Architecture sights in Lviv
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Boyim Chapel
A highlight of Ploshcha Rynok is the Boyim Chapel just off the square’s southwest corner on pl Katedralna (Cathedral Sq). The blackened façade of the burial chapel (1617) of Hungarian merchant Georgi Boyim and his family is covered in magnificent if somewhat morbid carvings. Atop the cupola is an unusual sculpture of Christ sitting with his head in one hand, pondering his sorrows. The interior is dizzying, featuring biblical reliefs with cameo appearances by members of the Boyim family. There are more images of the family patriarchs on the exterior above the door and on the wall flanking vul Halytska.
reviewed
-
B
Dormition Church
The Ukrainian Orthodox Dormition Church is easily distinguished by the 65m, triple-tiered Kornyakt bell tower rising beside it. The tower was named after its Greek benefactor, a merchant who was also the original owner of Kornyakt House on pl Rynok. It’s well worth going inside to see the beautiful interior of the church, accessible through the gate to the right of the tower. It’s only open during daily services, at 8am and 6pm. Attached to the church is the diminutive Three Saints Chapel.
reviewed
-
C
Roman Catholic Cathedral
Opposite the Boyim Chapel, on pl Katedralna stands the working Roman Catholic Cathedral (1370-1480). Here you can see a cannonball hanging by a chain off the cathedral's corner, which miraculously failed to penetrate its walls during a historic battle. If you walk around the cathedral, you'll see a relief of Pope John Paul II on the other side, erected to commemorate his visit to Lviv in 2001.
The church's exterior is Gothic while the heavily gilded interior, one of the city's most ornate, has a more baroque feel.
reviewed
-
D
Bernardine Church and Monastery
Lviv's most stunning baroque interior belongs to the 17th-century Bernardine Church and Monastery now the Greek Catholic Church of St Andrew. The highlight is the long ceiling covered in recently restored frescoes. Sunday masses spill out into the street, filling the surrounding square with song. Walking from here back to pr Svobody, you'll pass pl Halytska and the statue of Prince Danylo Halytsky, Lviv's founder.
reviewed
-
E
Transfiguration Church
The tall copper-domed church just west of the Armenian Cathedral is the late-17th-century Transfiguration Church, the first church in the city to revert to Greek Catholicism after Ukrainian independence in 1991.
reviewed
-
F
Beis Aharon V’Yisrael Synagogue
Artefacts of Lviv’s Jewish heritage are scattered around various museums in the old town. Lviv’s only functioning synagogue is the attractive Beis Aharon V’Yisrael Synagogue, built in 1924.
reviewed
-
G
Church of St Pyatnytsa
The small Church of St Pyatnytsa has a renowned 17th-century wooden iconostasis.
reviewed
