Attractions of 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.

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.

The Lviv Region Electrification History Museum was opened in 2018 at the initiative of Lvivoblenergo PJSC. The exhibition is located on the first floor of the "Lvivoblenergo" building near the "Zalizna Voda" park.

The museum tells about the history of energy development in Lviv from the end of the 19th century. In particular, the model of the first electric tram, which was launched in the city in 1894, is presented. Visitors are offered to set the tram in motion with the help of a dynamo.

You can also see a plan for the laying of cable lines of the city of Lviv from 1908, a copy of a street arc lamp from 1909, a model of a coal mine and its electrical equipment, electric meters from different times, working tools and remains of electricians.

The interior of the laboratory of engineer-inventor Nikola Tesla is reproduced in the museum, and the work of the Tesla coil is demonstrated.

In front of the entrance to the museum, there is a stand dedicated to the memory of Taras Krukenytskyi, director of the Lviv City Electricity Networks. A landmark for visitors is the mural depicting Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison on the fence.

Visiting the museum is possible only with a guided tour and by prior appointment.

The elegant Renaissance building of the palace was built for Count Sapeha, but later architect Yan de Vitte rebuilt it for the Lyubomyrskyi family.

Since the 19th century, the building belonged to the Ukrainian society "Prosvita".

Currently, the premises of the Lyubomirskyi Palace house the exposition of the Museum of Ancient European Furniture and Porcelain (680 items) - a branch of the Museum of Ethnography and Art Crafts of the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The National Academic Ukrainian Drama Theater named after Mariya Zankovetska, which was called the "Galician La Scala", was at one time the largest theater in Lviv.

Built in 1837-1842 at the expense of Count Stanislav Skarbek (the letter "W" of his coat of arms "Abdank" is preserved on the portal). The project of the building in the style of Viennese classicism, about 96 meters long, 76 meters wide and covering an area of ​​more than 7,000 square meters, was developed by architects Lyudvig Pihl and Yohann Salzmann. Three horses could enter under the portal with six Ionic columns. A progressive at that time heating and ventilation system was provided.

Niccolo Paganini, Ferenc Liszt, Sarah Bernard performed on this stage.

In 1923, the tetra was named after Mariya Zankovetska.

The Church of Mary the Snowy in the Stariy Rynok district in Lviv is one of the oldest churches in the city.

Built in the 14th century by German colonists next to the old market square. The church was first mentioned in documents in 1352.

The original appearance of the building was greatly changed by subsequent reconstructions in the 17th and 19th centuries. After the last reconstruction, carried out by the architect Yulian Zakharevych, the church became a single-nave, basilica type, with an elongated altar part, a square vestibule and a square two-story bell tower.

Previously, the interior was decorated with frescoes of 1750-1751 by the artist Stanislav Stroyinsky. In their place in the 19th century, the artist Edvard Lyepshy executed new paintings imitating mosaics.

Today it is the church of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

The Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes "Territory of Terror" was opened in Lviv on the territory of transit prison No. 25.

The prison was established in 1944 by the Soviet occupation administration, which replaced the Nazi one. During the Second World War, this place was the Lviv ghetto.

The museum complex has two barracks, watchtowers, barbed wire fence and other infrastructure facilities.

The museum tells the story of political, social, ethnic and religious repressions of totalitarian regimes against the population living in Ukraine.

A new exhibition of contemporary art of the Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery - Modernism Museum - opened in 2021 in a modern two-storey office building made of silicate brick, erected in Soviet times behind the Potocki Palace.

A retrospective of Lviv art from early modern experiments to examples of the aesthetics of late structuralism is unfolded in the seven halls of the museum.

The exhibition hall of historical avant-garde and high modernism of 1914-1939 begins the exposition. The next section illustrates the existential sensitivity of postwar society and the state of social alienation of Lviv intellectuals in the days of totalitarian pressure of 1939-1953, in particular the work of Karl Zvirynsky and the artists of his "hermetic circle". The following are the works of artists of 1960-1970: Yevhen Lysyk, Lubomyr Medvid, Ivan Ostafiychuk, Roman Zhuk, Roman Petruk, whose works trace the influences of European trends: Dadaism, Surrealism and Neo-Expressionism, as well as the large-scale phenomenon of the "Lviv neo-avant-garde".

The last halls exhibit the works of the final phase of modern aesthetics and visualize the transitional period between Lviv modernism and postmodernism. The works of Myroslav Yahoda, Roman Zhuk, Rostyslav Lakh, and Andriy Sahaydakovsky reveal the phenomenon of anti-social alienation, close to the Western definition of "trans-avant-garde."

The "Ancient Lviv" museum opened in 2020 in the dungeons of the Transfiguration Church in the center of Lviv, near Rynok Square.

This is the second institution of a large project of innovative museums under the brand "Formation of the Ukrainian Nation", which combines modern exhibition technologies, realistic 3-D figures of prominent Ukrainians and exhibits from private collections and museum funds.

The Lviv museum presents 40 figures of notable figures who had an impact on the development of the city from 1256 to 1722. Among them are King Danylo Halytsky, Prince Vasylko Romanovych, King Casimir III, sculptor Ivan Heorhiy Pinzel, founder of the first Viennese coffee houses Yuriy Kulchytsky and many others.

Classical and thematic excursions, children's quests, master classes on decorating weapons, weaving chain mail, pottery, making a motanka doll, painting with coffee, and medieval dances are held.

Tickets can be purchased online in advance.

The Museum "Literary L'viv of the Early 20th Century" opened in 1992 in a five-room apartment in a residential building on Heroiv Maidanu Street, 18, built in 1937-1939 according to the project of Zygmunt Sperber in the style of Lviv functionalism. Ukrainian Soviet writer and propagandist Yaroslav Halan lived in this apartment in 1944-1949. Here he was killed as a result of an assassination attempt.

The exposition of the museum reflects controversial political events and social conflicts of the first half of the 20th century, against the background of which the literature of Lviv developed. Furniture, prints, photographs, paintings, postcards, posters of Lviv at that time are presented in the interiors of the city residence.

Ukrainian modernism, "young muses", the poetry of the Sich riflemen, the mutual influence of artists from Galicia and Transnistria, the work of banned and repressed poets and writers, famous Ukrainian names in emigration - this is far from a complete list of topics covered by the museum's exhibition.

The Museum "Literary L'viv of the Early 20th Century" is a department of the Lviv Historical Museum.