Attractions of Lviv

The oldest pharmacy in Lviv has been operating on Rynok Square for almost 300 years. The pharmacy in the townhouse "Under the Black Eagle" was opened in 1735 by a military pharmacist Franz Wilhelm Natorp, as evidenced by a wrought-iron sign with the emblem of medicine above the entrance. On both sides of the neat portal there are relief portraits of the god of healing Aesculapius and his daughter - the goddess of health Hygiene. The old interior of the trade hall, paintings by Viennese masters on the ceiling, antique scales and cash registers have been preserved.

In 1966, the Museum of the History of Pharmacy opened here, with an exposition of more than 3,000 exhibits. In the exhibition halls you can see a variety of pharmaceutical devices, reconstruction of the pharmacist's home, an underground alchemical laboratory. The courtyard recreates the view of the house of a rich burgher of the XVI-XVII centuries.

Pharmacy "Under the Black Eagle" continues to serve people today, becoming a state pharmacy № 15. In addition to drugs, you can buy the world-famous "Iron Wine" (aqueous solution of iron sugar used in iron deficiency anemia) and the popular Lviv tincture "Vigor", which is considered a means of increasing potency. Memorable souvenirs are also sold here.

Art Center "Dzyga" in Lviv is the residence of the creative association "Dzyga" - an organization of artists, public figures and entrepreneurs. It has been operating since 1993. The gallery presents contemporary art. Every night the club hosts jazz or blues concerts. At the gallery there is a cafe "Under the Hourglass" - a meeting place of Lviv bohemians with a democratic and creative atmosphere.

Archaeological Museum of the Institute of Ukrainian Studies named Ivan Krypyakevych of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has been working in Lviv since 2001. Located in the historic building of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, that previously led the Ukrainian archaeological research in Galicia. The museum presents artifacts from the Paleolithic to the late Middle Ages, found in Western Ukraine. Along with the original artifacts of stone, bone, horn, clay, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, life-size reconstructions of Paleolithic housing methods (more than 50,000 years ago) during the existence of the Trypillia culture (IV-III millennium BC), in the early Slavic period (V-VII centuries AD), the ancient methods of leather processing, drilling of stone axes, making pottery, smelting iron, etc. were reproduced. In total, more than 2,000 exhibits were presented.

The building of the Lviv House of Scientists was built by Fellner and Helmer in 1897-98 according to the project of Viennese architects F. Fellner and G. Helmer. This creative tandem also worked on the George Hotel in Lviv, the Odessa Opera House, and the Chernivtsi City Theater. The construction project was commissioned by the equestrian club. The imposing appearance of the facades of the house is in the neo-baroque style. From 1918 to 1939 the People's (aristocratic, count, noble) casino (meeting) was located here. Since 1948, the Lviv House of Scientists has been located here. Well-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 a scene from the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers" was filmed, where D'Artagnan climbed the stairs to the cardinal to play chess with him.

The Lviv Palace of Arts Exhibition Complex is the largest exhibition and cultural-artistic center of Western Ukraine. The Art Nouveau building was designed by architect Vasyl Kamenshchyk and built in 1996. The facades are decorated with classic arcade loggias and a sculpture of the patron saint of artists, St. Luke. 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 conference hall for 200 people with a stage and an art living room. It hosts such regular events as the International Publishers' Forum, Lviv Autumn Salon "High Castle", All-Ukrainian children's drawing competition "Spring Moods", the annual art exhibition dedicated to Shevchenko's days "Love Your Ukraine ...". 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 St. Nicholas Helpers Factory and hosts the National Chocolate Festival.

The State Natural History Museum 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 Didushytskyy in a reconstructed building in the early neoclassicism style of the early 19th century. In 1880 Didushitsky 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 Didushitsky, who was partially paralyzed in old age and moved in a wheelchair. For the smallest visitors, there is an interactive children's area.

National Museum in Lviv named after Andrey Sheptytsky presents an outstanding collection of works of Ukrainian national culture and art. More than 175,000 exhibits reflect the evolution of Ukrainian art culture over nine centuries. Of particular value is the collection of sacred art of the XII-XVIII centuries.

The institution was founded in 1905 by the Greek Catholic Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky as the "Church Museum", in 1913 it was solemnly donated to the Ukrainian people. The work on the organization of the museum was headed by Professor Hilarion Sventsitsky, Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevsky and others took an active part in its development.

In the spacious exhibition halls of the main museum building there is a permanent exhibition of "Ukrainian art of the XII - early XX centuries", presenting the pearls of the national and world art treasury. Among the works of Ukrainian medieval sacred art there are ancient icons: "Yuri Zmieborets" (XIV century), "Archangel Michael with deeds" (XIV century), "St. Paraskeva Friday" (XIV century), "Virgin Hodegetria" (XV century) and others. The book collections include the Buchach Gospel (13th century), the Pandects of Antiochus (1307), the editions of the first printers Schweipolt Fiol, Francis Skaryna, Ivan Fedorov, and others. Graphics, sculpture, folk art are also presented.

The departments of the Sheptytsky National Museum are the exposition "Ukrainian Art of the Twentieth Century", art and memorial museums of Ivan Trush, Oleksa Novakivsky, Olena Kulchytska, Leopold Levitsky, arranged in the former homes and creative workshops of these outstanding Ukrainian artists.

The building of the City Arsenal of Lviv is one of the preserved parts of the city fortifications of the 16th century. The first small armory existed in this place at the beginning of the 15th century, but after a fire in 1571 it was demolished and a new two-storey building for the manufacture and storage of weapons was built in 1574–1575. The architects were probably well-known Lviv builders Pavlo Shchaslyvy and Sebastian Mochygemba. On the east side, the Arsenal was adjacent to the High Defensive Wall between the Tokarivska and Shevska towers. There was a bastion in front of the building. Workshops for casting guns and bells and repairing weapons were opened at the arsenal. There was an ammunition depot nearby. Under Austrian rule in the 18th century, the building was used as an unofficial prison. In particular, it housed the Haidamaks, participants in the Koliivshchyna uprising, as the memorial plaque reminds us.

In 1981, the Arsenal Museum was opened in the premises of the City Arsenal, which represents one of the best weapons collections in the country from 30 countries. The exposition includes ancient Russian and Cossack maces, graceful Arabian sabers, daggers of the peoples of the Caucasus and the Arab East, heavy European two-handed swords, armor of Polish "winged hussars", rifles and pistols with different types of locks, guns with coats of arms and much more. Many monuments are decorated with precious metals, gems, ivory, pearls, coral, mother of pearl. And this is only a small part of the weapons collection of the Lviv Historical Museum, which has about 4.5 thousand units. The museum has an antique salon. Visually impaired visitors are offered audio description.

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 Kamianytsia). Built in 1577 by architect Peter Krasovsky. Pharmacist Jan Lorentsovych opened one of the first pharmacies in Lviv here. 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 Museum of the History of Lviv, 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 Ivan Trush Art Memorial Museum in Lviv was opened in 1989, on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the artist's birth. It is a two-storey building built in 1910 by order of the artist designed by the famous Ukrainian architect Oleksandr Lushpynsky in the style of the late Art Nouveau. He lived here with his family until the end of his life. The museum exposition presents the main pages of the painter's life and work, presents him as a prominent Ukrainian impressionist, landscape master, portraitist, author of genre compositions, as well as popularizer of Ukrainian culture, editor and publisher of Ukrainian magazines, active public figure of the early twentieth century. Portraits of prominent Ukrainian figures, paintings with views of Lviv and Kyiv, landscapes of the Crimea and the Carpathians, Italian and Egyptian landscapes, as well as family photos and memorials are presented. The Ivan Trush Museum is a branch of the National Museum in Lviv named after Andrey Sheptytsky.

The museum of the famous Ukrainian Baroque sculptor Johann Georg Pinsel (Ivan Georgy Pinzel) is located in the former church of the Poor Clares, 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 Paul the Roman 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 Stroinsky made in the XVIII century, some later plots in the southern nave belong to the brush of Tadeusz 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 Johann Georg Pinsel Museum is a department of the Lviv National Art Gallery named after Borys Voznytsky.

The palace of Lviv patrician, rich merchant of Greek origin Konstantin Korniakt 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 Peter Barbon with the participation of his student Paul Rymlianyn. For some time it was owned by the Sobieski royal family, receiving the second name "Royal Townhouse". It is in the Korniakt 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 "Korniakt 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 Leopold Levitsky Art Memorial Museum was established in the artist's former home in Lviv. Located in a house built in 1891 by Gustav Byzantium. Prominent Ukrainian graphic artist of the twentieth century Leopold Levitsky is considered one of the pioneers of Ukrainian graphic design and advertising. His museum was founded in 1984 on the initiative of the artist's wife Genya Levitskaya. The exposition in three rooms highlights the artist's creative achievements in graphics and painting, but also recreates the special environment of the Lviv intelligentsia in which he lived and worked. The Leopold Levitsky Museum is a branch of the National Museum in Lviv. Andrey Sheptytsky.

The elegant Renaissance building was built for Count Sapieha, but was later rebuilt by the architect Jan de Witte for the Lubomyrski family. From the XIX century. the building belonged to the Ukrainian society "Prosvita". Now there is an exposition of the Museum of Ancient European Furniture and Porcelain (680 items).

Lviv National Gallery of Arts named after Borys Voznytsky 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 Lozynsky. 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 Arthur Grotger, "Portrait of a Daughter" by Heinrich Rodakowski 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".