We often discuss certain conveniences that have come to us in modern times from Western culture. However, many of the cultural, service, and lifestyle innovations that were unknown to Kharkiv until recently already existed in the city 100 and even 150 years ago. And all of this was cut down, uprooted, trampled, and forgotten after the 1917 revolution.

For example, an advertisement from 1871 for Lev Ruf’s “St. Petersburg” Hotel, located at the intersection of Rybnaya Street (now Kooperativnaya Street) and Universitetskaya Street, contains some intriguing lines:

“The hotel sends its own ten-seater carriage to the railway station for every train; the carriage can also accommodate passengers’ luggage, bears the inscription ‘Hotel St. Petersburg,’ and is accompanied by a conductor wearing a cap with the same inscription. A fee of 25 kopecks is charged to each passenger with luggage, both for transport to the hotel and for transport to the station.”

An exclusive 10-passenger carriage provided by the hotel—isn’t this the precursor to today’s limousine shuttles that pick up and drop off passengers between hotels and the airport?