Attractions of Lviv region

The interactive museum "D.S. Secret Pharmacy" in Lviv is a magical and mysterious place.

The history of this museum began in May 2012, when in one of the oldest Lviv pharmacies "Under the Hungarian Crown" during construction and restoration work was found a secret entrance to the basement, which found a former pharmaceutical laboratory, which operated in the late XIX - early XX centuries.

The name of the pharmacy is associated with the legend of the nearby Bernardine Monastery, where for some time were the relics of Saint Stephen - King and Patron of Hungary. "Secret Pharmacist" still cooks "soap for bribers" and produces "pills for happiness".

The main secret of the pharmacy is guarded by the world's only apothecary Lion. Visitors discover the history of the "Secret Pharmacy" in a light format video tour with elements of theatrical performance and tasting of the "pharmacy elixir of happiness and longevity."

The Lviv Science Museum is an interactive space with an area of more than 2,000 square meters, which helps to learn about the world through experiments and interaction with exhibits.

Each of the museum's nine exposition blocks reveals a separate theme: "Air", "Water", "Acoustics", "Optics", "Electricity", "Science", "Man", "Robots", "Formula-1". More than 100 interactive exhibits provide an opportunity to conduct experiments with pneumatic devices and soap bubbles, create a mini-hurricane or a sea storm, generate electricity at a power station, play musical instruments in a recording studio, communicate with the RoboThespian robot, play poker with the KUKA KR 210 robotic arm, visit different corners of the Earth thanks to VR technologies and even change the wheels of a racing car at the pit stop.

On the first floor there is a recreation area with a coffee shop and a souvenir shop.

The two-story building of the Lviv Science Museum is equipped with accessibility standards in mind, in particular, it is equipped with an elevator.

The Boim Chapel near the walls of the Latin Cathedral is one of the most remarkable architectural buildings of Lviv in the Renaissance style, an architectural monument of national importance.

The chapel was built at the beginning of the 17th century over the family crypt of the Lviv patricians Boim (the city cemetery was located next to the cathedral). Presumably, the construction was carried out by the team of architect Andriy Bemer.

Experts call this building in the style of the mature Renaissance with a transition to Baroque a vivid example of southern mannerism in Ukraine. The western facade of the Boim chapel impresses with the wealth of decorative decoration. The author of the sculptural composition is considered to be the master from Wroclaw, Hanush Sholts. The dome is crowned by an unusual sculpture of a seated Christ. The interior is also filled with many sculptural images, most of which are by Yan Pfister.

The Boim Chapel Museum is a subdivision of the Lviv National Art Gallery.

The triptych monument "Awakeners" in Stryi is dedicated simultaneously to three of the most outstanding literary figures of Ukraine, whose work gave impetus to the awakening of Ukrainian national self-awareness in the people: Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and Lesya Ukrayinka.

Authors of the sculpture: Vasyl and Volodymyr Odrekhovski. The monument consists of three full-length bronze sculptures, which are placed in arch niches under a common high openwork three-sided white marble arch. The monument is crowned with a decorative eye bell, which symbolizes the call for the unification of the nation.

The Church of All Saints in the village of Hodovytsia was built in 1751-1758 by the prominent Lviv architect of Italian origin, Bernard Meretyn.

Lviv Archdeacon Stefan Mikulsky provided the funds for the construction. This is one of the projects on which Meretyn worked together with the famous sculptor Ivan Pinzel. The sculptor made an altar, some sculptures of which are now on display in the Pinzel Museum in Lviv and in the Olesko Castle. Paintings by the artist Oleksandr Rolinsky have been preserved in the interior. The baroque pediment of the church is decorated with characteristic decorative stone vases.

Later, the church in Hodovytsia served as prototypes for several more churches in the "Meretyn" style, which were created according to the architect's typical projects. The crucifix and the miraculous image of Mary with the baby were exported to Poland.

Meanwhile, the Church of All Saints in Hodovytsia has been abandoned since Soviet times and is gradually falling into disrepair.

In the Armenian quarter of Lviv, between the streets of Virmenska and Lesi Ukrayinky, there is a cathedral, a bell tower, the palace of the archbishops and a nunnery. The buildings form a colorful "Armenian yard".

The construction was led by the Armenian architect Dorinh (Dorhi) at the expense of Armenian merchants. The image of the cathedral has many common features with the cathedral in the ancient Armenian capital of Ani. Over the centuries, the cathedral was renovated and extended. The oldest part is the eastern part (from the 14th century). Reconstruction in 1723 gave the building a baroque appearance.

In the altar part there are traditional "khachkar" stone crosses. The sculptural groups of the 15th century "The Belief of Khoma" and "Saint Sophia with Daughters" are of significant artistic value.

The monastery of the Bernardine order in Lviv with the church of Saint Andrew the First-Called in the 17th century was a separate fortification unit outside the city.

The Bernardine Monastery was surrounded by a moat, a rampart and a defensive wall, which is partially preserved, with a tower of the Hlynyansky Gate overlooking the Customs Square. Powerful monastery fortifications were connected with a ring of city walls.

The Church of Saint Andrew was built in the years 1600-1630 according to the project of architects Bernard Avelides and Pavlo Rymlyanin in the Renaissance style. The lush interior is made in the Baroque style, there are many wooden altars of the 18th century. The decorative column in front of the facade was installed in 1736 in honor of Saint John of Dukla, the patron saint of the Bernardines.

The premises of the Bernardine Monastery now belong to the Central State Archives of Lviv, and the church of Andrew the First-Called was handed over to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The Brunytsky Palace in Velykyi Liubin was built by the previous owners of the estate, the Yablonovskys, in 1845 on the basis of an old castle founded in the 17th century.

The palace is located on a small hill to the left of the entrance to the village from the Lviv side. The small neo-baroque building has a two-story central section rising above single-story wings. On the facade are the coats of arms of Baron Kostyantyn Brunytsky and his wife Helena Shymanovska, who bought the estate from Lyudvik Yablonovsky in 1849.

The palace acquired its current appearance after the reconstruction carried out in 1909-1910 by the last owner, Adolf Brunytsky, according to the project of Yan Shults.

Currently, the Velykyi Liubin specialized boarding school is located in the palace. The building was beautifully restored in 2005 at the expense of patrons from Switzerland.

The villa of Burgomaster Reymond Yarosh, who ruled Drohobych from 1909 until the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is the decoration of Tarasa Shevchenko Street (former Panska Street).

A two-story house in the style of Viennese secession, richly decorated with stucco, built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by entrepreneurs Shpitsman , local oil magnates. When the Shpitsman left Drohobych, located on the most prestigious street of the city, on the eve of the First World War, the villa was bought from them by burgomaster Reymond Yarosh.

In the period between the First and Second World Wars, Yarosh not only contributed to the strengthening of the economy of Drohobych, but also initiated the rapid development of the resort of Truskavets.

Until recently, Yarosh's villa was used as a city palace for schoolchildren. Currently, the dean's office and classrooms of the Faculty of Biology of the DrohobychState Pedagogical University are located here.

Drohobych Salt Plant is a museum enterprise that has been operating continuously since the 13th century to the present day. It is considered one of the oldest continuously operating industrial enterprises in the world and the oldest in Ukraine.

The saltworks in Drohobych were first mentioned in 1250. Since then, it has been working continuously in the same place - near the lakes of salt oil, from which salt is extracted by evaporation. It was around this enterprise that the city of Drohobych developed, becoming an important industrial and trade center of Galicia.

The Drohobych Salt Plant reached their peak during the Austrian era. The technical base was updated in Soviet times, salt production reached 10-11 thousand tons per year, but now the technology has returned to the artisanal level. Today, this is the only enterprise in Europe where salt is made using the same method as it was used thousands of years ago - by boiling it from natural oil. Drohobych Salt Plant produces approximately 700 kilograms of salt every day.

Until recently, the plant was leased by CJSC "Drohobych-Halka", but in 2013 the enterprise was returned to state ownership. It is planned to build a new shop and create a museum on the basis of old industrial premises.

Excursions are conducted.

The Museum of Ethnography and Artistic Crafts of the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine occupies a neo-Renaissance building on the main street of Lviv - Svobody Avenue.

At the base of the dome of the museum building is an allegorical sculptural group symbolizing the economic prosperity of Galicia, which is called the only sitting Statue of Liberty in the world.

The exposition of the Museum of Ethnography and Arts and Crafts presents a rich collection of ceramics, porcelain and earthenware, art glass products. Collection of watches of the XVI-XX centuries. has about 350 copies.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph the Betrothed was built according to the project of the engineer Karol Romanus as a temple-tomb of the Rzevuskyi family (according to one version, the author of the project was Prince Vaclav Rzevuskyi himself).

Made in the Baroque style in the form of a rotunda, to which a 300-meter linden alley leads from the Pidhirtsi Castle. Figures of the Mother of God and Saint Joseph on columns are installed in front of the church. The main facade is decorated with a portico of 14 columns of the Corinthian order, on the attic of which 8 sculptures of saints by Fessinger and Leblas were installed (one of them was destroyed during the Second World War).

The interior of the Exaltation of Holy Cross Church has preserved frescoes by Lukash Smuhlevych and several Galician masters.

Since 1861, the temple was a parish church, in 1945 it was closed by the Soviet authorities. Currently, the church is under restoration, but you can get inside during services held by the Greek Catholic parish of the Church of the Blessed Mykola Charnetskyi and the New Martyrs of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The Museum of Folk Architecture and Life named after Klymentiy Sheptytskyi in Lviv is also known as "Shevchenko Grove", Lviv Skansen or open-air museum. It is located on the wooded hills of the "Znesinnia" Regional Landscape Park in the eastern part of Lviv, behind the Vysoky Zamok.

The open-air museum in Lviv was founded in 1971, although the exhibition began to take shape in the interwar period at the initiative of Lviv art critic Mykhaylo Drahan and Archimandrite Klymentiy Sheptytskyi. The first exhibit was the wooden church of Saint Nicholas of 1761, which was transported from the village of Kryvka.

Currently, the exposition of the open-air museum includes more than 110 architectural monuments from all western regions of Ukraine: 6 churches, residential buildings, a forge, a school, a sawmill, a cloth mill, a water mill and a windmill. The museum has the largest collection of sacred buildings in Europe.

The exposition is divided into six ethnographic zones, representing the daily life of residents of various Western Ukrainian regions: Boikivshchyna, Lemkivshchyna, Hutsulshchyna, Bukovyna, Pokuttya, Podillya, Zakarpattia, Lviv region. Each zone is a mini village with religious, residential and economic buildings. The interiors of most houses are available for viewing, and household items are exhibited in them.

In particular, the central exhibit of the "Hutsulshchyna" zone is a traditional Hutsul grazhda from the village of Kryvorivnia. And the oldest exhibit is a peasant hut from 1749.

Traditional Christmas and Easter celebrations take place in the Museum every year, attracting the attention of a large number of Lviv residents and guests of the city. At individual facilities, you can get acquainted with ancient crafts, including straw weaving, pysankarstvo, and playing folk instruments. Workshops for children and adults are constantly held in the open-air museum.

Hlyniany (Entrance) Gate is the best-preserved part of the city fortifications of medieval Lviv.

The building in the late Renaissance style is part of the fortification complex of the Bernardine Monastery. The gate was built at the beginning of the 17th century under the supervision of engineer Fridrikh Hetkant. In the center of the defensive wall is a square tower with a tented roof and an archway paved with wooden cobblestones.

During the reconstruction of 1976-1977, a defensive moat was restored in front of the wall.

Currently, the "Ukrzakhidproektrestoration and administration of the historical and architectural reserve" institute is located in the Hlyniany Gate complex.

The Garrison Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (the former Church of Peter and Paul of the Jesuit Order) is one of the largest religious buildings in the city, the first vivid example of mannerism (early baroque) in Lviv.

Construction of the temple began in 1610 by the Jesuit monk Sebastyan Lyankhius, who was the author of the original project. The Italian architect Dzhakomo Briano, взявши maintained the pure style of the Italian Baroque during the completion of the church in 1618-1621, taking as a model the facade of the Il Gesu church in Rome. In 1630, the construction was completed, the Peter and Paul temple was consecrated, but the finishing works continued for another 30 years.

Trinefny temple. The main facade dominates, decorated with pilasters, niches with statues and a strong cornice. Inside - lush baroque decoration. Paintings were made by artists Francysk and Sebastyan Ekshteyn from Brno. In one of the side altars there is a highly artistic wooden crucifix by Yan Pfister.

Next to the church is a three-story building of the former Jesuit college.

In 2011, the church was consecrated as the Garrison Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

In the underground crypts of the Peter and Paul Church, there is a museum called "Dungeon of the Garrison Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Church", where you can order a tour of the church.