Fifteen kilometres southwest of Rakhiv lies what Ukraine contends is Europe's geographical centre, just before the village of Dilove. Ukraine is not the only country to declare itself the continent's centre: Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia have all staked rival claims. Furthermore, Austrian experts, quoted in the Wall Street Journal Europe in 2004, say the pillar erected by Austro-Hungarian geographers in 1887, in what is now back-country Ukraine, was never intended to mark Europe's middle; its Latin inscription of simple longitude and latitude was mistranslated.
None of this has dented official Ukrainian aspirations to the honour, although some locals are more sceptical. Today a Soviet-era spire has joined the Austro-Hungarian pillar at the 'geographical centre of Europe', as has a restaurant complex, souvenir stalls and opportunistic photographers equipped with stuffed bears and deer as props.
