Attractions of Lviv

The exhibition complex "Lviv Art Palace" is the largest exhibition and cultural and artistic center of Western Ukraine.

The building in the Art Nouveau style was built in 1996 according to the project of the architect Vasyl Kamenshchyk. The facades are decorated with classicist arcaded loggias and a sculpture of Saint Luke, the patron of artists.

With a total area of 8.7 thousand square meters, the area of 12 exhibition halls is 3.6 thousand square meters. The palace has a 200-seat conference hall with a stage and an art lounge.

Such regular events as the International Forum of Publishers, the Lviv Autumn Salon "High Castle", the All-Ukrainian Children's Drawing Competition "Spring Moods", the annual Shevchenko Days art exhibition "Love Your Ukraine..." are held here.

On the basis of donated works and documents, the room-museum of Taras Shevchenko is constantly functioning here. The Palace of Arts also houses the Factory of Saint Nicholas' Assistants and hosts the National Chocolate Day.

The museum-cultural complex of the history of brewing "Lvivarnya" was opened in Lviv in 2016 on the territory of "Lviv Brewery", which is considered the oldest in Ukraine.

The first written mention of Lviv beer dates back to 1384, when a certain Hanko Kleper bought a brewery in the Krakiv suburb, which is still called Klepariv. The year 1715 is considered the official opening date of the Lviv Brewery.

The first brewing museum was opened at the brewery in 2005. After reconstruction, it turned into a modern art center "Lvivarnya".

In the beer museum, you can familiarize yourself with the ancient technology of production. A brewing furnace, a fermentation vat, barrels for beer maturation, etc. are presented. Interesting collections of beer kegs and bottles, beer mugs, advertising samples, technology book and other unique documents. A special exhibit is the legendary 10-liter glass of brewery shareholder Robert Doms.

Thanks to the museum's interactive exhibits, every visitor can feel like a real brewer, touch the history of beer and take a look at the brewing process.

At the end of the tour, there is a tasting of 12 types of keg beer in the restaurant "Hop House of Robert Doms", located in the former beer cellars. There is a souvenir shop.

"Lvivarnya" also functions as a modern art center, where exhibitions, concerts, cultural events, conferences and corporate events take place.

Lviv Children's Railway is located in Stryisky Park.

It was opened in 1951 on the basis of a narrow-gauge railway that connected the station "Persenkivka" with the station "Skhidni Torhy" since 1922.

The road, 1.2 kilometers long, runs along the outer perimeter of Stryisky Park in its southern part. TU2 and TU3 locomotives, as well as 4 Pafawag cars, run on the route between Parkova and Sonyachna stations, and the TU3 diesel locomotive is considered the last locomotive of this series.

The Lviv Citadel is a complex of Austrian-era fortifications that has survived almost unchanged since the 19th century.

It was built on a hill on the southwestern approaches to Lviv to control the city and the Stryi road.

Fortification work was started here by the Poles back in 1635 under the leadership of the royal engineer Friedrich Gaetkant. In 1672, during the siege of Lviv, the fortifications were used by the troops of the Turkish Sultan Muhammed IV. In 1852-1854, the Austrian authorities reconstructed and expanded the fortress, building a barracks building, two square and four round towers.

The complex did not play a significant role during the world wars, thanks to which it was perfectly preserved. In Soviet times, the "Citadel" park was demolished on the territory, the premises were used as warehouses. Now a bank is located in the barracks. One of the round towers has been transformed into a luxury hotel.

The Lviv City Hall is the dominant feature of Rynok Square, one of the most famous symbols of Lviv. The main entrance to the building is guarded by two symbolic lions holding shields with the city's coat of arms.

The first wooden building of the city hall was built in 1381, later it was rebuilt several times. In the Middle Ages, a punishment pole was located in front of it (in 1564, the Moldavian master Tomsha was executed here, in 1578 - the leader of the Cossack uprising, Ivan Pidkova).

In its current classical form, the city hall building was rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century (architects Yozef Markl, Frants Tresher, Yosyf Vandrushka). Since 1939, the Lviv City Council has been located here.

There are tours of the building with a visit to the 65-meter clock tower. One of the best panoramas of Lviv opens from the observation deck on the city hall tower (climb 408 steps). Here you can get acquainted with the mechanism of the clock, made in 1852 at the factory of Vilhelm Shtil near Vienna.

Recently, the ancient tradition has been restored - every day at noon, the melody of the city's national anthem is played from the tower of the city hall. On weekends, a trumpeter blows every two hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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 house 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, 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.

The building of the Lviv House of Scientists was built by the firm "Felner and Helmer" in 1897-1898 according to the project of the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Herman Helmer.

This creative tandem also worked on the George Hotel in Lviv, the Opera House in Odesa, and the City Theater in Chernivtsi.

The construction project was commissioned by the Club of Horse Stud Owners. The imposing appearance of the facades of the house is maintained in the neo-baroque style.

From 1918 to 1939, the People's (aristocratic, count, noble) casino (gathering) was located here. Since 1948, the Lviv House of Scientists has been located here.

Perfectly preserved interior elements - grand staircase, stucco, alabaster fireplaces, original transparent ceiling, elegant balcony - all this makes the former casino one of the most beautiful and architectural buildings in Lviv.

It was here that the scene from the movie "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers" was filmed, where D'Artagnan climbed the stairs to the cardinal to play chess with him.

The museum of the Lviv National Academy of Arts represents the stages of formation of the Lviv art school and the history of the educational institution. His collection began to form simultaneously with the first edition of the academy in 1953.

In the museum's funds, works of art of graduates of the academy's departments, made in ceramics, glass, wood, metal, and artistic textiles, of different shapes and materials are preserved. All of them have great artistic and historical value.

The most valuable exhibits are diploma works of famous artists: the decorative plate "Bohdan Khmelnytskyi" by Sofiya Karaffa-Korbut (1953) and the entrance door to the museum by Semen Odnopozov (1955).

Lviv National Art Gallery named after Borys Voznytskyi is one of the largest art museums in Ukraine. Its funds number more than 62 thousand works of art from different eras.

It was founded in 1914 as the Lviv Art Gallery and has since been housed in a house built in 1874, which belonged to the prominent historian and collector Vladislav Lozynskyi.

Now the administration of the Lviv National Art Gallery and its department "European Art of the XIX-XXI Centuries" are located in the Lozynsky Palace. About 400 works by French, Austrian, German, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian masters are presented in 24 halls.

The pearl is considered to be the only work in Ukraine by Georges de la Tour "The moneylender", one of the most expensive and most valuable paintings of world importance in the country. Only 32 paintings of this mysterious European master have survived in the world. There are also several portraits of Artur Hrotther, "Portrait of a Daughter" by Henrykh Rodakovskyi and others.

The art halls of Lviv of 1900-1930 acquaint with the works of artists who were members of the associations ANUM, ARTES, "New Generation".

Branches of the Lviv National Art Gallery are:
- Potocki Palace (Lviv);
- Museum of Modernism (Lviv);
- Olesky Castle (Olesko);
- Pidhoirtsi Castle (Pidhirtsi);
- Zolochiv Castle (Zolochiv);
- Zhovkva Castle (Zhovkva);
- Johann Georg Pinsel Museum (Lviv);
- Boim Chapel (Lviv);
- John the Baptist Church (Museum of the oldest monuments) (Lviv);
- Theodosia Bryzh Museum (Lviv);
- Museum-Reserve "Rusalka Dnistrova" (Lviv);
- Pyatnychany Tower Museum-Reserve (Pyatnychany);
- Markiyan Shashkevych Museum-Reserve (Podlyssia);
- Mykhailo Dzindra Modern Sculpture Museum (Bryukhovychy);
- Hetman of Ukraine Ivan Vyhovskyi Museum-Reserve (Ruda);
- Zhydachiv Land Museum (Zhydachiv);
- Museum of Old Ukrainian Books (works in stock mode).

Lviv National Medical University named after Danylo Halytsky traces its history back to 1784, when Emperor Yosyp II restored the university in Lviv with four faculties, including the medical one.

In 1891-1898, new educational buildings were built: anatomo-physiological, patho-anatomical, chemical, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, internal diseases, dermatovenerology, otorhinolaryngology and others. The main building of the university was built in 1892 by the architect Yozef Braunzays in the Neo-Renaissance style. The other three buildings (anatomy, hygiene and pharmacology) are located opposite in the shape of the letter П around the open courtyard-curdoner, creating a single ensemble. The central link of the ensemble is the body of anatomy, with its main facade facing Pekarska Street.

In 1900, the first graduation of doctors took place in the number of 16 people, among whom there were two Ukrainians.

A monument to the medics who died during the Second World War has been installed in the park.

Currently, the Lviv National Medical University includes 79 departments, which make up seven faculties. More than 5,000 students study at the university.

Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko is one of the leading higher education institutions of Ukraine, one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded in 1661 by decree of the Polish king Yan Kazymyr.

The building of the main building of Lviv University was built in 1877-1881 (architect Yuliush Hokhberger). Initially, it housed the Regional Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria. The facade is decorated with a majestic portico with columns and a loggia, sculptural allegorical groups "Work" and "Education" at the entrance, "Galicia, Vistula and Dniester" - on the attic (sculptor Theodore Rieger). In 1920, the building was transferred to the Lviv University of Yan Kazymyr.

Currently, Ivan Franko Lviv National University occupies high positions in many international and all-Ukrainian university rankings. More than 20,000 students study at its 19 faculties. The university has its own botanical garden and a collection of old prints in the scientific library.

The History Museum of Lviv University operates in two halls of the main building. Here is presented a gallery of portraits of rectors, diplomas of graduates and scientists of different times, documents and personal belongings of prominent people, manuscripts and editions of scientific works, scientific instruments, photographs and other items related to the history of Lviv University. Museum employees conduct tours.

In addition, the main building houses the Archaeological Museum of Lviv University, which highlights the material and spiritual culture of the population of Volyn and Prykarpattia from the Paleolithic to the princely era.

The Museum Complex of the Lviv National University also includes the Archaeological Museum, the Zoological Museum, the Paleontological Museum, the Mineralogical Museum, and the Museum of Ore Formations.

The first oceanarium in Lviv opened in 2020 in the city center, on Tarasa Shevchenko Avenue, in the former premises of the "Kyiv" cinema. This is one of the projects of a team of professional aquarists led by Oleksandr and Yana Yanovsky.

On three floors there is a labyrinth with more than 20 aquariums of various sizes, as well as an underwater tunnel 18 meters long. At the time of its opening, the collection included more than 3,000 different sea creatures. In particular, blacktip sharks, three types of rays, spotted gars, porcupinefiseh, clownfishes, yellowface angelfishes, red lionfishes, Midas cichlids, giant gouramis, piranhas and other types of fish and sea turtles live in the oceanarium.

Excursions are conducted in Ukrainian, Russian, English and Polish. A souvenir shop is open, orders for aquarium fish are accepted.

The Lviv Puppet Theater was founded in 1946. It is located in a building that was built in 1913 as the "Craft Chamber" according to the project of architect Yan Protshke.

The building is made in the Neo-Renaissance style. Nowadays, fragments of authentic stained-glass windows in the Secession style and incredible forging are still preserved on the ceiling.

The Lviv Puppet Theater began its activities with the premiere of the folk tale "Ivasyk-Telesyk" based on Ivan Franko's fairy tale.

The Lviv Railway History Museum is dedicated to the creation and development of the oldest railway line in Ukraine. It was founded in 1973 and became the first railway museum in Ukraine. It is located in the Palace of Science and Technology of the Lviv-West locomotive depot next to the railway station.

The exposition of the museum tells about the birth and construction of the Lviv Railway in Halychyna, Volhynia, in the Carpathians and further south to the city of Chernivtsi during the times of Austria-Hungary, Poland, the USSR and at the current stage of Ukraine's development.

Among the exhibits are rare documents, photographs, tools, devices, models, equipment and uniforms of employees of railway professions from different times. The pride of the museum is the album "Volodymyr-Volynskyi - Sokal Line" published in 1916, trilingual passenger tickets from 1918-1921, as well as the Koptomir counting machine, which was used until 1939.