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 we althy citizens, have been preserved. It will take at least a week to visit all the museums in Lviv.
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 size. The cost of visiting is also small.
To imagine how Ukrainian culture developed, you should visit the National Museum named after A. Sheptytsky at 20, Svobody Avenue. The museum consists of 160 thousand exhibits presented in 4 expositions, among them:
- folk art;
- icons;
- paintings and sculptures of the XVIII-XIX centuries.
Continuing your walk along Svoboda Avenue, you should look into house 15 - this is a museum of ethnography. It is small and consists of only two departments, but they present unique collections of porcelain, ceramics, watches of the 16th-20th centuries.
Historical Museum on Sq. The market occupies houses 4, 6,24. These are more than 300 thousand exhibits telling about the history of the city - clothes, furniture, paintings, jewelry, watches and much more. The royal halls where Polish kings and nobles stayed, as well as the Gothic Hall, have been preserved. In the Italian courtyard of the museum, you can drink coffee and watch the pranger - a pillar of shame to which criminals were chained.
Lviv Art Gallery on Stefanik, 3 is a paradise for art lovers. Here are paintings from 40 countries of the world, including works by Titian, Rubens, Durer, as well as Repin, Vereshchagin, Aivazovsky.
Definitely a palace
The Palace of Count Potocki at Copernicus 15 has served as a haven for filmmakers more than once. The building is designed in the luxurious style of Louis XVI. The ceremonial halls of the first floor amaze with stucco, gilding, colored marble and ceiling paintings. Now the palace has an exhibition of paintings belonging to the Museum of European Art. In the courtyard there are tiny models of 8 castles built in the Lviv region.
Walking through the streets
Each tour to Lviv starts from a symbolic place - Rynok Square. This is also a kind of museum - after all, the square is surrounded by 45 magnificent houses, not similar to one another. The town hall rises in the center. For many years the square was a trading place where merchants from Europe and Asia brought rare goods. Areal corners are decorated with fountains, decorated with figures of Greek gods.
The place where the burgomaster ruled the city is the City Hall, it is open to tourists, althoughstill performs the functions of the municipal government. Taking the elevator and then going up the stairs, from the observation platform at a height of 65 m, you can admire a beautiful view of the rooftops of Lviv and the city.
Then you need to walk the streets of the old center. Conventionally, they are divided into Russian, Armenian and Jewish quarters - in the old days they were inhabited by people of these nationalities. On Russkaya Street, you should pay attention to the house number 20, it is decorated with ceramic inserts, the director, actor Les Kurbas worked in it. Houses No. 20 (built by an Italian architect in the Renaissance style) and No. 23 attract attention on Armenian Street - it is called the "House of the Seasons" because of the facade decoration. A sightseeing train departs from the town hall through the historical center.
Around Rynok Square
Being on the square, you should definitely look at the following houses, in Lviv they are called "stone houses":
- 2 - belonged to the first owner of the Bandinelli post office, now there are two museums - post office and glass.
- №4 - the building is amazingly black, but not painted, but became so for natural reasons. Now there is a Pharmacy Museum.
- 6 - belonged to King Jan III Sobieski, now the Historical Museum.
- 6 - The Palace of the Archbishops.
- №10, the palace of the richest family of Lubomirsky - now the Museum of Ethnography and Artistic Crafts.
All buildings are unique and different from each other, you should look closely at the facades - they are decorated with original stucco molding, bas-reliefs.
Museum-Reserve Lychakiv Cemetery
When looking at the museums of Lviv, you should definitely look at the Lychakiv Cemetery (Mechnikova St., 33), where famous residents of the city are buried - artists, artists, writers, Ukrainian nobility. Most of the crypts (and there are about 3 thousand in total) 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 Eaglets" and participants of the Polish uprising in 1863
Museum "Shevchenko Guy"
On the street. Chernecha Gora, 1 is an open-air ethnographic museum "Shevchenko Hai" - more than a hundred monuments of folk architecture. Mills, huts, barns, bell towers and temples, schools, forges, fullers, estates - all buildings were taken out of the western regions of Ukraine. When visiting the museums of Lviv, it is necessary to allocate at least half a day to Shevchenko Hai.
For the convenience of viewing, the expositions are geographically grouped into small villages, consisting of 15-20 objects. On weekends and holidays, festivities and concerts are organized in the park, craftsmen work.
Churches and temples
Many temples of various confessions are also museums in Lviv. Many have expositions on various topics, but there are also functioning temples.
The oldest building is the Bernardine Church on Cathedral Square. It began to be built in the 17th century. outside the city walls, so the church has its own fortifications. Near the entrance there is a well, healing water appeared in it afterburial of St. John of Dukla.
There are a lot of churches in the city, it is worth mentioning the most interesting buildings with history:
- On Rynok Square is the Church of St. John the Baptist, which exhibits a collection of household and religious items that belonged to the people of Lviv.
- Church of the Jesuits Peter and Paul, a grandiose building of the 17th century. with wooden crucifix.
- Church of the Claris. Now - an exhibition hall of wooden sculptures created by master John Pinzel.
- Church of St. Mary Magdalene, now the House of Chamber Music.
St. George's Cathedral and the Dominican Cathedral attract the attention of tourists. By the way, the Museum of the History of Religion is located in the monastery at the Dominican Cathedral.
The Armenian Cathedral draws attention. Over the 7 centuries it has been rebuilt more than once, and now it is 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 filmed.
While looking around Lvov (Ukraine), you can go to the St. Nicholas Church, the tomb of the Galician princes; Assumption Church, which owns the largest bell in the city named "Kirill" (its diameter is 2 m); Church of St. Olga and Elizabeth, in which you can climb to the roof (and this is a height of 85 m).
Fun Museums
If the main attractions are explored, what else to see in Lviv? On the territory of the brewery on the street. Kleparovskaya, 18, the Museum of Brewing was opened. How the intoxicating drink was brewed before, and how it is brewed now can be found in this museum.
Museum-Pharmacy in Lviv on the street. Printed, 2. It was opened in 1735 and is still working. The exposition is presented in 16 halls - there is something to see!
Museum, which presents vintage motorcycles - on the street. Dashkevicha, 2. The Museum of Ukrainian military uniform is located on Rynok Square, 40. On the street. Podvalnaya, 5 you can see the former city Arsenal, it was also a prison and the place of residence of the Lviv executioner. Now in the halls of the Arsenal there are thousands of samples of various weapons from 30 countries of the world.
