The theme aims at closing a gap in research about
Lviv and at attracting public and scholarly interest to the preservation
of military-history monuments from the mid-nineteenth century in the
former capital of Habsburg "Galicia and Lodomeria."
Story
The theme aims at closing a gap in research about
Lviv and at attracting public and scholarly interest to the preservation
of military-history monuments from the mid-nineteenth century in the
former capital of Habsburg "Galicia and Lodomeria."
It is difficult to find direct analogues of the Lviv Citadel,
but the authorship of this fortress can easily be ascribed to a military
engineer with experience in Austrian, Prussian and French military
architecture. The subsequent history of the Citadel is presented as
part of the Center's internet project Lviv
Interactive, including the Citadel's creation and growth, its
functioning in the period of the Austrian monarchy, its role during
Polish-Ukrainian fighting in 1918, and during the Second-World-War
German occupation of Lviv, when it was turned into a brutal camp for
prisoners of war.
The Center's work on the Citadel also recognizes the importance
of the preservation and proper use of these fortifications with the
assistance of scholars as well as representatives of NGOs.
Sources: bibliographic material, field research, analysis of
cartographic material from different archives, old photographies of the
Citadel's forts and buildings, video materials and interviews.
Taras Pinyazhko is an architect, graduated from the Lviv Polytechnic National University, co-author of the article
"Architectural peculiarities of Maximilian towers in the Lviv Citadel"
(together with Yuriy Dubyk and Oleh Rybchynskyi). He has also taken part in
joint projects on the research and preservation of the Pidgoretski
castle park complex and on the preservation of architectural monuments
on the territory of Yeleniogora Valley in southwestern Poland.
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 вank and an office center.
Former Great Maximillian Tower No. 1: Two-level casemate tower with a cellar and a flat terrace, built of unplastered red brick. The building was planned as a regular heptadecagon with a round internal courtyard. Built in 1853 by an unknown architect on Wronowski Hill. Chief function of the tower was to control the city in case of an uprising and to defend the Citadel’s northern wing. As of 2008, the tower is used as a storeroom of the Vasyl Stefanyk Scientific Library.
The Great Maximillian Tower No. 2 is a double-level casemate artillery tower with a cellar and a flat terrace, built of unplastered red brick. Constructed as a regular heptadecagon with a circular internal courtyard by an unknown architect on Kalicha Hill. The tower's chief function was control of the city in case of an uprising, and defense of the Citadel's eastern wing. Beginning in early July 1941, the Nazi troops dislocated a concentration camp for prisoners of war in the Citadel, the so-called Stalag 328. According to testimony from Soviet prisoners of war, Tower No. 2 held the interrogation room and the death row cell. Beginning in 1980 the tower and the territory was used as storehouses by the Electron company. Currently (2009), the tower is being used as a hotel "Citadel Inn".
This is a double-level casemate artillery tower with a cellar and a flat terrace. Planned as a regular nonagon with a round stem with stairs in the central axis. Built of unplastered red brick by an unknown architect in 1854 up on Pelchynska Hill. The tower's chief function was defense of the Citadel's southern wing and main escape gate, located in the fortress' southern bulwarks. This tower has suffered the greatest ruins of all the towers of the Citadel. Because of large breeches and cracks in the walls, the architectural structure of the tower is clearly evident. The tower is in ruins to this day.
This is a double-level casemate artillery tower with a cellar and a flat terrace. Planned as a regular nonagon with a round stem with balanced stairs in the central axis. Built of unplastered red brick by an unknown architect in 1854 up on Pelchynska Hill. The tower's chief function was defense of the Citadel's western wing. Today (2008) the tower is in restoration and in private property.
