Andriy Moskalenko

The current building of the Lviv City Hall was constructed in the Viennese Classicist style in the middle of the 19th century. Foundations of the new City Hall were laid in a year; its construction was finished in 1835. The construction cost an enormous amount of money for that time – half a million crowns. The new City Hall had 9 halls and 156 rooms. Apart from the magistrate it housed a school, a savings bank, municipal archives, and other establishments. The tower grew to a height of almost 65 metres, and a clock made in the workshop of the Viennese Polytechnic was mounted in it. The fate of the new City Hall was not unclouded either: during the revolution of 1848 as a result of artillery battering the tower caught fire and its dome fell. The building was renovated in 1851 in its current form: the City Hall tower, instead of being topped by a dome, was completed with the serrated edge of early medieval towers. A new clock, made in 1852 at the Viennese Stil Factory, has been performing its duty for Lvivites without fail for half a century; the tolling of its bells is an organic part of the city’s aura. If you reach the gallery of the City Hall right at the moment when the clock strikes and make a wish, it will certainly come true In 1883 the City Hall was connected via telephone wires to the fire brigade and other local establishments. The city magistrate resided in the City Hall, and after the right of self-government was granted to Lviv in 1870, the city president resided here. On the 1st of November 1919 the national blue-and-yellow flag was hoisted on the City Hall tower for the first time; since the 3rd of April 1990 the national flag of Ukraine has been permanently waving in the sky above Lviv. Nowadays, as in times past, the City Council of Lviv resides in the building; this, however, does not prevent tourists from walking along its corridors and climbing to its highest point.