Attractions of Lviv

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.

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 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 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.

The museum of the famous Ukrainian Baroque sculptor Johann Georg Pinsel (Ivan Heorhiy Pinzel) is located in the former church of the Poor Clares in Lviv, which is an architectural monument of the XVII century.

Modest in architecture, but luxuriously painted from the middle, the church was built in 1607 by Pavlo Rymlyanyn and Bernard Avelides on the site of an old chapel of nuns of the Poor Clares of the Bernardine Order. Since then, the Renaissance elements of the side facade of the church from Lychakivska Street have been preserved. In the 1740s the church underwent a Baroque reconstruction, and during the restoration of 1938-1939 the tower was completed. The interiors of the church are decorated with paintings by Stanislav Stroyinsky made in the XVIII century, some later plots in the southern nave belong to the brush of Tadeush Popel.

Since 1996, the Church of the Poor Clares houses the Museum of Baroque Sculpture of Johann Georg Pinsel, which is called "Ukrainian Michelangelo". Here is the richest collection of unique baroque sculptures by master, which were found and saved in the 1970s. The Ivan Heorhiy Pinzel Museum is a department of the Lviv National Art Gallery named after Borys Voznytsky.

After the reconstruction in 2021, the renovated Pinzel Sculpture Museum was given a completely barrier-free space. Tactile strips are laid from the public transport stop and in the middle of the building. Sound beacons are installed at the entrance. The museum has an inclusive box office and a mnemonic at the entrance. Internal stairs are duplicated by a lift. Information plates duplicated in Braille are installed near the exhibits. Tactile copies of the most important exhibits are offered to visually impaired visitors. Audio guides and audio description available. The staff has been trained to work with all categories of visitors.

The Latin Cathedral is the main church of the Roman Catholic Church in Lviv. The official name is the Metropolitan Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Lviv Archdiocese. Unofficially, Lviv residents call it simply the Cathedral.

It was built and rebuilt by Lviv city planners for 400 years. The first stone was laid by the Polish king Kazymyr the Great in 1360. After the restoration of 1760-1778, Gothic forms gave way to the then fashionable Baroque.

In the cathedral there was an icon of the Mother of God the Merciful ("The Beautiful Star of the City of Lviv"), the original of which is now kept in Vavel in Krakow. Its exact copy was made for Lviv and in 2001 Pope Ivan Paul II crowned it.

The main organ, stained glass windows by Yan Mateyko and others have been preserved. In the eastern wall, you can see the cores, reminiscent of the Turkish siege of 1672, as well as a projectile left over from the Ukrainian-Polish war of 1918-1919.

At the end of the 18th century, a cemetery with numerous chapels was located around the church, of which only the most valuable have survived: the Boim chapel (1609-1615) and the Campian chapel (1619).

The Latin Cathedral is the Sanctuary of the Mother of God the Merciful and Divine Mercy.

The palace of Lviv patrician, rich merchant of Greek origin Kostyantyn Kornyakt on Rynok Square is a pearl of residential Renaissance architecture of Lviv, an architectural monument of national importance.

The palace was built in 1580 by architect Petro Barbon with the participation of his student Pavlo Rymlianyn. For some time it was owned by the Sobieski royal family, receiving the second name "Royal Townhouse".

It is in the Kornyakt Palace is the famous Italian (Venetian) courtyard on the model of the Renaissance Italian cortile, which surrounds the inner perimeter with open galleries under the arcades. The gallery presents an exhibition of sculptures from the Lviv Historical Museum, in particular "Justice and Justice" - a shameful pillar (pranger), which stood on the front in front of Lviv City Hall.

Now the administration of the Lviv Historical Museum is located in the palace. The permanent exposition of the department "Kornyakt Palace" presents the history of the house through the fate of its inhabitants in the context of the history of the city, region, Europe.

The "Royal Chambers" are traditionally called the four former ceremonial halls of the royal residence, located on the second floor of the building. Today, the preserved interiors of the early 19th century feature paintings, sculptures, samples of salon furniture, clocks, porcelain, musical instruments, ancient European orders, and rare memorials. One of the most popular exhibits is a mysterious black chair in the form of a winged dragon. Usually, at the end of the tour you can hear the live sound of the music box Symphonion.

There is a café with outdoor tables and an antique shop in the Italian courtyard.

The departments of the Lviv Historical Museum are:
- Arsenal Museum;
- Lviv History Museum;
- History of Ukraine Museum;
- Palazzo Bandinelli;
- Ukraine Liberation Struggle Museum;
- History of Science and Technology Museum;
- Literary Lviv Museum;
- Roman Shukhevych Museum;
- Yevhen Konovalets Museum.

One of the most interesting examples of Lviv Renaissance architecture in the ensemble of Rynok Square is the Lorentsovych house, better known as the "Black House" (Chorna Kamyanytsia). The black color sharply distinguishes this building from the other buildings of the square and creates a sharp contrast with it.

The "Black House" was built in 1589 in the style of the late Renaissance by the architect Petro Krasovsky on the order of Sofia Ganel.

During the XVI-XIX centuries, the house changed owners many times, as well as completed and rebuilt. Initially, the building was not black, but under the influence of precipitation, the sandstone masonry was greatly darkened, and now it is specially painted black.

Back in 1926, the city bought the "Black House" from the last owner and opened the Lviv History Museum, which is now a department of the Lviv Historical Museum. The almost 800-year history of the city is represented on three floors by authentic objects of XIV-XX centuries: symbolic keys to the city, seals of the magistrate, inaugural chains of the president and mayor, benches from the conference hall, portraits of city leaders, coats of arms of Lviv in different historical periods. You can see a model of princely Lviv of the XIII-XIV centuries and a model of the Renaissance town hall.

In the courtyard and the first floor there is a Lapidarium - an exposition of stone monuments of Lviv: carved from stone architectural and sculptural fragments, parts of old monuments, epitaphs, etc. In total, about 50 samples of stone sculpture from ancient, mostly non-existent, buildings in Lviv.

National University "Lviv Polytechnic" was founded in 1844, it was the first academic technical school in Ukraine.

The building of the Technical Academy was built in 1877 by the architect Yulian Zakhariyevych, who became its rector. The interiors of the magnificent building are richly decorated with sculptures and moldings. Ten paintings of the assembly hall were made based on sketches by Yan Mateyko.

Currently, Lviv Polytechnic has the status of a national university, 30,000 students study here.

Excursions of the Main Building of the University are conducted, during which visitors are introduced to the history of the institution, unique interiors, masterpieces of painting and sculpture, the Machine Hall with mechanisms and equipment from different eras, the 19th century student library, the oldest observatory in Ukraine, and the Museum of the History of the Polytechnic.

The Lychakiv cemetery-museum, located near the center of Lviv, is more like a landscape park.

The cemetery was officially founded in 1784, although it existed on this site as early as the 16th century. The territory of 40 hectares is divided into 86 fields, on which there are almost 3.5 thousand monuments and compositions of the work of famous sculptors and architects. Ivan Franko, Solomiya Krushelnytska, Mariya Konopnytska, Volodymyr Ivasyuk and others are buried at the Lychakiv Cemetery.

In 1991, the Lychakiv cemetery became a historical-memorial museum-reserve.

Many controversies in the 1990s caused the restoration of the "Cemetery of the Eagles" memorial, destroyed during the Soviet era, in honor of Polish soldiers who died in 1918-1920 in the Ukrainian-Polish and Soviet-Polish wars. The memorial was officially opened in 2005 at the same time as the memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Ukrainian Galician Army.