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Café de l’Europe

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Like Vienna, Chernivtsi had, and still has, a distinctive coffee house culture. The cafés were places of discourse that could shape the political life of the city, of the exchange of opinions, which was further facilitated by the numerous current Viennese and international newspapers on display, and of commerce. One of the most famous cafés in the Habsburg era was the Café de l'Europe, which opened in the early 1880s. The French name and the reference to 'Europe' suggest that it was a meeting place for those interested in politics, economics and world affairs to exchange ideas with like-minded people.

Café de l’Europe

Hotels & Cafés

built

unbekannt - unbekannt

The meeting place for these people was Herrengasse - a promenade lined with all kinds of pastel-coloured houses, cafés and restaurants - and the sophisticated world strolled along Herrengasse, now Ol'ha Kobyljans'ka Street, stopping off at the Café de l'Europe. The Café de l'Europe existed until the late 1930s. Like the Café Habsburg across the street, the Café de l'Europe got its name from Vienna.

Die Kindheitserinnerungen der Zeitzeugin Lucca Ginsburg vermitteln einen Eindruck vom Café-Alltag in den 1930er Jahren:

"Cafe l'Europe: it was - I think -the most fashionable cafe in Czernowitz. You could find there newspapers and magazines in dozens of languages and smoking was allowed. Ladies visited in the afternoons and gossiped there with a vengeance. When there was nothing left to gossip about, they started a game of cards (mostly rummy). I was often taken along by my mother and petted and admired there by the other ladies. It was kind of disappointing to find out that other children which were occasionally brought along, were no less petted and admired, no matter whether they were lovable or not. Nevertheless the place held a certain magic for me. The cakes were excellent, and the company was not less so." (Source: http://czernowitz.ehpes.com).

The former café now houses the Panska Huralnya restaurant. This popular restaurant is one of the best and most expensive in Chernivtsi today. It has retained - or revived - something of the former Café de l'Europe: a meeting place not only for curious tourists but also for the city's upper class.

Text: Lilian Wascher and Markus Winkler