Information about the object:
The former Jesuit church in Lviv remained virtually inaccessible for more than half a century. It served as a warehouse for the Ossolineum collection. No renovation or conservation work has been carried out on it since the Second World War. Without immediate and well-considered conservation measures, the building was in danger of complete degradation (polychromes, furnishings, facades with plaster and stone sculptural detail). Since 2011, the church has served as a Greek-Catholic church.

The façade of the Church of Sts. The façade of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Lviv presents a textbook example of a Baroque Jesuit church modelled on Rome's Il Gesu church. Rich in sculpture and architectural detail, the façade of the Lviv church is the most beautiful example of early Baroque in the city. The decision to begin the process of thorough restoration was made due to the worrying state of preservation of the façade's historic substance, above all the stone. Due to the rank and scale of the monument, the work is being carried out by a team of conservators specialising in stone conservation.

Completed works:

2020
The task consisted of carrying out emergency conservation work on the façade of the Jesuit Church of Sts. The work was part of a comprehensive conservation strategy for the façade, planned by the Ukrainian side in 2020. (This programme was accepted by the relevant Lviv authorities and included in the Ukrainian Conservation Project).

The work included richly carved elements of stone detail and sculptures located on the 17th century façade by Giacomo Briano. In 2020, the stone was cleaned, previous defective restorations were removed, the surface was desalted, partially underlaid, and injected and pre-impregnated.

The technical conservation was carried out on an area of 374.02 m2, and included work on the sculptures and on the architectural detailing, i.e.: decorative window cornices, capitals, pinnacles, reliefs with coats of arms, angels, lambs on the finial, decorated stone cornices. The aforementioned work has improved the state of preservation and created the right conditions for effective protection of the façade.

This is already the eighth stage of saving the individual elements of the temple. Conservation specialists from the Academies of Fine Arts in Krakow and Lviv are taking part in the work. In 2019, thanks to the financial support of the Polonika Institute, an interdisciplinary team was established to develop a comprehensive programme for the conservation of the entire main façade of the temple.

2021
This year's stage of the project consisted of carrying out emergency conservation work on the façade of the Church of Sts. Saints Peter and Paul in Lviv. Conservation specialists from the Academies of Fine Arts in Krakow and Lviv took part in the project.

As a result, the state of preservation of the former Jesuit church in Lviv has been improved. The temple had remained inaccessible for more than half a decade. It was used as a warehouse for the Ossolineum collection. No renovation or conservation work had been carried out on the church since the Second World War, and as a result, its state of preservation consistently deteriorated. This applied not only to the polychromes, which had remained in a catastrophic state for years, but also to some of the furnishings, the façade with its plasterwork and the stone sculptural details. Thanks to the application of immediate and well-considered conservation measures, the complete degradation of the building was prevented.

This year's work included the richly carved stone detail elements of the church's 17th-century façade and sculptures by the architect Giacomo Briano. Preliminary cleaning of the surface under pressure using the thermocouple method was carried out; the stone surface was cleaned and disinfected of micro-organisms; defective restorations were removed; incorrectly sized and glued-in tassels were removed;: desalination of individual elements using the migration method, impregnation to strengthen the stone structure, injection and bonding of cracked and detached stone fragments; completion of individual elements by tashlining; reconstruction of missing elements of the stone detail; completion of cavities with coloured artificial stone masses and jointing between the blocks and additional reinforcement and protection.

2022
The next, tenth stage of work at the Jesuit Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lviv consisted of carrying out emergency conservation work on the church's Baroque main altar.

The work was preceded by detailed conservation research and an expert assessment of the state of preservation, which determined the extent of the necessary conservation intervention in the structure of the monument. It was planned to dismantle the movable elements of the altar - the sculptures and carving decorations. A thorough reconnaissance of the object, including the manufacturing technology, also helped to establish the workshop in which it was made and its makers.

The temple currently serves as the garrison church of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. For more than 60 years it remained inaccessible, turned into a warehouse for the Ossolineum collection. From the Second World War until the previous decade, no renovation or conservation work was carried out in it.

2023
The task consisted in carrying out rescue conservation work on the Baroque main altar of the Church of Sts Peter and Paul in Lviv. The work was preceded by the implementation of a very thorough and interdisciplinary research programme thanks to which the state of preservation of the altarpiece and the causes of its damage were determined in detail. On this basis, a conservation programme was formulated.

The conservation work was carried out in stages. Full conservation and restoration of the entire altarpiece was carried out. The conservation will consist of cleaning and removal of wax coatings from the altar structure, cleaning and removal of secondary layers, disinfection and impregnation of 14 sculptures and almost half of the wood carving. Art conservation specialists from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and Lviv took part in the work.

Funding: Programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Protection of Cultural Heritage Abroad".

More about the project: https://polonika.pl

https://polonika.pl

https://polonika.pl

https://polonika.pl

• Stowarzyszenie na rzecz ochrony dziedzictwa kultury KON-FEDERACJA, realizacja w roku 2020 i 2021.
• Stowarzyszenie na rzecz ochorny dziedzictwa kulturowego "Kon-takt", realizacja w roku 2022.