Lviv Interactive

In 1950, the Virgin Lady Statue, which previously stood here, was dismounted and moved to the Boyim Chapel for preservation. A chalice, supported by tritons, mythological sea monsters, was put in its place. The project for the reconstruction of the fountain was developed by the famous Lviv architect Anatolii Konsulov; the chalice and the tritons were authored by Lviv sculptor Yevhen Dzyndra.

A stone well in the center of Ferdinand Square was constructed in 1846-1847, following the design by the local sculptor Johann Schimser. Flights of stairs led up to the well from two sides. In the center of the well stool a large urn, or according to a different record the statue of Archduke Ferdinand D'Este, after whom the square was named.

Former defence barracks were the military personnel living quarters and dislocation premises. The building was a core element of the Citadel complex. The building has two levels and two defense towers on the flanks. Built of unplastered red brick. Once home to the Austrian 30th Infantry Regiment. In 1864-65 the prison cells of the building held organizers and activists of the Polish February Uprising. In November 1918 the place served as quarters for the Ukrainian Sich Sharpshooters, and held a hospital for the wounded in the district of Citadel – Ossolineum. In the Polish period the building housed the 19th Infantry Regiment. In 1941-1944 the barracks, rearranged as prison cells, held Soviet, French, Belgian and Italian prisoners of war. In 1944-1980 the place housed the Soviet military detachments and sports company. From 1990 to the present day the barracks house the Electron Bank and an office center.

The statue was put here in 1904, after being moved from the center of the square to free the space for a monument to poet Adam Mickiewicz. To find the best architectural and artistic solution for the new space and the surroundings of the statue, the city authorities held a competition, which was won by the local architect Michał Łużecki. Łużecki developed a project of a well with an active fountain traditional for city squares, placing the Virgin Maty statue on a high pedestal at the center of the well. The statue was dismounted in the early postwar years, and moved to the Boim chapel.

The synagogue was constructed in Renaissance style in 1582-1595 from brick and stone by architect Paweł Szczęśliwy (Pavlo Shchaslyvyi) and funded by the wealthy Nachmanowicz family. The synagogue would have been one of the oldest within the current borders of Ukraine. Yet in August 1941, all its religious objects were plundered and in 1943 it was demolished by explosives by the Nazis. The ruins that remain today, long neglected but undergoing some preservation efforts recently, are a symbol of the tragedy of Lviv’s Jews.