Pl. Kropyvnytskoho, 1 – The SS. Olha and Elizabeth (former St. Elizabeth) church

1904-1911 – the church is constructed.
1914-1915 – three bells and copper tin are requisitioned, the tin is replaced with tarred roofing paper.
1918-1919 – the façades are damaged.
1926 – an organ is made; a Neo-Baroque ambo is made (sculptors Petro Viytovych and L. Repichowski).
1930 – the main altar is made.
1933 – stained glass windows are made.
1935-1936 – a crypt is constructed; the church roofs are covered with copper tin.
1939 – an aerial bomb explodes near the church damaging its walls, stained glass windows, and spires.
1962 – the cross on the clock tower is cut off.
1980s – the church spires are covered with copper tin anew.
1992 – repair and restoration works are started: the roofs are covered entirely; the windows are glazed; the interior walls are whitewashed; the mensa is replaced with an altar; ten sculptures of the apostles are restored.
1994 – a cross is again installed on the clock tower.
1996-1998 – stained glass windows are made in the sanctuary by Valeriy Shalenko.
2003 – the church territory is fenced around with a metal railing.
2007 – a heating system is arranged in the floor.
2008 – the floor is paved with ceramic tales; some repair and restoration works are conducted on the façades and roof (window rosettes are restored; decorative stone elements are restored).
2009-2011 – repair and restoration works are conducted on the level of the clock tower’s upper tier, lost elements being recreated; the basements and some premises in the towers are adapted as class rooms; all staircases and the stone stairs leading to the main entrance to the church are repaired.

The idea of the construction of the St. Elizabeth church in Lviv was suggested in the late 19th   century, not long after the tragic death of the Austrian empress Elisabeth, also known as Sisi. It was to be a parish church of Lviv's western suburb which was being actively built up at that time. In 1894 a committee for the construction was created; according to the permission given by the emperor Franz Joseph I, the committee received the Soliarni (from 1924, Bilczewskogo) square between contemporary Horodotska, Sheptytskykh and Bandery streets, with the total area of 1000 square fathoms (sazhens). In 1898 the committee purchased a few neighbouring plots, with the area of 200 square fathoms (sazhens).

According to the intention of the Catholic authorities, the St. Elizabeth church had to accentuate the Polishness of Lviv, in contrast to the Greek Catholic St. George cathedral. It was decided at once that the church would be consecrated to St. Elizabeth of Hungary, the patroness of the Emperor, as well as in honour of the latter’s wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria (Habsburg). On 5 March 1902 a contest was announced for the best project of St. Elizabeth church. The construction total cost was not to exceed 700 thousand Rhenish guldens, landscape and interior works not included. The funds for the construction were collected due to charitable donations from Lviv railway workers.

The church was to be constructed in the style of late Romanesque or early Gothic architecture, built of stone and brick with open masonry; it was to accommodate 2200 persons, including 500 seats.

19 projects took part in the contest; a design entitled "Trio"  by Teodor Talowski, a professor of Lviv Polytechnic and architect Julian Zachariewicz’s disciple, was acknowledged the best. The construction of the church was conducted by engineer Karol Richtman’s company and administered by Jan Noworyta. Digging of basement ditches was started in September of 1904; on 15 October 1905 the cornerstone with the foundation act was laid by the archbishop Bilczewski. The walls were being built till August of 1908. In 1908-1911 the roof was made by Franciszek Brzozowicz’s company; in 1910 three bells, made by the Felczynskis’ company, were installed. Antoni Barszczewski’s company started to pave the floor in February of 1911. Stone window tracery was made by masters from Demnia, a village not far from Mykolaiv on the Dnister, headed by Yakiv Mykhaniv; glass windows panes and frames were made at Feliks Gretchel’s workshop in Lviv. A Great attention was paid to sculpture decorations on the façade and stone carving in the exterior and interior. The following well-known Lviv artists took part in making the décor of the church: painter Kazimierz Sichulski, sculptors Petro Viytovych and Tadeusz Błotnicki, architect and sculptor Janina Reichert-Toth, Ludomil Gyurkovich, Józef Szostakiewicz, Wawrzyniec Dajczak, Jadwiga Gorodyska. The church was consecrated on 22 October 1911 while the works in the interior were still going on. The expenditure of the church construction made up 1 544 378 crowns, the amount exceeding the originally planned sum almost twice.

During the First World War three bells and copper tin were requisitioned, the tin replaced with tarred roofing paper. In 1913 the construction management was given permission to built premises where the altars for the church were to be made instead of the provisional ones which were installed initially. In 1926 an organ was installed in the church; it was one of the biggest organs in Poland made by a known Polish company belonging to brothers Dominik and Wacław Biernacki. In 1930 a new marble Art Deco altar was installed in place of the provisional main altar; the authors of the altar were architects Ludomil Gyurkovich and Józef Szostakiewicz as well as sculptor Janina Reichart-Toth, a graduate of the Lviv Artistic and Industrial School and Cracow Academy of Arts. It was also she who carved the sculptures of St. Elizabeth and St. Stanislaus as well as statues of angels made of artificial stone. The altar was produced at the Czartoryjskis’ factory in Zhuravno. In 1926 a Neo-Baroque ambo was made by sculptors Petro Viytovych and L. Repichowski; it has been preserved. In 1933, according to a project by Wawrzyniec Dajczak, ornamental stained glass windows were made by the Zilieńskis’ company; unfortunately, they have been lost. In 1935-1936 a crypt was constructed, the church roofs were covered with copper tin again. It was planned to build a parish building and a boarding school on the square near the church at that time; however, these plans were never realized.

When Lviv was bombarded in 1939, an aerial bomb exploded near the church damaging its walls and spires. The last Divine Service was celebrated in the church in May of 1946; after the mass it was closed. In the Soviet times it was used as a storehouse. In 1962 the cross was cut off. In 1991 the church was handed over to the local Greek Catholic community and consecrated to SS. Olha and Elizabeth. F. Mykhailo Fedoriv became the parish priest, and active repair works were started in the church in 1992. The roofs were covered completely; the windows were re-glazed. During the reconstruction the Latin altar was dismantled and replaced with a Greek Catholic one. Graduates of the Lviv Ivan Trush Decorative and Applied Art College recreated ten sculptures of the apostles as their diploma projects (two sculptures have been preserved). On 19 May 1994 a cross weighing 400 kg was again installed on the clock tower; it was made at the Lviv Locomotive Repair Plant. The restoration of the interior lasted till 1995. In 1996-1998 Valeriy Shalenko made stained glass windows in the apse. In 2000-2003 the church territory was fenced around with a metal forged railing made by the workers of the plant mentioned above. Repair and restoration works are still being conducted in the church. In the course of 2005-2011, a heating system was arranged in the floor (2007); the floor was paved with ceramic tales (2008); the roofs were repaired; some exterior repair and restoration works were conducted: window rosettes were restored; old wooden window frames were replaced with some plastic; decorative stone elements were restored; some lost elements are recreated. During the last few years the basements and some premises in the towers were adapted as class rooms; all stairs were repaired, including the metal winding stairs in the towers and the stone stairs leading to the main entrance to the church.

The church is an active dominant not only in the housing of the western part of the city but also in its landscape.