi has a total population of 250,000,
including little more than 1,000 Jews. Signs of Jewish life are few: two
synagogues, a small Jewish history museum, a Hebrew school and a rundown
Jewish cemetery, one of the largest in Eastern Europe. The remains of
the city’s main synagogue, which was partially destroyed during the war,
were turned into a cinema by the Soviets. Locals have dubbed the blue
building the Cinegogue.

Nearby is Theater Square, which was once the site of a food bazaar and
was called Elizabethplatz in honor of Austria’s Empress Elizabeth. Now
it is home to the highly regarded Chernivtsi Drama Theater, built there
at the beginning of the 20th century. Next to the Central Square and
city hall is the pedestrian-only Olha Kobylianska street, named for a
Ukrainian writer and women’s rights activist who celebrated this region
in her works. Lined with elegant two- and three-story houses from the
turn of the 20th century, the romantic cobblestone street, a popular
site for wedding processions, is dotted with benches, trees and outdoor
cafes.

Shalom Aleichem Street offers a highlight of the city’s culinary options

Popular eateries on Kobylianska include the Videnska Kava (Vienna Cafe)
and Koleso (The Wheel). At Videnska Kava, customers slowly sip coffee
under solemn portraits of Austrian monarchs and tackle giant servings of
delicious cake big enough for two. At Koleso, hearty Ukrainian fare
includes banush, traditional porridge made of corn flour boiled in sour
cream. Count Vorontsov’s Wine Cellar on Shalom Aleichem Street offers
both regional and European cuisine.

Try to catch an evening organ concert at the 19th century Armenian
Church, also built by Hlavka in a mix of Roman, Byzantine and Gothic
styles typical of medieval monasteries of this region. Farther down
Armenian Street is St. Nicholas Cathedral, nicknamed “the drunken
church” because the pillars of its side domes are canted as if falling
over. This is one of the few Chernivtsi churches that continued to
operate during the Soviet era, which is why its icons, stained glass
panels and the relics of Orthodox martyrs are well-preserved.

At the central bazaar on Chervonoarmiyska (Red Army) Street, you’ll find
salo, the salted pork lard that is a hallmark of Ukrainian cuisine.
Villagers will be selling eggs, milk “from just under the cow” and
freshly skinned poultry, and you might even spot a tired middle-aged
woman selling giant mushrooms picked in the woods to subsidize her
meager pension. It’s yet another side to this city’s many identities,
and one you’re not likely to find in the real Paris or Vienna.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/with-few-jewish-neighbors-residents-of-ukrainian-town-attend-cinegogue/

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Received on 2012-11-24 17:58:37