Lviv Opera House

The Lviv Opera and Ballet Theatre is one of the finest Neo-Baroque public buildings in Eastern Europe, a gleaming white edifice at the head of Freedom Avenue that would look at home on the Ringstrasse in Vienna. The facade is decorated with allegorical sculptures by Piotr Wojciechowski, and the interior — with its gilded ceiling, crimson velvet, and crystal chandeliers — is equally lavish. The building opened in 1900 and has been in continuous operation since, even through two world wars and the Soviet period.

Tickets for performances are remarkably cheap by Western standards and the productions are often of a high standard — Lviv has a strong operatic tradition. Even if you don't attend a performance, the guided tours of the interior are worthwhile. The broad staircase leading up to the main entrance is one of the best places in Lviv to watch the city go about its business in the evening.

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A story
The opera house was built between 1897 and 1900, sinking perceptibly into the soft ground even during construction — engineers had to drive thousands of wooden piles into the riverbed of the Poltva River, which flows underground beneath the building. Remarkably, this expensive construction solved the problem: the building has been stable for over a century. The architect, Zygmunt Gorgolewski, died before the opening night.