Vul. Teatralna, 13 – St. Peter and Paul Church (former Jesuit Church) ID: 183
The Jesuit church is located in the historic center of Lviv, near the former western side of the town fortifications. This is one of the biggest churches of the city, an example of a baroque and Renaissance basilica built upon the pattern of the Il Gesù church in Rome by well-known architects, sculptors, carvers and painters. According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR number 970 dated 23 August 1963, the Jesuit church was entered in the National list of monuments under protection number 338.
Story
1590 — the first wooden church is built.1610 — the corner stone of the stone church is laid and consecrated.
1610–1614 — the church is constructed under Sebastian Lamchius’ management.
1612–1613 — some interior parts are made.
1615–1618 — the church construction is suspended.
1618–1621 — the construction is resumed under the management of Giacomo Briano and Albert Ragonius.
1624 — the side chapel of St. Benedict is consecrated, and the construction is suspended again.
1626 — the construction is resumed.
1629 — the construction is made more active.
1630 — the church is consecrated.
1638 — the vault is decorated with stucco carvings and paintings by Maciej Klimkowicz.
1644 — the organs are consecrated.
1702 — a belfry tower is built over the southern sacristy.
1720s–1730s — gravestones of Elżbieta Sieniawska and the Jabłonowskis, the wardens of the Jesuit college construction, are placed in the church.
1734 — the church is burnt down.
1730s-1740s — the church is renovated at the expense of Elżbieta Szczuczyna.
1740 — the main nave is painted by Franz Eckstein.
1740 — the side naves and chapels are painted by Sebastian Eckstein.
1741 — St. Benedict chapel is built at the expense of Maria Dzieduszycka.
1742–1744 — a big altar is made by Sebastian Fesinger.
1754 — the belfry tower is provided with a clock.
1754–1759 — two side altars are made.
1773 — the church is adapted to serve as the garrison one; its architecture is slightly changed; the Dzieduszycki chapel is abolished.
1830 — the belfry tower is dismantled.
1837 — an icon of St. Philomena for a side altar is painted by Frederick Rinn.
1840s — portraits of the Jesuit church founders are painted by Marcin Jabłoński.
1842 — a table reading: "D.O.M. Haec aedes sacra inchoata 1610 dedicata 1630 restaurata 1842" is placed.
1843 — icons of SS. Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier for two side altars are painted by Alojzy Reichan.
1844 — a new ambo is made.
1848 — the roof and the narthex are damaged.
1879–1891 — some repairs are carried out in the church.
1892 — St. Benedict chapel is renovated, with a new altar and stained glass windows produced by Tiroler glasmalerei und Mosaic Ansalt enterprise.
1894 — the façade is renovated, four figures are placed in the lower tier niches (Feliks Pawliński).
1905 — the icon of Our Lady of Consolation is crowned and fenced off with a forged grating (Antoni Popiel); a new antependium for the crowned icon altar is made (Piotr Wójtowicz).
1906 — the floor is laid anew with marble slabs.
1909 — St. Benedict chapel is renovated (D. Kryczkowski, A. Teodorowicz).
1918 — the vault in the nave in front of the altar and the roof are broken through.
1920s — repairs are carried out and a new floor is made.
1944 — the roof and the vault over the very altar are damaged.
1946 — the most valuable things are taken away from the church, in particular, the crowned icon of Our Lady.
1959 — the roof is restored; a new flèche is made.
1970s — the church is turned over to the Lviv V. Stefanyk Scientific Library of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine as a book depository of the exchange funds.
Late 1990s — archaeological excavations are carried out; the basement premises under the southern nave are restored and the Ravlyk gallery is created there.
2010 — the church is transferred to the possession of the curia of the Lviv archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
The
Jesuit order was founded by Ignatius (Ignacio) of Loyola, a Spaniard,
in Paris in 1534 as the Society of Jesus and was affirmed by Pope
Paul III in 1540. The Society spread rapidly not only in the
Christian world, but also to India (1542), Japan (1549), China (1563)
etc.
Jesuits
were invited to Lviv by Jan Solikowski, the Roman Catholic bishop of
Lviv, in 1584. The first wooden church was built at the expense of
Sofia Hanzlowa, a Lviv citizen, in 1590, on a plot near the western
side of the town defensive walls where the Jesuit wicket was made,
not far from the Holy Cross church belonging to the Franciscan
monastery. Having collected a rather large amount of money, the
Jesuits started to think of constructing a stone church. In 1603 the
king, Zygmunt III, granted them a large plot in the town's Jewish
quarter, including the Golden Rose synagogue. Due to the Jewish
community's opposition, however, they had to look for another plot
which was finally allotted by the Roman Catholic chapter of Lviv. It
was a free plot where the building of Mikołaj Mielecki, the voivode
of Podolia, had been burnt. The plot was situated close to the ground
where the little wooden church founded by Hanzlowa stood. In 1610 the
corner stone was solemnly laid and consecrated by Jan Zamojski, the
Roman Catholic bishop of Lviv. The construction of the church was
started and managed till 1614 by Sebastian Lamchius, a Jesuit father.
It is not known whether he was only the manager of construction or
the project was drawn by him as well. The church architecture is
designed upon the pattern of the Il Gesù church in Rome which was
built by architects Giacomo Barozzi da Vigniola and Giacomo della
Porta in 1570 and became the pattern for the churches of the Jesuit
order. The Il Gesù church type is first of all expressed in the main
façade composition. Different masters, including those for the
interior works, were immediately engaged by the Lviv Jesuits'
construction company. Iwan Molenda, a carver, Maciej Klymkowicz, a
painter, and Maciej Krajczyński, an organ builder, worked there as
early as 1612-1613. However, the construction could not go without
problems caused by some legal collisions which had to do with the
ownership of a part of the ground claimed by Mikołaj Adamowicz, a
Lviv cobbler. From 1615 till 1618 the works were suspended. In
1618-1621, after the construction was resumed, it was managed by Br.
Giacomo Briano from Modena, a Jesuit architect. He was assisted by
Br. Albert Ragonius. The huge building of the church required huge
amounts of money that were collected from donors. In 1624 the first
side chapel of St. Benedict was consecrated, and the work was
suspended again. The construction was resumed in 1626 and made more
active in 1629 when the Jesuits received huge funds from Elżbieta Sieniawska, the wife of the
Grand Marshal of the Crown, Prokop Sieniawski. In 1630 the church was
completed and consecrated by Jan Andrzej Pruchnicki, the archbishop
of Lviv. In 1630 the vault was decorated with stucco carvings and
paintings by Maciej Klimkowicz. In 1644 an organ made at the expense
of a man named Grochowski was consecrated.
In
1702 a belfry tower was built over the southern sacristy under a
project drawn up by Marcin Godny; it became the tallest tower in Lviv
(c. 100 m) and was provided with a clock in 1754. In the 1720s–1730s
the gravestones of Elżbieta Sieniawska (Gostomska), Jan
Jabłonowski, Jan Stanisław Jabłonowski and Jan Wincenty
Jabłonowski, who had been wardens of the Jesuit college
construction, were placed in the church.
In
the eighteenth century the church architecture was changed twice, in
1734 and 1773. In 1734 the church was burnt down; it was then
renovated at the expense of Elżbieta
Szczuczyna (Potocka). In 1740 the main nave was painted by Franz
Gregor Ignaz Eckstein, a
native of Brno; after his death the side naves and chapels were
painted by his son Sebastian Eckstein. In 1741 the St. Benedict
chapel was built at the expense of Maria Dzieduszycka, a magnate,
while the Dzieduszycki family chapel was arranged in the oldest
chapel of the same saint, which had been the first to be consecrated.
In 1744–1747 a big altar was made by Sebastian Fesinger; two side
altars were made in 1754 and 1759. In 1742–1744 the stalli (seats)
and confessionals of SS. Jerome and Mary the Egyptian were carved by
carver Jan (Johann) Beckert and gilded and painted by painter
Piławecki.
After
the Jesuit order was suppressed by Pope Clemens XIV in 1773, the
church was adapted to serve as the garrison church of the Austrian
army military command, its architecture being slightly changed. The
Dzieduszycki chapel was abolished at that time. The belfry tower was
dismantled in 1830, after the town hall tower collapsed in 1828.
Pope
Pius VII restored the Society of Jesus in 1814, and Jesuits came back
to Lviv in 1820. An icon of St. Philomena for a side altar was
painted by Frederick Rinn in 1837. Portraits of the Jesuit church
founders, including those of Elżbieta
Sieniawska, Ferdinand
d'Este, and bishops F. Pisztek and D. Solikowski, were
painted by Marcin Jabłoński, a painter, in the 1840s. As a
remembrance of a renovation made in the church, a table with the
following inscription: "D.O.M. Haec
aedes sacra inchoata 1610 dedicata 1630 restaurata 1842" was placed on the southern wall near the main façade. Icons of SS.
Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier for two side altars were
painted by Alojzy Reichan, a painter, in 1843. A new ambo made at the
expense of countess Honorata Borzęcka in the Moravian town of
Blansko was placed in the church in 1844. When Lviv was bombarded by
general Hammerstein in 1848, two shots fell on the church damaging
the roof and the narthex. After the 1848 Spring of Nations the
Jesuits were banished from the church again, and again they came back
four years later. Some repairs were carried out in the church in
1879–1891. In 1894, when the church façade was renovated, four
figures of Jesuit saints, those of SS. Ignatius of Loyola, Francis
Xavier, Stanislaus Kostka and Andrew Bobola, carved of sandstone by
Feliks Pawliński, were placed in the lower tier niches. In 1892 St.
Benedict chapel was renovated, with a new altar and stained glass
windows produced by Tiroler glasmalerei
und Mosaic Ansalt enterprise
located in Innsbruck. In 1905 the icon of Our Lady of Consolation,
placed in a chapel in the southern nave, was crowned by Józef
Bilczewski, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Lviv. On this occasion
it was fenced off with a forged grating under a project drawn up at
Lviv Polytechnic; the work was managed by carver Antoni Popiel. At
the same time a new antependium for the crowned icon altar was made
by Piotr Wójtowicz. In 1906 the floor was laid anew with marble
slabs of two colours which had been brought from Hungary. The St.
Benedict chapel was renovated under the management of professor D.
Kryczkowski and architect A. Teodorowicz in 1909. The church was
damaged during the Polish-Ukrainian war in November of 1918; in
particular, the vault in the nave in front of the altar and the roof
were broken through. Repairs were carried out and a new floor was
made in the 1920s. Again the church was damaged during the Second
World War in 1944 when a bomb broke through the roof and the vault
over the very altar. The Jesuits left Lviv on 4 June 1946, taking
away some of the most valuable things from the church, in particular,
the crowned icon of Our Lady. After the war damages, the church was
covered with a temporary roof. In 1959 the roof was restored due to
renovation works managed by architect Ihor Starosolsky. The flèche,
which had been lost, was reconstructed at that time too. The church
was for some time used as a
storehouse; in the 1970s it was turned over to the Lviv V. Stefanyk
Scientific Library of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine to serve as
a book depository of the exchange funds. In the late 1990s
archaeological excavations were carried out in the crypts under the
central nave; the basement premises under the southern nave of the
church were restored, and the Ravlyk
gallery was
arranged there.
According
to a resolution of the Lviv City Council adopted on 15 July 2010, the
church was transferred to the possession of the curia of the Lviv
archeparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
Architecture
The church of SS. Peter and Paul is one of the biggest sacral buildings in the city: it is 41 meters long, 22.5 meters wide, and 26 meters tall. Considering its planning and spatial structure, it is a three-nave basilica with a small manysided altar and a narthex. It is constructed in the early Baroque style with some Renaissance reminiscences. The main façade composition is patterned upon the Il Gesù church in Rome. The façade has two levels, it is divided horizontally into two parts by a developed entablement and accentuated with a big pediment which has Baroque volutes on the sides and a triangular crowning; it is also decorated with pinnacles on both sides. The pilasters and the composite order capitals divide the façade vertically into five fields. Each of the three naves of the church has a separate entrance from the main façade; the main entrance, which is decorated with a white stone portal in the form of a portico with a balcony over it, is located on the central axis; identical but smaller portals with balconies over them decorate side entrances. Sculpture figures of Jesuit saints are placed symmetrically in narrow fields between pilasters, in eight conch niches.The
southern façade is notable for its massive flying buttresses which
convey the thrust of the main nave vaults to the outwalls and lean on
platforms crowned with pinnacles having crosses on them. In the walls
between the flying buttresses big thermal windows are made which
light up the main nave. The south-western corner over the crowning
cornice fixes a tier of the tower. The tower is laid of brick on the
level of the cellars, the foundation and the cellars themselves being
built of stone; it is square in plan and has wooden stairs in the
lower part; the upper tiers can be accessed via ladders. The wall of
the fourth tier is cut through with four rectangular window openings.
The tower is covered with a low pyramidal roof. One can enter the
tiers due to a system of ladders.
The
church is covered with a double-pitch red tile roof with small
simplified lucarnes made during the 1959 reconstruction of the roof;
it is crowned with a flèche over the triumphal arch.
The
main façade architecture takes its shape due to sculptures and white
stone décor of the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries: window
framings, some Manneristic décor (binding and plant ornaments, zoo-
and anthropomorphic motifs). The southern window is notable for its
special decorations as among the volutes and flower petals profiles
of a jester, a lamb, a parrot and some others can be distinguished.
The sculpture decorations of the upper tier consists of figures of
the Mother of God, martyr Marcin Laterna, St. Stanislaus the Bishop,
Pope Paul III. The upper figures are dynamic while the lower ones are
static. A medallion with a relief image of the New Testament Lamb is
placed in the crowning pediment tympanum.
Figures
of Jesuit fathers, those of SS.
Francis Xavier, Ignatius of Loyola, Andrew Bobola, and Stanislaus
Kostka, are placed in
the lower tier; they are
made of sandstone in the academic style by sculptor Feliks Pawliński
of Leopold Schimser's stonemasonry company in 1894.
In
the interior, the main nave is covered with a semicircular lunette
vault accentuated with a massive entablement which leans on pilasters
having composite wooden capitals. The side naves, in comparison with
the central one, are very narrow and low; emporia galleries are
situated over them, and a choir loft with an organ is located over
the narthex. The side naves and the emporia are bridged with cross
(smooth) vaults leaning on pointed arch walls. All the walls and
vaults surfaces are covered with paintings.
The
monumental, three-tier main altar is made of pink and black marble
and separated by a marble balustrade; it is decorated with sculptures
of saints and angels.
The
floor is paved with black and pink marble slabs.
The
cellars are laid of stone and bridged with a system of semicircular
vaults made of brick. The crypts, where Jesuit monks were buried, are
made under the main and northern naves; one can enter the crypts from
the main nave. The cellar under the southern nave is bridged with
cross and sail vaults; it can be entered from the west (under the
tower). The cross vault in the south-eastern corner of the cellar
leans on carved Renaissance toes. The cellar windows under the
southern nave are rectangular, they are situated in deep semicircular
niches and are of defensive nature.
The
interior paintings were made in 1739–1743 by Franz and Sebastian
Eckstein, Jesuit monks from Brno, Moravia. The paintings idea can be
divided into three parts according to the number of naves. The
paintings were renewed in 1919 as the date on the central fresco
indicates.
The
paintings of the main nave include the following scenes: "St. Paul,
the Apostle of Nations" (in the presbytery), "St. Peter's
preaching", "Jesus gives Apostle Peter the keys", "St. Peter
among the cripples", and "The Apotheosis of St. Ignatius of
Loyola" (in the central part of the nave).
The
paintings of the side naves consist of scriptural scenes ("The
Queen of Saba in the chariot with a lion") and compositions
concerning the history of Lviv. In one of the best known compositions
entitled "The Siege of Lviv by Turks in 1672" a Turkish warrior
is depicted, the town panorama serving as a background, and, at the
same time, the apparition of the town saviours, SS. Ignatius of
Loyola and Stanislaus Kostka, in the sky. In the southern nave, the
scene of the apotheosis of the empress is practically destroyed, only
a fragment with an image of the Jesuit church tower has been
preserved. Some fragments of paintings have been preserved in the
cellars over the windows.
The
main altar is carved and gilded; it is made of marble, stucco and
wood by sculptor Sebastian Fesinger in 1744–1747. A big image "The
Crucifixion with bystanders" (1839) is placed in the center. The
altar has the shape of a monumental edicule with an image of the
all-seeing eye (or the eye of Providence) on the pediment. It is
decorated with four columns; stucco figures of the four founders and
patrons of the Jesuit order, SS. Stanislaus Kostka, Ignatius of
Loyola, Francis Xavier and Aloysius Gonzaga, are placed between the
columns. As of 1939, there were eight altars in the church, dedicated
to SS. Ftancis Xavier, Ignatius of Loyola, Rosalia, Peter and Paul,
Aloysius Ganzaga. A Crucifixion of Christ sculpture, located in one
of the side altars between the central and northern naves, is
attributed to Jan Pfister (1616). A sculpture image of the Mother of
God in the St. Benedict chapel is made of stucco in the seventeenth
century. The relief composition has an engraved gilded background and
certain characteristic features of the Mannerist style which become
apparent in the ornamental decoration of the frame and in the
treatment of the draperies and faces. Pictorial images of the Old
Testament prophets, those of David, Solomon, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, can
be seen on the altar doors. The altar of St. Anthony is dated to the
eighteenth century. The saint is depicted at full length, on canvas
in a shaped frame with some superimposed rocaille décor. Some
figures of angels are placed on platforms. The altar of the Blessed
Virgin the Comforter is renewed in 1905; the restoration author is
Antoni Popiel. The organ is made in the Rococo style and has some
sculptural and ornamental decorations. Most of the sculptures are
angels with musical instruments made in the eighteenth and in the
late nineteenth centuries. There are several epitaphs with sculptural
decorations in the church, those of the Dzieduszycki, Jabłonowski,
Wybranowski families, made of marble and stucco in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. The confessionals and benches, which are
richly decorated with superimposed decorative elements, are made in
1762–1764 by carver Jan (Johann) Beckert and gilder Piławecki. The
gilded and carved Neo-Baroque ambo is made of wood in the early
twentieth century. The carved sarcophagus of archbishop M. G. Wyżycki
in the crypt is made of alabaster.
The
church is an example of a baroque and Renaissance basilica; the Il
Gesù church type is first of all expressed in its main façade
composition. It was created by well-known architects, sculptors,
carvers and painters.
People
Mikołaj Adamowicz (Микола Адамович) — a Lviv cobbler.
Jan (Johann) Beckert — a carver who carved the stalls (seats) and confessionals of SS. Jerome and Mary the Egyptian.
Johann Beckert — a carver.
Józef Bilczewski — a Roman Catholic archbishop of Lviv who crowned the icon of Our Lady of Consolation placed in a chapel in the southern nave.
Andrew (Andrzej) Bobola — a Jesuit saint.
Honorata Borzęcka — a countess.
Giacomo Briano (1588–1649) — a Jesuit architect, a native of Modena, who managed the church construction in 1618–1621.
Clement XIV — a Pope of Rome.
Maria Dzieduszycka — a magnate, a warden of the St. Benedict chapel construction.
Dzieduszycki (Дідушицькі) — a magnate family of Ukrainian origin whose members were politicians, scientists and donors.
Franz Gregor Ignaz Eckstein (1689–1741) — a Jesuit painter, a native of Brno, Moravia, who painted the main nave in 1740.
Sebastian Eckstein — a Jesuit painter, son of Franz, who painted the side naves and chapels of the church.
Ferdinand d'Este — a Jesuit, one of the church founders.
Sebastian Fesinger — a carver who made the big altar (1747) and the two side altars (1754, 1759).
Marcin Godny — an architect who constructed the belfry tower.
Aloysius Gonzaga — a Jesuit saint.
Grochowski — a man who granted the means for making the organ.
Wilhelm von Hammerstein — an Austrian general who commanded the shelling of Lviv in 1848.
Sofia Hanzlowa — a citizen who built the first wooden church for Jesuit fathers at her own cost.
Jan Jabłonowski — a founder of the Jesuit college construction.
Jan Stanisław Jabłonowski — a founder of the Jesuit college construction.
Jan Wincenty Jabłonowski — a founder of the Jesuit college construction.
Marcin Jabłoński — a painter who created the portraits of the church founders in the 19th century.
Maciej Klimkowicz (Матвій Климкович) — a painter who covered the church with paintings.
Stanislaus (Stanisław) Kostka — a Jesuit saint.
Maciej Krajczyński (Матвій Крайчинський) — an organ builder who worked in the Jesuit church.
D. Kryczkowski — a professor.
Sebastian Lamchius — a Jesuit father who started and managed the construction of the church until 1614.
Ignatius (Ignacio) of Loyola — a Spanish monk who founded the Jesuit order (Society of Jesus).
Mikołaj Mielecki — a voivode of Podolia on the site of whose house the Jesuit church was constructed.
Iwan Molenda — a carver.
Paul III — a Pope of Rome.
Feliks Pawliński — a sculptor who carved the figures of Jesuit saints.
Jan (Johann) Pfister — a sculptor and carver of the Renaissance period in Lviv.
Pilawecki — a master who gilded and painted the stalls.
F. Pisztek — a bishop, one of the church founders.
Giacomo della Porta — an Italian architect who constructed the Il Gesù church in Rome (1570).
Jan Andrzej Pruchnicki — an archbishop of Lviv (1614–1633) who consecrated the church.
Albert Ragonius — a Jesuit monk who took part in the church construction.
Alojzy Reichan — a painter who painted icons of SS. Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier for two side altars.
Frederick Rinn — a painter who created an icon of St. Philomena for one of the side altars in 1837.
Leopold Schimser — a sculptor.
Elżbieta Sieniawska — Prokop Sieniawski's wife who granted a huge amount of money for the church construction.
Elżbieta Sieniawska (Gostomska) — a founder of the Jesuit college.
Prokop Sieniawski — a Grand Marshal of the Crown.
D. Solikowski — one of the church founders.
Jan Solikowski — a Roman Catholic archbishop of Lviv who invited Jesuits to Lviv.
Ihor Starosolsky — an architect who carried out the renovation of the church which was damaged during the Second World War.
Elżbieta Szczuczyna (Potocka) — a warden of the church renovation.
A. Teodorowicz — an architect who renovated St. Benedict chapel.
Zygmunt III Waza — a king of Poland.
Mikołaj Gerard Wyżycki — a Roman Catholic archbishop of Lviv.
Francis (Francisco) Xavier — a Jesuit saint.
Jan Zamojski — a Roman Catholic archbishop of Lviv.
Sources
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Citation
Oksana Boyko, Vasyl Slobodyan. "Vul. Teatralna, 13 – St. Peter and Paul Church (former Jesuit Church)". Lviv Interactive (Center for Urban History, 2014). URL: https://lia.lvivcenter.org/en/objects/jesuit-church/Urban Media Archive Materials
