Skip to content
  • Home
  • Physical Traces
    • Architecture
    • Ghost Signs
    • Infrastructure
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Music
    • Language
  • History
    • Historical Figures
    • Old Postcards & Photographs
    • Societies & Cooperatives
  • Learn & Listen
    • Reading List
    • Playlist
    • Songs from Gimpel’s Lemberg Yiddish Theatre 1906-1910
    • Watchlist
    • Online Resources
  • Glossaries
    • Architectural Styles in Lviv
    • Architectural & Infrastructural Terms
    • Lviv Architects
    • Galician Ukrainian Lexicon
  • Galicia Today
    • Lviv Guides
    • Genealogy Research & Heritage Tours
  • About
    • What is Galicia?
    • Concept & About Me
    • Support Me
  • English
    • English
    • Українська
Forgotten Galicia

Forgotten Galicia

Remnants of the past found in Lviv, Galicia & the former Austrian Empire

Tag: women's history

Country of Roxolania: Ukrainian Women in the First World War

January 22, 2022

By Mariana Baidak for Lokalna Istoriya (original in Ukrainian) “Out of my love for Ukraine, I took a rifle and went to the field to beat the enemy with physical force,” said Olena Stepaniv, the most famous Ukrainian military woman, more than 100 years ago. Since then, the issue of […]

Read More

Forgotten Galicia

forgottengalicia

At the beginning of this year, the stained-glass s At the beginning of this year, the stained-glass skylight in the building at 11б Konovaltsia Street was restored. At the end of last summer, I had visited the building and seen it in its original, time-worn state. Then, just a couple of weeks ago—exactly a year later—I returned to see the restored skylight. What a beauty!

The restoration was funded by the building’s residents and carried out by Lviv-based restorer Maria Shumska-Barvinok. Maria managed to preserve a large portion of the original colored glass and carefully recreated the missing pieces. Veterans were also involved in the restoration process, which became a meaningful part of their transition back to peaceful civilian life. 

The building, an example of rational Secession style, was constructed in 1911 based on a design by architect Henryk Orlean.

I’ve included a few before images, as well as drawings from the building plans, showing the skylight from a side view of the building and the ground floor plan. 

#skylights #archidetails #architecturalheritage #archihunter #archilovers #artnouveaustyle #lviv #ukraine
#oldtiles #olddoors #artnouveaustyle #makersmark # #oldtiles #olddoors #artnouveaustyle #makersmark #lviv
A few niches containing statues of the Virgin Mary A few niches containing statues of the Virgin Mary. Found in old houses of the former suburban settlement of Zamarstyniv/Zamarstynów, which was incorporated into Lviv in 1930.

#lviv #lwów #archidetails #niches #niche #virginmary #archihunter #oldhouselove #oldhouses #ukraine
Mercury Art Center has opened the exhibition “Sh Mercury Art Center has opened the exhibition “Shadows of the Imperial” in the historic former Imperial Hotel building—originally constructed to house the Directorate of the Imperial-Royal State Railways of Eastern Galicia. Following the exhibition, the center plans to fully restore the building and transform it into a permanent art space.

The history of the building: Between 1885 and 1887, a building for the Directorate of the Imperial-Royal State Railways of Eastern Galicia was constructed in a combination of Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque styles, designed by Wincenty Rawski Jr.

In 1913, the railway directorate moved, while one of the most prestigious hotels in Lviv at the time — the Hotel Imperial, which had been operating there since 1892 — remained at the building. The Café Europejska also continued to operate there.

Since the end of World War II, the building has housed offices of various institutions. In particular, during Soviet times in the 1950s, it was home to a secondary agricultural school for training collective farm (kolkhoz) chairmen. From 1992 to 2019, the regional office of the State Property Fund of Ukraine in the Lviv region was located there.

The current exhibition: “The project explores how the shadows of past empires have been preserved within the walls of a building—its architectural solutions and decorative elements. Through ironic imagery and artistic gestures, the artist seeks to reinterpret our colonial past. Using art, he aims to analyze the imperial legacy and find a new point of support in the present, which is still permeated by the ‘ruins of empires.’

"The exhibition spans three floors and the attic of the building, encompassing 86 rooms and over 300 exclusive works. It is the most large-scale exhibition project in the practice of Oleh Tistol. Each room serves as a meeting point: between the heritage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the visual codes of the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.”
Stairway details | painted glass (faux stained gla Stairway details | painted glass (faux stained glass), original wooden doors and overdoors, tile, balustrade 

#stainedglasswindows #archidetails #architecturehunter #archilovers #lviv #ukraine
In 2021, one of the last original villas on Konova In 2021, one of the last original villas on Konovaltsia Street was demolished to make way for a new modern apartment building. The developer had promised to preserve the villa’s façade, which was to be hidden behind the new construction, but that promise was not kept. The façade now visible in the courtyard appears to be a modern reproduction rather than the original.

Built in 1898, the villa was designed by architect Władysław Rausch for Joanna Lorenz. It was constructed in the historicist style with Neo-Baroque elements and featured a wooden veranda on the main façade. One of its distinctive details was a niche containing a statue of the Virgin Mary. In a photo I took around 2011, the statue was still in place, but by 2020, it had already disappeared. The building also preserved an old street sign: 21 ul. 29 Listopada.

Though the villa had been in poor condition for years, it was one of my favorite houses in that part of the city. On Sunday, I visited the neighboring courtyard for the first time to see what remained.

Interestingly, that courtyard contains an old horse stable that was converted into housing in the early 20th century. 

In this post, you can see images of the villa before (с. 2011 and 2020) and after demolition, along with photos of the former stable and 1907 building plans showing its adaptation into living quarters.

#oldvilla #villas #villa #oldhouse #oldhouselove #houseportrait #housenumbers #niches #niche #virginmary #horsestable #courtyards #archidetails #architecturehunter #archihunter #lviv #lwów #lemberg #galicia #ukraine
#staircase #windingstaircase #staircases #stairwel #staircase #windingstaircase #staircases #stairwells #woodwork #stairway #staircase #archidetails #architecturehunter #archilovers #lviv #ukraine
Last month, while in Vienna, I visited Baden bei W Last month, while in Vienna, I visited Baden bei Wien, a spa town just outside the city. Once an imperial summer residence, it is now a popular destination known for its thermal baths, beautiful parks, and the Beethoven museum—commemorating the many summers the composer spent there. Turns out the town was also a favored retreat for Galicians before World War I, and even Ivan Franko spent time there.

#baden #badenbeiwien #spatown #imperialresidence #austrohungarianempire #austrianempire #austria
Guard stones, which once protected walls from dama Guard stones, which once protected walls from damage by horse-drawn carriages

#guardstones #guardstone #chasseroue #archidetails #metalwork #addictedtodetails #archihunter #archilovers #lviv #lwów #ukraine
Follow on Instagram




Tags

architecture Austrian Empire Galicia ghost signs hand-painted signs interwar Poland Lviv manufacturer's mark music old photographs

Archives




Forgotten Galicia
Instagram Facebook
© 2012-2025