Building

Either lack of money or, strange though it may seem, absence of a man who would be able to bring this matter to the end, blocked up the erection of a new substantial theatre in Lviv.

Not only irresistible wish but also a business-like approach as well as financial possibilities were found by the count Stanislaw Skarbek Descendant of ancient kin, which roots ascend the 11-th century, he was very ambitious and eager to immortalize his aristocratic name by the memory not about his fantastic fortune but about his Maecenas deeds. Theatre for dramatic and opera performances, which appeared in March of 1842 in Lviv (nowadays – Lviv National Academic Drama Theatre named after Mariya Zankovetska) was the greatest of those deeds. Exactly in this theatre in 1893 the debut of the future opera primadonna Solomiya Krushelnytska took place.

For all that, rapid growth of the city of Lviv, which started at the end of the XIX-th century, showed that the city required a new, large, magnificent, properly speaking, a municipal theatre. In competition, announced in 1895, for the best design, the first prize was won by Zygmunt Gorgolewski (1845 – 1903), who was the head-master of the Lviv Art-Technical School. Having got a solid engineering-construction education after graduation from the Berlin Royal Civil Construction Academy, he was able himself to manage all kinds of work too: earth-moving civil engineering work, provision, - since the best Lviv engineers, workers, painters had been invited for accomplishment of that work. For construction of the theatre they have chosen Golukhovskykh Square, situated on the former bank of the river Poltva, which at that time was already seized by special underground collectors. There were neither private buildings, which would have been destroyed, what might have led to additional expenses nor architectural dominant hereabout. Exactly these factors had influenced on the place's choice. Nevertheless, hydrogeological conditions of that place were not utterly favourable for construction of a big communal structure.

Specialists were engaged in the development of the idea in order to elaborate the safest and most economical foundation. All works on erection of the foundation were led, besides Z.Gorgolewski, by B.Bogucki. At the beginning they put on the previously prepared base a layer of concrete with inserted steel reinforcement. On that base they faced walls with masonry – up to the height of the sub-basement's premises floor. Then, they constructed walls of bricks. In order to remove underground water the structure had been by-passed with drain-pipes (diameter – 16cm). Similar kinds of work had to be carried out during 8 years after inauguration of the theatre.

Main structural elements of the building are made of a local limestone (Polyanskiy quarry), all code's area – of a hard Ternopil sandstone. Walls are plastered with a lime solution. Outward, in contradistinction to other theatres of that time, does not produce a faint allusion to the interior plan of distribution of the circles.

Construction lasted forty months. Architectural style of the theatre – pseudo – Renaissance, which is called either Viennese or Italian. As a whole, elements and details characteristic to different architectural styles had been used here.