Just in case it should ever slip your mind that Lviv is Ukraine's most patriotic large city, an enormous statue of Taras Shevchenko rises up in the middle of Prospekt Svobody (Freedom Ave). A gift from the Ukrainian diaspora in Argentina, the statue of the revered national poet stands beside a wave-shaped relief of religious folk art. In summer the broad pavement in the middle of the prospekt is the town's main hang-out and the hub of Lviv life, where homegrown tourists pose for photos at Shevchenko's feet. Locals promenade along the strip of park, kids scoot around in rented electric cars, beggars politely hassle people sitting on the many park benches and wedding parties mill around barking photo instructions.
At the northern end of the boulevard is the 1897–1900 Solomiya Krushelnytska Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet . At the southern end a statue of Adam Michiewicz , the Polish poet, stands in pl Mitskevycha.
