"Open!"

The opening day of the exhibition was on Tuesday, June 5, 1894. "Otwarta!", "Wystawie czołem!" – the Lviv press was full of headlines of praise, poetry dedicated to the exhibition, and detailed descriptions of the event. At six o'clock in the morning, the inhabitants of the city were awakened by orchestral music, and, as one of the eyewitnesses wrote, "no one slept that morning" (Dwernicki, 1897, 180). The city was decorated: banners waved from the balconies of Lviv's buildings. Residents and guests were already on their way to explore the "magical city" above Stryiskyi Park.

First page of Gazeta Narodowa on the opening day of the Regional Exhibition, fragments Click to view closer

The commencement celebrations began with a liturgy at the Latin Cathedral. Afterward, at about ten o'clock, carriages and fiacres moved through Mariacka Square, Akademicka Street, Zyblikiewicza, and St. Sofia up to the main entrance to the exhibition. In the Industrial Pavilion, the Exhibition Directorate, the leaders of the city, the Regional Office and the Governorship, ministers, archbishops of the three denominations, and Archduke Leopold Salwator awaited the arrival of the main guest of the day – the younger brother of Franz Joseph I and successor to the throne, Archduke Karl Ludwig.

Opening of the General Regional Exhibition of 1894

After the arrival of the archduke, welcoming speeches were given by Prince Adam Sapieha and Damian Savchak, Ukrainian lawyer and a deputy of the Galician Sejm. Both emphasized the regional status of the exhibition and that it is the collective work of Poles and Ruthenians. After listening to the speakers, Karl Ludwig expressed his gratitude for the devotionto the monarchy and declared the Regional Exhibition open. The last phrase of the speech was spoken by the Archduke in Polish. A correspondent of Dilo later wrote:

"Among the Ruthenians present in the pavilion, after the archduke's speech in Polish, a moment of intense curiosity, whether the archduke would give a speech in the other regional language, but this did not happen." (Dilo, 1894, No. 116, p. 1).

Later, the archduke visited the Industrial Pavilion and several others. The day ended with a ball at Skarbek Theater and night illumination of the city. During his stay in Lviv, Karl Ludwig returned to the exhibition several times and was accompanied at each pavilion by the head of the respective thematic section.

Archduke Karl Ludwig at the grand opening of the Regional Exhibition at the Industrial Pavilion
Świat. Dwutygodnik ilustrowany, 1894, Nr 6, s. 285*

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In the days following the opening of the visit, the number of guests at the exhibition area was small because of rain showers. Tadeusz Dwernicki, the author of the first chronicle of the exhibition, even wrote that the committee had "reached an agreement with the government of the clouds and the rains about the weather." In a few days, the weather improved and "the life of Lviv began to shift to the Stryiskyi Hills (Dwernicki, 1897, 186).

The "Magical City"

The exhibition was accessible from the city center by the new electric tram. The tram aroused great curiosity among residents, and sometimes even fear. The tram cars were overcrowded and often broke down: such cases immediately hit the newspapers in the form of jokes and cartoons. One time, because of faulty brakes:

"the tram picked up speed at a terrifying rate from the exhibition into the valley to St. Sophia School. The riders panicked. Some of them risked jumping out of the tram car and one of them (Mr. Wojtowycz, an official of the regional department) fell so badly that he dislocated his arm, tore his clothes, and hurt himself in many places" (Dilo, 1894, No. 119, p. 2).

Caricature by Bruno Tepa in the humorous magazine Śmigus

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At the final tram stop "Wystawa," visitors arrived at the square in front of the main entrance gate of the exhibition from Poniatowski Street (today Samchuka). Two columns stood at the entrance, and Polish and Ruthenian banners fluttered above the gate. Entrance tickets were checked, or as they were often called in the press, "exhibition cerberas" (Słowo Polskie, 1894, Nr 13, p. 370). Just beyond the gate to the left was a pavilion of writing and journalism (1), according to Józef Łubieński,

"a reminder that public opinion, the eyes of a whole region, are turned to that national cause" (Czasopismo Techniczne, 1893, Nr 23, s. 148).

The entrance gate of the exhibition from Poniatowski Street

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The exhibition space was designed according to a specific "scenario" and was divided into separate "hearths." The main one was the central circular square, around which were: on the right side – the Palace of Arts (110); on the left – the Industrial Pavilion (11), the Racławice Panorama(5), and several smaller structures.

Correspondents shared their impressions of what they saw on the pages of the press. One of them, an anonymous author of the literary and art journal Słowo Polskie, was struck not so much by the territory itself as by the panorama that opened to the city from the terrace of the Palace of Arts:

"we do not yet know what lies behind those walls, but we see in front of the easels of trees and hills a sprawling and beautiful landscape. I doubt whether we will find in this building an artist who would be able to create with three colors, white, green, and blue, such a quiet and gentle landscape, only from one side torn by a lion's claw; and what's more, the view becomes even more beautiful, for it is so unexpected for those whose breasts were just lacerated by the city's smog and eyes with dirt" (Słowo Polskie, 1894, Nr 13, s. 371).

Panorama of the central part of Lviv from the exhibition area

The author of this excerpt did not know or did not want to share with the readers what was hidden behind the walls of the Palace of Arts. Instead, another magazine, Myśl, drew the curtain on what was on display in the pavilion by stating that in comparison with other general exhibitions, whether in Vienna, Munich, or Paris, Lviv has: "much more thought and artistic creativity which lacks in other exhibitions" (Myśl, 1894, Nr. 3, pp. 7-8). The building contained three exhibitions: a retrospective exhibition of Polish art 1764-1886, organized by art historian Jan Bołoz-Antoniewicz; an exhibition of contemporary Polish art from 1888 to 1894; and an exhibition of Polish antiquities. The last two were curated by art historian Władysław Łoziński (Zipper, 1894, 99-105).

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Another pavilion dedicated to painting was the so-called Mausoleum of Jan Matejko, which contained more than a hundred works by the artist, who died in 1892. Paintings to fill this pavilion were sent by private collectors, museums from Vienna, Budapest, and Zagreb. Two works were also supposed to be sent from Krakow: Hołd Pruski (Prussian Homage) and Bitwa pod Racławicami (Battle of Raclawice). The latter could probably have taken a prominent place in the exposition, but was not sent: the Krakowians were worried that the work might not return from Lviv (Kozińska-Witt, 2009, 175). The competition between the two largest cities in the crownland was clearly on display. Unlike Lviv, for example, Krakow did not build its own pavilion. The Krakow exposition was located in the University and Polytechnic Pavilion, where the University of Krakow and the Academy of Arts were also presented.

Right side of the first "hearth": the Architecture Pavilion in the style of an ancient Greek shrine, the Matejko Mausoleum, the Lviv Pavilion, and the pavilion of the American "Polonia"

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Nearby was the Pavilion of the City of Lviv, designed by Juliusz Hochberger, which made a positive impression on the exhibition guests, especially because of the exquisite carving on the facade. Rudolf Hand, a Vienna engineer, even wrote that the Lviv exhibition represents beautiful wooden architecture that he had not seen in the exhibitions in Prague or Vienna (Wiener Bauindustrie-Zeitung, 1894, No. 51). The pavilion itself summed up what the city had achieved in the previous 24 years since it had received autonomy. After the closing of the Regional Exhibition, this pavilion was moved to a pond in Stryiskyi Park and turned into a cafe.

Lviv City Pavilion and part of the Matejko Mausoleum

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The opposite side of the round squarewas dominated by the large Industrial Pavilion. More than a thousand participants exhibited in it the greatest achievements of the Galician industry: weaving and pottery and canning – not only factory but also handmade production. Ivan Levynskyi's company displayed its tiles.

The Industrial Pavilion

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Next to it was the pavilion of the Racławice Panorama, a rotunda in which a canvas about 120 m long and 15 m high by Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak was exhibited. Various stages of the project involved artists Ludwik Boller, Tadeusz Popіel, Teodor Axentowicz, Zygmunt Rozwadowski, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Michał Sozański, and Wincenty Wodzinowski. Jan Styka resorted to historical manipulation: the artist depicted his characters in clothing typical of the peasants of the nineteenth century, not the eighteenth century. The so-called "panorama for the masses" was intended to speak to groups of peasants who visited it, raising their national consciousness (Dabrowski, 2004, 123-124). Every month trips were planned not only for peasants but also for children and young people from different parts of the region to visit the panorama. This angered some Ruthenians: in addition to the fact that Ruthenian children were "fed" Polish history at school, they also "fed Polish patriotism" when viewing the panorama (Dilo, 1894, No. 160, p.1). But despite the political context, the panorama could not fail to impress with its size and installation.

Guests of the exhibition at the entrance to the Racławice Pavilion panorama

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The next "hearth" was located farther down the alley around a large electric fountain which was one of the main attractions of the exhibition. The fountain was made by František Křižík's Prague firm known at the time for its fountain at the 1891 exhibition in Prague. Łubieński called it "a great attraction" of the exhibition and added that "the electric fountain is a technical pastime, but the public becomes spoiled, every time they need a more brilliant mise en scene of world exhibitions. Mundus vult decipi – ergo decipiatur (The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived)"(Czasopismo Techniczne, 1893, No. 23, p. 186). Almost every evening at nine o'clock the fountain began to play with colors.

Electric Fountain of the Křižík Company (Zlatá Praha, 1894, number 42)

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There were cafes and restaurants around the fountain, and on the left were the University and Polytechnic pavilions (20), the Badeni Pavilion (21), the Regional Department Pavilion (22), the concert hall (27); on the right was the pavilion of Andrzej Potocki (104), the aquarium (102), and others.

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From this part of the territory one could descend in a cable car over a ravine to the opposite side to the ethnographic section. Cable car, view of the pavilions from the ethnographic section

Caricature by Bruno Tepa in the humorous magazine Śmigus: "Conductor: Sorry... we can't go any farther because something's gone wrong. Please exit!!

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The concert hall was a place that, if necessary, could be turned into a banquet hall. It was here during the exhibition that congresses and meetings, such as the Congress of Pedagogues, the Third Congress of Polish Technical Professionals, the Congress of Journalists and Writers took place. The latter was attended mostly by Polish journalists and writers, some Czechs were invited, and Ivan Franko was the only Ukrainian among the participants.

Great celebrations were held on the occasion of the arrival of guests, including ministers and officials from Vienna. As Dwernicki recalled, "echoes of that political journey had barely passed, as many guests from the same parties reappeared. First politics and diplomacy, and now industry and commerce." This was a reference to the visit of members of the Lower Austrian Industrial Society (Dwernicki, 1897, 198).

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Past the square with the fountain, on the left side was a crossing, according to the same Łubieński, to the "respectable" part of the exhibition, which housed numerous economic pavilions – forestry, hunting, fishing, a "hall of machines" (29), and others. This economic part stretched to the very end of the exhibition space. In addition, there were stables. In this part, competitions, for example, of plows, were organized, and 33 cows participated in the dairy competition (milk quality assessment):

"the polite cows looked around in amazement as if to ask why there was such a pompous show for such a normal affair" (Dwernicki, 1897, 187).

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At the very end of the exhibition on the right was the stadium where the first football (soccer) match in Galicia took place – between teams from Krakow and Lviv. Football at that time was a complete novelty and contemporaries explained what the game was and what its purpose was: to score the ball in the opponent's goal (Dwernicki, 1897, 220).

Guests at the stadium

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Bypassing the second square, in a side alley stood the pavilions of Ruthenian Societies (68), of Women's Work (69), and others.

Main Alley of the General Regional Exhibition

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The visitors then ended up at the ethnographic section:

"What is it?" asks someone in amazement, "you were impressed that after those motley buildings you saw our native village? Fine! It's really our village! […] throw out your cigarette when you want to cross the threshold of this section, this is a village, and in a village all vojts prohibit smoking. The vojt in this village is Prof. Shukhevych" (Dilo, 1894, No. 156, p. 2).

The concept of this section was to represent seven ethnographic types of the Polish and Ruthenian peoples of the region, including Hutsuls, Mazurs, and others. Volodymyr Shukhevych wrote that to complete the picture, it would be "ideal" to also present Jews, Roma, and Germans, but due to the lack of time, this did not happen (Putivnyk, 1894, 94).

In the section there were several peasant houses: Hutsul, Mazur, Podilian village fence, and others. For their construction, villagers from the respective regions were invited to recreate true ways of folk construction. Moreover, people from one area or another had to live in these houses during the exhibition – in fact, to be part of its exposition.

Hutsuls in the Ethnographic Section of the Regional Exhibition

There was also a wooden Ruthenian church. The ethnographic pavilion was created in the style of a "noble manor" and the exposition was divided into two parts: western and eastern Galicia. Responsible for the former was Władysław Przybysławski, and for the latter, the above-mentioned Volodymyr Shukhevych. National costume, domestic and ritual objects were exhibited here (Putivnyk, 1894, 93-94).

The Ruthenian church in ethnographic section

From the ethnographic section one could walk through the park to present-day Parkova Street:

"go down into the valley to the park, and beyond the gates you'll come across an electric wagon – enter and ride to the city" (Dilo, 1894, No. 156, p. 2).

The entrance gate from the side of Stryiskyi Park was built on the occasion of the exhibition

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On September 7, 1894, the exhibition welcomed its main guest – Franz Joseph I, who arrived in Lviv nearly fifteen years after his first visit to the city. The ceremony did not differ much from the one that was organized when Karl Ludwig visited, the same Sapieha and Savchak gave similar speeches as during the last time. The emperor's visit lasted five days and he visited the exhibition three times. The press watched the emperor's every move at the exhibition, described in detail the conversations he had with the participants.

Emperor Franz Joseph I talks to Prince Adam Sapieha. Behind is the Pavilion of the Edison Phonograph, one of the first instruments for recording and reproducing sound

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The exhibition continued until mid-October 1894, after which the "magical city" ceased to exist. The pavilions were dismantled, with only four remaining to date: the Palace of the Arts, the Racławice panorama pavilion, the water tower, and the artificial ruins in Stryiskyi Park. Today, their functions have changed.

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The exhibition became one of the largest events in the history of Lviv of the Habsburg era. In just over four months, the exhibition was visited by over a million guests. Impressions of its space, content, and meaning remained ambivalent. For some, the space seemed chaotic and what was seen was called disparagingly "kirkut żydowski" (Polish meaning "Jewish cemetery"), for others it was the new center of a European city. For some it was a worthy national cause, while others defended its regional status. Some called the exhibition a great achievement of the region's culture and economy, some thought it was inferior, and some hoped that the exhibition would be "a deposit for a better future."

Visitors at the exhibition. Photo fragment

At the end of the "century of exhibitions" Lviv, as the capital of the largest crownland of the empire, entered the contemporary pan-European context thanks to the exhibition. After its completion, the city inherited not only tram lines, but also a large space for temporary exhibitions, festivals, and entertainment. Before the First World War, the name became "plac powystawowy." In 1916-1918, a military exhibition was held there, and in the interwar period until September 1939, the annual Eastern Fair: the central alley and two squares with fountains, preserved from the Regional Exhibition, were built with new modernist pavilions, some of which still stand today. In Soviet times, this territory became part of Stryiskyi Park.

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→ Read more about the preparation for the exhibition

Plan

The article uses the Plan sytuacyjny Powszechnej Wystawy Krajowej we Lwowie, published by the bookstore of Herman Altenberg in 1894.

In the original version of the plan, the north is located at the bottom. For publication purposes, the plan was rotated 180° and the legend and signatures removed. The original version of the plan and its details are here

A list of all exhibition pavilions from the original plan:

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By Roksolyana Holovata
Edited by Vasyl Rasevych and Olha Zarechnyuk
Translated into English by Areta Kovalsky

Sources: 1. State Archive of Lviv Oblast (DALO) 975/1/1
2. DALO 975/1/26
3. Діло, 1893: Ч. 101; 1894: Ч. 5, 116, 119, 156, 160.
4. Провідник по виставі краєвій у Львові з особливим оглядом на відділ етнографічний і на павільйон руских народних товариств (Львів, 1894).
5. Czasopismo Techniczne, 1891: nr 13, 15; 1893: nr 4, 22, 23.
6. Dwernicki Тadeusz, Kronika wystawy / Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa 1894 r. i siły produkcyjne kraju, t. 1 (Lwów, 1897).
7. Gazeta Lwowska,1892: nr 5, 73, 147.
8. Ilustrowany przewodnik po Lwowie i Powszechnej Wystawie Krajowej (Lwów, 1894).
9. Kurjer Lwowski, 1891: nr 224, 272; 1892: nr. 323; 1893: nr. 8; 1894: nr. 151.
10. Łubieński Józef, Opis placu Wystawy / Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa 1894 r. i siły produkcyjne kraju, t. 1 (Lwów, 1897).
11. Merunowicz Teofil, Cel powszechnej wystawy krajowej we Lwowie zapowiedzianej na rok 1894 / Ekonomista Polski, t. 12 (Lwów, 1892).
12. Myśl: dwutygodnik literacko-artystyczny, 1894: nr 3.
13. Słowo Polskie: dwutygodnik poświęcony sprawom społecznym, polityce, literaturze i sztuce, 1894: nr 13.
14. Starkel Juliusz, Wstępne przygotowania / Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa 1894 r. i siły produkcyjne kraju, t. 1 (Lwów, 1897).
15. Stenograficzne Sprawozdania z Czwartej Sesyi VI Peryodu Sejmu Krajowego Królestwa Galicyi i Lodomeryi wraz z Wielkiem Księstwem Krakowskiem z roku 1893, posiedzenie 20 z dnia 15 Maja 1893.
16. Wiener Bauindustrie-Zeitung, 1894: nr 51.
17. Zipper Albert, Führer durch die Allgemeine Landes-Ausstellung sowie durch die Königl. Hauptstadt Lemberg (Lemberg, 1894).

Literature:
1. Auerbach Jeffrey, The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display (New Haven, 1999).
2. Dabrowski Patrice, Commemorations and the Shaping of Modern Poland, (Bloomington, 2004).
3. Friebe Wolfgang, Buildings of the World Exhibitions (Leipzig, 1985).
4. Giedion Sigfrid, Przestrzeń, czas, architektura. Narodziny nowej tradycji (Warszawa, 1968).
5. Kozińska-Witt Hanna, Städtische Selbstpräsentation auf der Allgemeinen Landesausstellung in Lemberg 1894 am Beispiel der Stadt Krakau / Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung, nr. 58/1-2 (2009)
6. Lewicki Jakub, Między tradycją a nowoczesnością. Architektura Lwowa lat 1893-1918 (Warszawa, 2005).
7. Puchta Wojciech, Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa we Lwowie w 1894 roku (Wrocław, 2016)
8. Zwierz Maria, Tradycje wystawiennicze we Wrocławiu w latach 1818-1948 (Wrocław, 2016).

Images from the Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History, collection of Ihor Kotlobulatov and Lviv Historical Museum have been used. We express special thanks to the Ossoliński National Institute in Wroclaw for granting access to the Count Lubomirski Museum's Collections

Gazeta Narodowa, 1894, Nr 126
Polona, Biblioteka Narodowa
Śmigus, 1894, Nr 11 Śmigus, 1894, Nr 20 Świat. Dwutygodnik ilustrowany, 1894, Nr 4, s. 169 Świat. Dwutygodnik ilustrowany, 1894, Nr 6, s. 265 Zlatá Praha, 1894, č. 42
London: Read & Co. Engravers & Printers, 1851
United States Library of Congress, digital ID pga.00497