The Lviv State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater was built in 1897-1900 under a project designed by architect Zygmunt Gorgolewski. The building is erected in historicist style and influenced by the so-called Vienna Neo-Renaissance. The monumental theater building has occupied a key position in the architectural ensemble of the city’s main avenue created in the late 19^th – early 20^th century.

History

On 12 July 1895 a competition for the project of a new theater was announced by the Lviv's magistrate; however, due to the harsh conditions of the competition, only two projects were received by the Competition Committee before the deadline (1 January 1896). The first prize was given to a project entitled "Ludendo monet" designed by architect Zygmunt Gorgolewski, while the second one was given to a project "Justitia" designed by Jan Zawiejski.

Both architects were given time till 30 April 1896 to complete their projects. The competition was finally won by architect Zygmunt Gorgolewski, who was also the director of the Lviv Applied Art school. Many elements of the building's external and internal design were also executed under his projects later; it is for this building that he was decorated with the Order of the Iron Crown (3rd class) in 1901. Architect Jan Noworyta was his immediate assistant.

The theater was built in 1897-1900. To lay the theater's foundations, the architect proposed to change the channel of the river Poltva, which then flowed under the street from the side of what is now the Maria Zankovetska theater and under the Rizni square.

All the construction works were supervised by the Theater Building Committee, headed by the then president of the city Godzimir Malachowski. The Committee consisted of the vice-presidents of the city Michał Michalski and Stanisław Ciuchciński, who used to come to the building site every day; apart from them, the following members of the City Council were on the committee: architects and builders Andrzej Gołąb, Józef Kajetan Janowski, Wincenty Rawski; Polytechnic professors Roman Dzieślewski and Bronisław Pawelski; lawyers Edward Lilien and Alexander Mariański; University professor Ludwik Rydygier; doctor Edward Strojnowski. Zygmunt Gorgolewski (who acted as both artistic and technical construction manager), director of the city building administration Juliusz Hochberger, Magistrate advisor Bolesław Ostrowski, city engineer Maciej Czerny-Schwarzenberg, delegates of the Provincial Department (the Galician Sejm's executive body) Tadeusz Romanowicz and Wladysław Łoziński, a renowned historian and collector of art, were on the Committee too.

The construction works (including earth and concrete works, brickwork and stonework) were conducted by Ivan Levynskyi's (Jan Lewiński) and Józef Sosnowski's architectural and building company.

Earth works were started on 5 June 1897. The foundation pit (16,500 m³) was dug by hand. In so doing, the foundations of old fortification walls and the remains of oak piles were revealed, which once reinforced the banks of the Poltva. These foundations must have been related to the bastion on a little island, built in 1703 to protect the north-western corner of the Low Castle; it crossed the pit obliquely. On 21 August 1897 workers started to place concrete into the strip foundation under the future theater building. The foundation was approved by a special theater committee, led by Gwalbert Ziembicki and created by the Polytechnic Society members. The asphalt waterproofing was arranged by the asphalt and ruberoid factory owned by Stanisław Szeliga Łyszkiewicz.

Carpentry works were done by Krykiewicz's company, joinery by the company of the Wczeliak brothers, painting works by the company of Preidl and Kaczorowski, glass works by the company of Kupfer and Glanser, tin works by Henryk Bogdanowicz's company, blacksmith and locksmith works by the company of Gottlieb and Svoboda. Metal structures for the roof bridging and stage constructions were provided by the Sanok machines and carriages factory; electric lighting was arranged by the Siemens and Halske company from Germany. The ventilation of the opera theater was provided by the Johannes Haas company from Vienna in alliance with Władysław Niemeksza (1862-1905), a Lviv citizen. Fresh air came to the theater premises from a nearby booth (located near the side façade of the Stanisław Skarbek's old theater, now the Maria Zankovetska Theater).

In the booth, constructed in the shape of a rotonda, air was cooled and cleaned and then fed into the hall through a system of holes made in the floor. Used air was eliminated through a series of air vents located under the edges and in the four corners of the ceiling and covered with decorated gratings. These gratings were made according to drafts designed by the theater architect, Zygmunt Gorgolewski. Air was then brought out through four ventilation shafts, which were disguised as decorative lanterns at the corners of the theater's dome.

The theater was solemnly opened on 4 October 1900. Shortly, however, the soil under the theater began to sink to a greater extent than expected, and cracks began to appear in the theater walls. In the meantime, Zygmunt Gorgolewski died suddenly due to aortic paralysis in July of 1903.

The monumental main stage curtain, with its picturesque allegorical composition "Parnassus," is of high artistic value; Henryk Siemiradzki, a renowned academic-style artist who lived in Rome at that time, was commissioned to make it for the theater. The artist did not manage to implement the order in time before the opening of the theater, so the curtain was brought to Lviv on 16 October 1900 and was first demonstrated to the audience on 13 January 1901. Since 1967 this picture of Siemiradzki has been owned by the Lviv Art Gallery.

In 1978-1984 a reconstruction of the theater was carried out. It was at that time that the stage curtain was restored. It is protected carefully, and now it can be seen only at premiere performances and during major celebrations. A bronze sculpture of the theater patroness, famous Ukrainian singer Solomiya Krushelnytska, was placed in the center of the theater hall in 2002.












If you would like to help with the interior or building:

Discord: discord.gg/F6G4MpS