Attractions of Lviv

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Mary Magdalene was founded in 1600 by Dominican monks on the site of an old wooden church outside the city walls of Lviv.

A Dominican monastery and a seminary were opened near the church. The authors of the project of the monastery complex are architects Voytsekh Kelar and Martyn Hodny.

In 1648, the monastery fortifications were captured by the troops of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. Subsequently, the church building underwent several changes. In 1754-1758, the church was expanded and rebuilt by the architect Martyn Urbanik, the facades were changed, and the towers were completed.

During the secularization reform of the Austrian emperor Joseph II in 1786, the church was made a parish, and a prison for women of light behavior was established in the monastery (closed in 1922).

The church acquired its modern appearance in 1870. The architecture of the building combines elements of the Baroque and Renaissance styles.

The largest organ in Ukraine, manufactured in 1932 by the Czech company Rieger-Kloss, was installed in the church of Saint Mary Magdalene. Since Soviet times, the building has housed the Lviv House of Organ and Chamber Music.

Since 1998, the service has been resumed.

The Princely Church of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is the oldest monument of monumental architecture in Lviv.

Apparently, the church was built as a burial place for Halician princes, and was the main spiritual center of the Lviv Ruthenians. The first mention of the Church of Saint Nicholas dates back to 1292. Back in princely times, the church served not only as a temple, but also as a center of social and political life.

It was located at the foot of the High Castle Hill (Vysoky Zamok), next to the Old Market square (Stary rynok), which was the center of the lower town in the early Middle Ages. The thickness of the walls of the temple also indicates the defensive importance of the building.

The Church of Saints Olha and Elizaveta is the highest church in Lviv (85 meters), competing in height with the Cathedral of Saint George. Previously - the church of Saint Elizaveta of Hungary.

The huge neo-Gothic church of Saint Elizaveta was built at the beginning of the 20th century. According to legend, it was named after the popular empress Elizaveta (Sisi), the wife of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Frants-Yosyf I. The architect Teodor-Maryan Talovsky used many elements of French and North German Gothic architecture: high pointed spiers, lancets, a vertical interior space. The portal is decorated with a sculptural composition by Petro Voytovych "Crucifixion with Adaptation", the interiors were worked on by the Lviv master Kazymyr Sikhulskyi.

During the Second World War, the temple was damaged, then closed. Since 1991, it belongs to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, rededicated as the Church of Saints Olha and Elizaveta.

The eclectic palace of the Semensky-Levytsky count family in Lviv was built in 1849 on the site of an old manor of the 18th century.

The ambassador of the Galician Diet, Konstyantyn Semenskyi, ordered the project from the Prussian architect Fryderyk Bauman. In 1877, the architect Otto Wagner rebuilt the palace in the French Baroque style by order of the privy councilor Stanislav Kostka Semenskyi-Levytskyi. The facade and interiors were decorated by the sculptor Petro-Vitalis Harasymovych.

The palace has side wings and a large courtyard. To the east of the main gate is the entrance to the stables and arena, decorated with two horse heads (Stanislav Kostka Semenskyi-Levytskyi was the president of the Galician Horse Breeding Commission).

Today, the building houses a boarding school.

The Solomiya Krushelnytska Music and Memorial Museum is located in Lviv in the former house of the singer, which she bought in 1903, at the zenith of her creative career.

The museum was opened on the initiative of her niece Odarka Bandrovska in 1989 after the restoration of the house.

The singer's personal belongings, concert dresses, photos and documents are collected in the recreated interiors of the rooms. The exposition tells about Krushelnytska's childhood, the history of her artistic activity in Lviv, Vienna, Paris, Warsawa, Milan and other opera houses around the world.

Concerts are regularly held in the music salon of the museum.

Arena Lviv Stadium was opened in 2011 as part of preparations for the European Football Championship Euro-2012.

This is one of the newest stadiums in Europe, which was built taking into account all UEFA requirements. The capacity of the stadium is almost 35,000 seats, including 14 VIP boxes. The construction of the arena seats is designed in such a way as to create the maximum effect of the presence of spectators on the field.

"Arena Lviv" has a natural lawn with modern systems of drainage, heating and automatic watering.

During mass events, guests are served by 19 fast food outlets located on the promenade, as well as 7 fast food outlets selling food and beverages on the outer perimeter of the stadium.

The arena has 4,500 parking spaces, of which 100 are for people with disabilities.

Excursions are held by prior appointment, during which visitors are shown the playing area, conference hall, footballers' block (dressing rooms, showers and massage rooms), flash zone, substitute benches, media tribunes, fan sectors, VIP area (restaurant and sky boxes) and the hall of the history of the stadium. Among the "highlights" of the excursion is the opportunity to sit in the seat of the famous football player Ronaldo, try on a T-shirt with the autograph of Andriy Shevchenko, look at the 3D model of the stadium or take a photo with Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.

The Memorial Museum of Stanislav Lyudkevych was opened in 1995 in the composer's house in Lviv on the initiative of his wife, art critic Zenoviya Shtunder.

The two-story building was built in the second half of the 1950s. Ms. Zenoviya allocated the second floor of the house she inherited for the museum and began working at the museum as a senior research associate.

The interiors of the composer's office and his bedroom have been preserved in two exhibition rooms. In the third room, editions of the composer's musical works, family photos, and objects of fine art are exhibited.

The Stanislav Lyudkevych Memorial Museum is a department of the Solomiya Krushelnytska Memorial Music Museum. An artistic memorial table with a high-relief of the composer is installed on the facade of the building.

The State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv is considered one of the oldest natural history museums in Europe.

Founded in 1870 by the naturalist-collector, count of Ukrainian origin Volodymyr Didushytsky in a reconstructed building in the early neoclassicism style of the early 19th century. In 1880 Didushytsky donated the museum to the Lviv community, and since 1940 it has been under the jurisdiction of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Since 2013, the State Natural History Museum has been creating a new main exhibition "Symphony of Life", the paleontological part of which was opened in 2019 under the name "Ice Age". Among the most interesting exhibits: skeletons of a mammoth and woolly rhinoceros from the ozocerite deposit in Starun, bones of other fossil animals, a Cro-Magnon figure of the late Stone Age, reconstruction of a primitive man's dwelling. The exhibition is complemented by interactive multimedia kiosks.

A kind of museum exhibit is the oldest operating mechanical elevator in Ukraine, equipped back in 1870 by Count Didushytsky, who was partially paralyzed in old age and moved in a wheelchair. For the smallest visitors, there is an interactive children's area.

Stryiskyi Park is one of the oldest and most beautiful parks in Lviv, a monument of garden and park art of national importance.

Before World War II, it was considered one of the most beautiful parks in Poland.

Founded in 1879 by Arnold Rehring on the site of the cemetery. Now it occupies an area of 56 hectares. It consists of three parts: the zone of the lower parterres (at the bottom of the beam), the forest park zone (on the slopes of the beam), the upper terrace.

The Lviv Children's Railway, a monument to Yan Kilinsky (participant of the Polish uprising under the command of Tadeush Kostyushko) and a monument to Ukrainian football (in honor of the victory of the Lviv club "Sokil" over the Krakow team) are located in Stryiskyi Park.

Stryiskyi Park also boasts a decorative pond and beautiful alleys.

Free entrance.

The monument to the outstanding Ukrainian poet and public figure Taras Shevchenko was opened in the center of Lviv only in 1992.

The construction issue was resolved for 5 years, the winner was not determined at two design contests, and as a result of a compromise, it was decided to use the "relatively better" project of sculptors Volodymyr and Andriy Sukhorsky and architects Yuriy Dyba and Yuriy Khromey.

The monument was made in Argentina. The ceremonial opening took place on the anniversary of the adoption of the declaration of independence of Ukraine. After 4 years, the second element of the monument was opened - the 12-meter bronze "Wave of National Renaissance".

The Lviv branch of the museum in the dark "Third After Midnight" opened in 2023.

Here you can visit the exhibition "Art by touch" with a tour in complete darkness and accompanied by a blind guide. Such an excursion will give an opportunity to explore in a new way 25 exhibits representing famous works of architecture, painting and cinematography, which most people are used to perceive only visually.

Excursions in the dark are held for groups of up to 3 people and last 45 minutes. After that, visitors are offered to spend time with interesting activities in the recreation room – learn to write Braille, play sensory games, etc.

For children under 10 years of age, a team quest is offered, which allows you to learn interesting facts about the senses and understand the peculiarities of perception of the world by blind people.

In addition to the institution in Lviv, there is also a Third After Midnight Museum in Kyiv.

The UPA General Roman Shukhevych Museum in Lviv was created in 2001 with the assistance and financial support of the Association of UPA Soldiers in the USA named after General Taras Chuprynka.

It is located in an old building on the territory of the former village of Bilohorshcha (now district of Lviv), where in 1950 the last headquarters of the UPA commander-in-chief was located. It is a department of the Lviv Historical Museum.

The exposition on the first floor tells about the Shukhevych family, Roman Shukhevych's youth, his military and political activities and the armed struggle of the Ukrainian liberation movement. In particular, an autobiography written by Shukhevych's hand is presented, as well as objects related to his field activities.

The second floor of the museum reproduces the daily life of the UPA commander-in-chief in this underground apartment: stairs, living room, hiding place. It was here that on March 5, 1950, Roman Shukhevych's last battle with the MGB unit took place. In the room where Roman Shukhevych lived and worked, original furniture (a table, four chairs, an armchair) made in the mid-1930s in Western Europe, which was presented to the museum by the daughter of General Mariya Trylovska, is presented.

On January 1, 2024, the Roman Shukhevych Museum in Lviv was completely destroyed by a fire caused by a Russian air terrorist attack. The lost memorial items of Roman Shukhevych: a table, armchairs, an armchair, a piano, as well as a bust of Roman Shukhevych by Mykhaylo Chereshniovskyi and a sculpture of Stepan Bandera by Yaroslav Trotsko. The remaining approximately 600 pieces of exhibits from the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war were moved to another place.

Castles (Knyazha) Hill in the central part of Lviv (413 meters), on top of which the fortified residence of Prince Danylo Halytskyi was built in the 13th century. It is called the High Castle (Vysoky Zamok ) as opposed to the Lower Castle (Citadel).

Initially, the fortress was wooden, with earthen ramparts. In 1362, it was rebuilt in stone by the Polish king Kasymyr, who captured Galicia. The castle, rectangular in plan, had four towers at the corners, the highest of which was a watchtower. Inside was the princely palace, barracks, ammunition depots and a deep well. In 1648, the castle was taken by the troops of Maksym Kryvonos.

In the 19th century, it was almost completely dismantled, the "High Castle" (Vysoky Zamok) park was built in its place, and an observation deck was built, which offers the best views of the city. A fragment of the southern stone wall with loopholes that protected the entrance to the castle territory has been preserved. A long staircase leads to the top.

Currently, there is a regional television center and a relay tower on the mountain.