If you have stayed in Lviv in transit or, for some other reasons, you do not have enough time to see all beauty of the city Lviv.Travel web site recommends Top 10 architectural pearls of Lviv which must be seen by everyone who comes to visit the city. All of them are situated in a central part of the city, so that it will take you no more than 3 hours to see them all.
1. The Market Square
Lviv Market Square has maintained its name from the XIV century. It originates from German ‘der Ring’ (‘a circle’) because the central squares of German medieval cities were built in this shape.
In the middle of the XIV century, by order of king Kazimierz III, in the valley of the Poltva River, German colonists established a typical European city with a traditional market square. Polish king had been constructing the city with the help of the most recent building technologies of that time. To do it, he invited German artisans and builders. In the next centuries, the architectural perfection of the Market Square had been added by Italian and Austrian architects.
The modern Market Square is a stratification of architectural ideas of many creators and centuries which, however, have one peculiarity – the unchanged coordination and harmony. Here all buildings breathe piece, confidence, optimism, and kindness of the European Renaissance epoch. All stone buildings are different and unmatched but, at the same time, they seem like to be brought together by the same idea. Each edifice is a separate and a completed image. Here, the magnitude of the buildings is contrasted to the height of a person, and we feel ourselves being surrounded by a very cozy interior. The buildings are neither too high, nor too small; none of them protrudes from the general assembly by its size, height or style. One can hear real music coming from Lviv Renaissance buildings. Unsymmetrical windows – two of them situated side by side and the other one aside – have utilitarian purpose. Two windows pertain to the main hall – the front room, while the third one pertains to the side room – the housekeeping area. However, one can feel a rhythm in this asymmetry; it seems like firstly, one can hear the sound of two half-notes followed by a whole one. The sound of the Market Square is unmatched.
Lviv ancient patricians ordered plans of their houses mostly from Italian architects from northern Lombardy and southern Switzerland. However, the Italian Renaissance in Lviv could not maintain its purity and style inviolability. It had been added and enriched by local traditions, in particular, the features of eastern Ukrainian architecture. In this way, during almost five centuries, the only unmatched assembly of dwelling buildings in Ukraine had been created on the Market Square. Almost all edifices of the square have been used for their designated purposes: Lviv residents dwell there.
2. The Opera House
Being built at the beginning of the last century by the project of Zygmunt Gorgolevsky, the architect, the Big Theatre in Lviv had been compared to Paris and Vienna opera houses. Standing in front of the huge façade of this fantastic edifice, one can feel the omnivorous power of art and its eternity in contrast to a fleeting human life. This building presents different architectural styles of European countries embodied in eloquent impressiveness.
The forms of the façade are various and complicated; they include columns, balustrades, and bays decorated with allegorical sculptural figures. The statues of eight muses tower above the main front cornice of the façade; a high relief ten-figured composition “Joy and Suffering of Life” is set over them. The gable at the top is decorated by a sculptural triad of bronze winged figures of the Genius of drama, comedy, and tragedy. In the center, there is Glory who holds a golden palm branch. These sculptures were created by the famous Lviv artists Popel, Baron, and Viytovych.
The interior of Lviv Opera House is no less impressive than its outer look. The building inside is decorated with gilding (a few kilos of gold were spent on it), different color marbles, decorative paintings, and sculptures. The four-layer auditorium is constructed in a form of a lyre and accommodates more than a thousand of people. The picturesque curtain – the “Parnas” (1900), painted by a famous European artist Henryk Semyradskyi, is the main adornment of the scene. It is an allegorical interpretation of human life presented by the personages of the Parnas.
The auditorium of the Lviv Opera House is marked by its perfect acoustics. Here, one can watch the performances of famous opera and ballet bands of Ukraine as well as guest artists from other countries. Recently renewed Vienna balls have been held in Lviv Opera House.
3. The Armenian Quarter
Armenian community, which is one of the oldest communities in Lviv, since ages has been creating the center of their national life with the unique architecture and the original spirit of the ancient Eastern Christian culture.
The Armenians, being expelled from their motherland by the Mongol and Tatar invasion in the middle of the XIII century and deprived of their nationhood, found hospitable shelter in Halychyna. Together with their assets, one of the oldest Eastern Christian nations (the Armenians adopted Christianity a few centuries earlier than other peoples of Europe) brought to the city their creativity and irreproachable skills of jewelers, tanners, and embroiders. However, since centuries, the Armenians have mastered the profession of merchant. Trade caravans exporting goods from Eastern countries to Europe were almost entirely monopolized by the Armenians. The Armenians were engaged not only in trading but also in interpreting, helping foreign traders in Lviv to communicate with each other.
Each national community of ancient Lviv occupied its own territory. The Armenians settled in the northern part of the city, near the central Market Square. That place was a center of Gregorian episcopacy which was subordinated only to the head of the Armenian Church – the Catholicos of all Armenians. The prefect (‘viyt’) and the council of elders were the heads of the secular life. In order to solve the internal problems of the community, the Armenians used their own customary laws. For example, if the arsonist was caught red handed, he could have been thrown into the fire right away. The Armenians had their own school, hospitals, library, and a theater. In 1616, they founded the first Armenian printing house. The area reclamation in the Armenian quarter was peculiar, given the trends of that time. Many houses of the second half of the XVIII century had wide entrance gates; some of them have preserved until today.
Strong economic positions that had been lasting for a long time let the Armenian colonies feel confident and withstand the pressure and restrictions of the city authorities. However, the city council, which consisted mostly of rich Rome Catholic tradesmen, unwilling to tolerate Armenian competition, envied their wealth and connections in the East.
Being tradesmen and businessmen, the Armenians, who were separated from their homeland, could not maintain their identity for a long time. The assimilation was the only possible way to preserve the wealth and social status of Lviv Armenians. In 1630, the Armenian Archbishop Mikolaj Torosowicz adopted Catholicism; however, this event did not do any good for the Armenians. To compare, in the middle of the XVII century, there lived more than two thousand Armenians in Lviv, while in the early XX century, there were almost none of them left in the city; there remained only Poles with Polonized Armenian surnames. A new wave of Armenian settlement in Lviv began after 1939 with the arrival of Russian totalitarianism. Nowadays, this community consists of Armenians of different parts of the former Soviet Union.
4. The Potocki Palace
Behind the fence with the ornamental metal gate, one can see the majestic yet refined edifice. The impressive palace is decorated with reliefs, moldings, wall paintings, and stained glass. The Potocki Palace is a vivid example of mature historicism and one of the most interesting architectural landmarks of Lviv. It was designed by a French architect Louis d’Overnu at the order of Count Alfred II Josef Potocki (1817-1889), the governor of Halychyna and Lodomeria. The construction had lasted from 1888 till 1890 under the supervision of Lviv architect Julian Tsybulski who also introduced some minor changes to the project plan.
The interior of the first floor of the palace is mostly executed in the style of King Louis XVI. The halls (the Red Hall, the Mirror Hall, the Blue Hall, and the Ordinat’s Office) are adorned with artificial marble, gilding, moldings, and mirrors. Marble fireplaces are decorated with gilded bronze.
On the first floor, there is a chapel with a miracle-working icon of Virgin Mary of Lviv (the XV century). On the second floor, there is an exposition of Lviv Art Gallery. It meets the visitor with the Antique Arts Hall. European art of the XIV-XVIII centuries is presented by the best works of the collection: the Ukrainian icon of the XV century “Saint Paraskeva”, the paintings by M. Basaiti, J. Zucchi, S. Ricci, J.-E. Liotard, J. Guerin, and F. Goya, among others. Many different conferences, presentations, chamber concerts, and political meetings often take place in the palace.
5. The Boim Chapel
This unique landmark is the adornment of the Cathedral Square; the alley opens up one of the best views of the Market Square and the City Hall. Once, Lviv merchant of Hungarian origin, Georgy Boim, who came into a fortune due to wine trade, after receiving Lviv citizenship along with the position of mayor, decided to build a family chapel of an unmatched beauty. The building was erected upon the project of Wroclaw builder Andreas Bemer and was consecrated in 1615.
Another façade on the side of Halytska Street is decorated by the old original mural portraits of Boim and his wife. The third façade has a splendid relief depicting Saint George.
The dome of the chapel is crowned by a statue of mourning Christ in Gethsemane asking the Father to deprive Him of His suffering on the cross. The subject that is often represented in oil painting is truly unique in the sculpture. The exterior wall of the chapel is decorated by solid stone carvings depicting the Holy Passion and the figures of Saint Peter and Paul. The interior of the chapel is no less magnificently ornamented. According to custom of that time, for creating multi-figured compositions, ordinary people were used as models. Thus, it is possible to see here the faces of real people of the ancient epoch.
The Boim Chapel is famous for its good energetics: the museum worker told a story that once she had forgotten a sack of apples in the corner of the chapel. After more than a year and a half she suddenly came across the sack and discovered that the apples had preserved their freshness and scent.
The Boim Chapel is open to visitors only during summer months.
6. The Dominican Church
The Dominican Monastery was founded in the XIII century at the will of the Ukrainian Prince Lev Danylovych’s wife, the Hungarian Princess Constance. She was a Catholic and was missing her faith, being far away from home. From the XV till the middle of the XVIII century, there was a Roman Catholic Church built in the Gothic style in this place.
In 1559, a real war for a bride burst out in this church and on its front square. Lukasz Gorka, the magnate, aimed at the monastery to give out his, as he thought, lawful wife, Halszka Ostrogska, who hid within the walls of the Dominican Monastery. She was the richest heiress of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the military actions, all trading activity in Lviv was terminated, and the irritated king ordered to stop the war. Finally, the water pipe leading to the monastery was cut, and thus the siege ended. Halszka was given out to Lukasz.
The Gothic Dominican Church was dismantled in 1748 because of its critical condition. The new church, which now resembles St. Charles’ Church in Vienna, was erected in the late Baroque style in 1748-1764 upon the project of a military engineer, General Jan de Witte. In those days, there was a good tradition to save everything valuable that could be maintained from the previous edifice. Nowadays, in the southern part of the church one can see the alabaster gravestone of the XVI century, a reminder of the ancient Gothic church, which disappeared about 260 years ago.
There is a range of gravestones in the church, the most valuable of which is the one of Countess Dunin-Borkowski. These are the works of world famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1816). The monument of the governor of Galicia Franz von Hauer created by Schimser (1824) represents Lviv School of sculpture. In 1880, a monument to the famous Polish artist Artur Grottger by Gadomsky was erected here.
In times of Soviet Union, the Dominican Church was closed. Like many other churches of Lviv, this one was used as a warehouse. In 1970, the Museum of Religion and Atheism was opened there. In the middle of the church, the big Foucault pendulum was suspended under the dome. It shoved the process of the Earth’s rotation by its deviations. The museum contained visual aid room where lectures on atheistic topics were conducted and atheistic science-fiction movies were demonstrated.
Since ninetieth, the Dominican Cathedral has become the Greek-Catholic Church of the Holy Eucharist, which now is especially popular among Lviv intelligent and nationally conscious youth.
7. The Bernardine Monastery
Having passed the Hlyniany Tower – the fortification gate of the monastery on the side of Mytna Square, you will get to the monastery courtyard, where each of its many corners breathes with antiquity. Everything has remained the same here; it seems like four hundred years of world history have not changed this place at all.
The Bernardine monastery (which is a Polish version of the Franciscan Order) was built outside the city walls, so that one can see here firm and high fortifications which are well- preserved on the northern and eastern side. The history of the monastery dates back to the XV century, however, in fact, this landmark was built at the beginning of the XVII century. That was the era of extremely rapid changes of architectural styles. In 1600, the most famous builder in Lviv Paolo Dominici Romanus, the Italian, started the construction of the Roman church in the customary Renaissance style; however, he died in 1618 without having finished the edifice.
The Polish King Sigismund, who came to look at the construction, considered the original idea too modest. Thus, Ambrosius Przychylny, the Swiss, the apprentice and the successor of Paolo Dominici Romanus, used the most impressive techniques of that time when continuing the work of his predecessor. The splendid Mannerist sculptural decoration, which, however, does not affect the artistic sense of proportion, is the most valuable heritage of this landmark. More than twenty perfect sculptures make a live gallery of intricate figures of the XVII century. Andreas Bemer, Wroclaw architect, completed the ensemble of the monastery with a Baroque tower and a façade adornment. The church interior is decorated with numerous carved altars of the XVIII century; the walls are covered with original mural frescoes of the same period.
The history that was made within these dark and majestic walls is extremely exciting. Real facts of the city chronicles and legends have intertwined so tightly that they are inseparable now. Among them there is a healing spring that appeared in the monastery courtyard in 1484 after the burial of St. John of Dukla, the defender of Lviv from the numerous sieges, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1997… The Baroque rotunda over the well where the dead bodies of Ukrainians were thrown into, who, in 1648, wanted to open the gates of the city to hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky… Finally, the clock on the church tower, which is always five minutes ahead in memory of a Bernardine monk who moved the clock arrow forward, so that the city gate was closed earlier, before the invaders’ attack, thus Lviv was saved from destruction… The dungeons of the Bernardine Monastery also hide many legends and real historical events.
8. The Black House
The Black House got its name in the XIX century because of quite prosaic reason: for centuries, white lead, which was applied as a ground for polychromy (multicolorfulness) had oxidized on exposure to air and light, thus forming its mysterious black color, which was later maintained by routine repairs. Although, in 1960’s, people used to believe that the house got its color because of the juice of green walnut peel being rubbed in the façade for many years.
The mysteriousness of this house feeds on another theory that the façade got its black color because of the soot as a result of many years of building heating. The theory, though, is not recognized by the leading architects of Lviv.
In the Middle Ages, the problem of heating the buildings in winter time was quite serious. In order to keep warmth inside the house, people used to hang the carpets at a certain distance from the walls to create a layer of air. For heating the house, double-chamber stoves were ignited in the basements. Burning wood heated the stones and hot air ascending from them traveled through pipes to all floors. For centuries, the porous sandstone, the Black House is made of, had been actively absorbing dust and soot, thus turning from white to black.
The first owner of this house (to be more exact, the one that stood there before the present one) was Andrew of Kyiv; for this reason it was called Kyivskyi. At the end of the ХVI century, the representative of Lviv patrician family Jan Lorencowicz opened there one of the first pharmacies in Lviv. At that time, the house was called Lorencowychivskyi. In the XVII century, Jan Lorencowicz’s granddaughter married a doctor Marcin Anczewski, thus the stone house was called “Doktorivskyi”. Dr. Anczewski adorned the façade with the sculpture of his patron, St. Martin, cutting his cloak skirt with the sword giving it to the beggar. Here one can also see the figure of Lviv saint Stanislaus Kostka, the patron and protector of the city from fires. At the entrance to the building, there stands the medieval stone bench on which the guard used to sit.
Nowadays, the History Department of the Ukrainian diaspora of the Lviv Historical Museum is situated here. It presents some particular fragments of the three main directions of the Ukrainian migration movement, the chronological framework of which covers late XIX – late XX centuries. The records collected in expositions help to understand more clearly that the Ukrainians, living outside their motherland, are a significant branch of the Ukrainian people and contribute to the treasury of our common history, science, culture, and art.
9. The Lviv High Castle Park
The highest mountain of Lviv (413 meters above sea level and 130 meters above the city level) was created artificially at the end of the XIX century in honor of the Union of Lublin anniversary. Thus, Lviv received an unmatched observation deck comparing to other European cities. Its views cannot leave indifferent anyone who dares to ascend here.
A stone lion, which once stood at the City Hall, and which is over four hundred years old, now guards the foot of the artificial mound. Nearby, there is a fragment of the castle wall, which used to stand on this mountain in the XIV century.
There is a majestic avenue of old chestnut trees on the lower terrace of the High Castle Park. On the avenue, there is a stone raised to commemorate the victory of the Polish King Jan III Sobieski over the Turkish army in 1675 on Lesynytsky fields that are visible from this place.
At the end of the alley, there is a gardener’s house (1892), which is surrounded by many exotic plants. In order to decorate the park, an artificial cave with the inscription “15 August 1841” was placed here in the middle of the XIX century. Its entrance is guarded by two stone lions of the XVII century taken from the old city hall. They hold shields with the emblems of Lviv patrician families. Once, the cave was called “The Suicide Cave”, because people in love who, for some reasons, could not be together with their beloved ones used to commit suicides here.
The High Castle Park is unique because it is located on a high wooded hill in the heart of the big city. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get from the noisy streets to the coolness and comfort of old trees where nothing reminds one of the vanity of urban life.
10. Lychakiv Cemetery Museum
The cemetery was officially founded in 1786 on the initiative of a new Austrian government in the capital of the Kingdom of Halychyna and Lodomeria of that time.
The oldest gravestone in its territory dates 1675. 23 chapel tombs that were owned by wealthy Lviv families are the adornment of the Lychakiv necropolis.
Recently introduced night tours to Lychakiv are a kind of know-how in Ukraine and Europe.
