Securitizing the Polish Bulwark: The Mission of Lviv in Polish Travel Guides during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Assuming that antemurale christianitatis is a myth designating a threat scenario, this introductory quotation from a 1937 Polish travel guide gives a typical account of the exemplary way in which Polish travel guides describe the history and signifi cance of Lviv 2: in heroic words, they ascribe to Lviv (Polish Lwów, Ukrainian L’viv, and Russian Lvov) the mission of a bulwark, the mission to be the eastern fortress and defender of Polishness and of European civilization. As a political myth and by creating a threat scenario, the antemurale christianitatis serves to securitize its Polish character by constructing a threat coming