Monument to the hiking backpack

This is one of Lviv’s most unusual small monuments — a metal hiking backpack installed in the courtyard of the Faculty of Geography at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in 2012. It is said to be the world’s first monument to a hiking backpack; in 2019, it was entered into the National Register of Records of Ukraine.

The idea was proposed by Ihor Dykyi, a graduate of the Faculty of Geography. The backpack was conceived not merely as a piece of hiking equipment, but as a symbol of travel, freedom of movement and people united by their interest in discovering new places.

The sculpture was made by an artistic blacksmith from the village of Zymna Voda, near Lviv. It was unveiled on 14 May 2012.

• Height: over one metre. The backpack stands on a stone pedestal approximately half a metre high.

• Weight: around 300 kg. Despite its considerable weight, the structure is designed so that the backpack can be taken off its pedestal and worn on one’s shoulders, although you won’t get very far with it.

• Details: An information board nearby tells the story of the history and evolution of hiking backpacks and explains what to pack for a hike.