In the 14th and 15th centuries the shortspelled decline gave way to a new economic revival. Once again Lvov gained fame as an important commercial centre on the great trade routes to the North, East and South from the markets of the West and became a serious rival of merchant Krakow (sometimes also written as Cracow) . In 1356 it was given a wide degree of autonomy by the Magdeburg Right. At that time only the Catholics enjoyed all the rights of full-fledged urban dwellers. The rights of the Ukrainians were limited in many respects, including their place of settlement and commercial activities. Only in 1745 were Ukrainians given more or less free access to the craft shops and town management bodies. It is no easy task to get a true picture of Lvov of the 14th and 15th centuries. Somewhat later Sebastian Klonowicz (Acernus), a prominent 16th century Polish poet, described the town in his poem Raxalania in Latin: “castles with gates and beautiful houses, majestic halls;” a town where “the towers reach the clouds, the buildings raise their roofs to the azure heights.”
