Lviv is one of the oldest cities in Europe, leading its history from the middle of the XIII century. Today it is an open-air museum, where many beautiful buildings, cathedrals, built by architects from Europe at the expense of wealthy citizens, have been preserved. To get around all the museums in Lviv, it will take at least a week.
A bit about city museums
Although there are many museums in the city, you can get around everything, because most of them are small in format. The cost of visiting is also small.
To imagine how Ukrainian culture developed, one must visit the A. Sheptitsky National Museum on Svobody Ave. 20. The museum consists of 160 thousand exhibits presented in 4 expositions, among them:
- works of folk art;
- Icons
- paintings and sculptural works of the XVIII-XIX centuries.
Continuing a walk along Liberty Avenue, you need to look into house 15 - this is a museum of ethnography. It is small, and consists of only two departments, but they contain unique collections of porcelain, ceramics, watches of the XVI-XX centuries.
History Museum on Sq. The market occupies houses 4, 6, 24. This is more than 300 thousand exhibits telling about the history of the city - clothes, furniture, paintings, jewelry, watches and much more. The royal halls, in which the Polish kings and nobles, as well as the Gothic Hall, have survived. In the Italian courtyard of the museum you can drink coffee and see the pranger - a pillar of shame to which criminals were chained.
Lviv Art Gallery on Stefanyka 3 - a paradise for art lovers. Here are paintings from 40 countries, including works by Titian, Rubens, Durer, as well as Repin, Vereshchagin, Aivazovsky.
Necessarily a palace!
The palace of Count Potocki on 15 Copernicus has served more than once as a haven for filmmakers. The building is designed in the luxurious style of Louis XVI. The main halls of the first floor are amazing with stucco molding, gilding, colored marble and ceiling paintings. Now the palace has an exhibition of paintings belonging to the Museum of European Art. In the courtyard are tiny mock-ups of 8 castles built in the Lviv region.
Walk through the streets
Each tour to Lviv begins with an iconic place - Market Square. This is also a kind of museum - because the area is surrounded by 45 magnificent houses, not similar to one another. In the center rises the town hall. For many years, the square was a trading place where merchants from Europe and Asia brought rare goods. Square corners are decorated with fountains, decorated with figures of Greek gods.
The place from where the burgomaster ruled the city is the Town Hall, it is open to tourists, although it still functions as a municipal authority. Taking the elevator, and then the stairs, from the observation deck at an altitude of 65 m, you can admire stunning views of the Lviv rooftops and the city.
Then you need to stroll the streets of the old center. They are conditionally divided into Russian, Armenian and Jewish quarters - in former times they were inhabited by people of these nationalities. On Russian Street, you should pay attention to house number 20, it is decorated with ceramic inserts, the director and actor Les Kurbas worked in it. On Armenian Street, house number 20 (built by an Italian architect in the Renaissance style) and No. 23 are attracting the attention of it, it is called the “House of the Seasons” because of the facade decor. An excursion train leaves from the town hall in the historical center.
Around Market Square
Being on the square, it is necessary to inspect the following houses, in Lviv they are called "Kamenitsa":
- No. 2 - belonged to the first owner of the mail Bandinelli, now there are two museums - mail and glass.
- No. 4 - the building is amazingly black, but not painted, but became so for natural reasons. Now there is a Pharmacy Museum.
- No. 6 - belonged to King John III Sobesky, now the Historical Museum.
- No. 6 - The Palace of the Archbishops.
- No. 10, the palace of the richest surname of the Lubomirskys - now the Museum of Ethnography and Art Crafts.
All buildings are unique and not like each other, it is worth taking a closer look at the facades - they are decorated with original stucco moldings, bas-reliefs.
Museum-Reserve Lychakiv Cemetery
When viewing Lviv museums, you should definitely look at the Lychakiv cemetery (33 Mechnikova St.), where famous city residents - artists, artists, writers, Ukrainian nobles are buried. Most of the crypts (and there are about 3 thousand in all) are architectural and sculptural masterpieces, because famous masters worked on their creation.
The necropolis is more than 250 years old, there are memorials of Soviet soldiers, UPA soldiers, Lviv Eagles and participants in the Polish uprising in 1863.
Museum "Shevchenko Guy"
On the street Cherneca Gora, 1 is the ethnographic open-air museum "Shevchenko Guy" - it is more than a hundred monuments of folk architecture. Mills, huts, barns, bell towers and temples, schools, forges, cloths, estates - all buildings were removed from the western regions of Ukraine. When visiting Lviv museums, it is necessary to allocate at least half a day to Shevchenko Guy.
For ease of viewing, the expositions are combined geographically into small villages consisting of 15-20 objects. On weekends and holidays, the park hosts festivals and concerts, craftsmen work.
Churches and temples
Many temples of various faiths are also museums in Lviv. Many have exhibits on various topics, but there are also existing temples.
The oldest building is the Bernardine Church on Cathedral Square. It began to be built in the XVII century. outside the city walls, so the church has its own fortifications. There is a well near the entrance, healing water appeared in it after the burial of St. John of Dukli.
There are many churches in the city, it is worth mentioning the most interesting buildings with history:
- On the Market Square there is the Church of St. John the Baptist, which displays a collection of household and religious objects belonging to the people of Lviv.
- Church of the Jesuits of Peter and Paul, a grandiose construction of the XVII century. with a wooden crucifix.
- Church of the Claris. Now - the exhibition hall of wooden sculptures created by master John Pinzel.
- Church of St. Mary Magdalene, now the House of Chamber Music.
The cathedral of St. Jura and the Dominican Cathedral attract tourists. By the way, in the monastery at the Dominican Cathedral is the Museum of the History of Religion.
The Armenian Cathedral attracts attention, over 7 centuries it has been rebuilt more than once, and now it represents a huge complex. Tourists can view the cathedral from the inside, climb the bell tower, go into the courtyard, where the film “Three Musketeers” was shot.
Inspecting Lviv (Ukraine), you can go to the Nikolaev Church, the tomb of the Galician princes; Assumption Church, which owns the largest bell in the city named “Cyril” (its diameter is 2 m); Church of St. Olga and Elizabeth, in which you can climb the roof (and this is a height of 85 m).
