Description of the attraction
The Royal Armory is a baroque fortification building that served as the main armory in Lviv. The arsenal was built by order of the Polish king Vladislav IV. Due to the readiness for war, Lviv, as a strategically important city, had to have several depots of weapons and ammunition. At that time, the city's arsenal had already been built in the city. But it was dangerous to store all the ammunition in one place, and then another building of the arsenal, the Royal Arsenal, was erected between the city walls.
The Royal Arsenal was built according to the project of the architect-fortifier P. Grodzitsky. The building began to be erected in 1639, and in 1646 it was completely finished. At the same time, in addition to the very premises for storing weapons, there were also workshops for casting bells and weapons. In 1639, the caster Frank Kaspar cast a sculptural composition of bronze, which for many centuries adorned the Arsenal building, and is now kept in the Lviv Historical Museum.
The building is built of stone. Its beautiful façade is more reminiscent of some kind of palace or the house of a wealthy merchant than a military warehouse of weapons. Thus, the front part of the building is decorated with a large loggia and a pediment, richly decorated in the Baroque style. A magnificent carved stone portal, which is made in the best examples of the Renaissance, has survived to this day on the side facade.
In 1939, the building was given over to the needs of the Lviv Historical Archives. A monument to the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov was erected on the square in front of the Arsenal. Today, here is one of the largest second-hand bookmarkets in the city and Ukraine, which is very popular with both foreign tourists and residents of Ukraine.
