Monuments (architectural, literary, etc.) - living witnesses of the era and mediators between yesterday and today - will best help to feel the atmosphere of ancient Lviv and understand its inhabitants. One of them is the Boim Chapel - a unique monument of Renaissance architecture, not only in the scale of our city but also in the country and area.
The best masters worked on the building construction, which was planned as a tomb, and representatives of several generations of the Boim family were united in its crypts. The underground part of the building was for the dead - buried there, and the ground - with an altar, epitaphs and life portraits was for prayer, served the living. Currently, the building does not perform sacred functions.
It is an artistic decoration of Lviv, and its tourist pearl has a new purpose uniting tourists in their quest to see Lviv. That is why the Boim Chapel is a place that everyone should visit.
Boim Chapel
"Look and see, all who walk the road: is there such a pain as my pain?" That is one of the biblical phrases decorating the chapel. And for thinking about the eternal, it is worth stopping near this building. It is one of the most unique and beautiful buildings in Lviv: biblical stories carved in stone, Latin aphorisms with deep meaning, unusual sculptural and spatial solutions - we see all of this in the chapel, which has been the decorated of Lviv for the fifth century. The sculpture of the grieving Jesus rises just as high above it. Leaning his head, he alone can observe what none of the Boims would have thought - the chapel and the square in front of it are today a favourite place for photoshoots.
Everyone, interested, specialist or carefree tourist, will find something for themselves. This building is associated with both authentic artworks of the XVII century and incredible angles for photographs.
History of the Boim Chapel in Lviv
Boims were wealthy merchants and officials, representatives of the Lviv patricians. The person of the founder of the family, Georgy Boim, who came to Lviv from Transylvania as a representative of the King of the Commonwealth - Stefan Batory, is shrouded in mystery. Exactly Georgy Boim initiated the construction of a tomb for a family in Lviv, dating back to the first decade of the 17th century.
Many artworks in the chapel are dedicated to him. In particular, a bas-relief with a scene of the struggle of St. George against the serpent on the north side of the chapel (below it, we see frescoes of the Mother of God and Jesus, portraits of George Boim and his wife Jadwiga) on the east wall of the building.
The construction and decoration of the chapel were completed during the life of his son - Pavlo, a graduate of the University of Padua and a doctor of medicine and the mayor of Vilnius and Lviv.
The Boim Chapel served as a tomb for three generations of the family. Then the keys to it were handed over to the Latin Cathedral. Under Austrian rule, the burials were moved, and their current location is unknown. In the 20th century, the chapel became one of the branches of the Lviv Art Gallery.
Interesting Facts
- The Boim Chapel is located on the territory of the cemetery, which previously existed next to the Latin Cathedral. It is the only surviving structure of the site, although burials in cities and near sacred buildings were common practice until the end of the 18th century.
- The facade of the chapel on its western side is a real Bible in stone. On both sides of the entrance are figures of the apostle's Peter and Paul with attributes, above - the prophets of the Old Testament, above them the Passion of the Christ: scourging, carrying the cross, crucifixion, removal from the cross. The latter is conceptually combined with the figure of Christ on the dome and with the scene "Prayer for the Chalice", a key theme of the altar part of the interior.
- Modern research shows that the chapel was not always monotonous - it was previously covered with polychrome. Visitors admire the appearance of the Boim chapel, but no smaller treasures in the middle. From what I saw there, my head turns a unique altar of the Renaissance with the central motif of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Last Supper and Footwashing scenes, original wooden inlays, an epitaph, a castle and authentic wrought iron door elements.
Finally, unusual spatial solutions create the effect of visual deception and the feeling that the chapel is higher than it is. You can talk about it for a long time - it's better to see.
Як дістатись? Вартість входу
Address: 1 Katedralna Sq., near Rynok Sq.
Entrance fee
50 UAH for adults, 30 - students
20 - children and pensioners.
