The baptistery at the St Mary Magdalene Church in Lviv was built on the initiative of Father Gerard Szmyd (1885-1938), who was parish priest from 1930 until his death (Father Gerard Szmyd came from Kroscienko Vysne near Krosno, he was strongly connected with his hometown, he often spent his holidays there, and it was thanks to him that Rosen received another commission - for the paintings in the local church in 1936). Accounts from people who knew this clergyman, an outstanding liturgist priest and a forerunner in the Lviv area of the conciliar changes in the Church, testify that:

"The Sacrament of Holy Baptism in Fr. Szmyd's pastoral practice was exposed to an exceptionally high rank.

He often spoke of the fundamental importance of this Sacrament for the lives of Christians, of the varied and lasting personal and social consequences flowing from its reception.

In accordance with the wishes of St Pius X and the directive of Archbishop J. Bilczewski, he renewed the covenant of Baptism with the faithful several times a year.

He was personally eager to baptise. [...]

He noted [...] that, in order to emphasise the dignity and importance of Baptism, 'one should think of renewing the place which for a Christian is the dearest after the altar and the tabernacle'."

Accordingly, Fr Szmyd, probably as soon as he became pastor, decided to make a separate baptistery in the church, which was decorated with a mural painting by Jan Henryk Rosen depicting the "Baptism of Christ" and a stained glass window "Fisherman God" designed by the same artist. After completing the murals in the Armenian Cathedral in 1929, which brought him national fame, Jan Henryk Rosen was commissioned to decorate the chapel of the Lviv Latin Rite Seminary with murals; thus, at that time in Lviv he was the most well-known and respected religious painter specialising in murals. It is no wonder that Fr Szmyd was chosen as the artist. Rosen's own liturgical interests and his iconographic erudition, and above all his personal contacts with the then nascent liturgical movement in Lviv, may also have played an important role.

"In 1932. [Fr Szmyd] thus built a beautiful baptistery, in the former Dominican cloister, at the entrance to the sacristy. It was the only baptistery in Lviv, with an area of about 25 m ^{2 .} It was decorated with paintings with biblical content, connected with Baptism, by the Lviv artist J.H. Rosen. In accordance with the prescription of the Ritual, a scene of the baptism of the Lord Jesus in the Jordan was placed on the main wall. The inscription on the wall in large letters in Latin, specifying the fruits of Baptism, was taken from the first baptistery at the Basilica of St John in Rome Lateran. The stained glass window depicts the following symbolism: "At the top we see a cross from which a stream of water is flowing; in the middle two deer and at the bottom a fisherman. Here is a set of symbols representing Holy Baptism. The cross, and on it the world's salvation, Jesus tormented: from his shoulders a spring in the form of water spills over the whole world. From this spring deer drink, symbolising souls. And at the bottom, the fisherman of God pulls out a fish, that is, a Christian". The door in the form of a wrought-iron grille shows an imitation of sea waves on which fish swim' (the form and decoration of the grille very clearly refer to the motifs visible in the stained-glass window and the painting, so it is very likely, almost certain, that the grille - i.e. the entire interior decoration of the baptistery, including the inscription and the ornamental decoration of the vaults - was also designed by Jan Henryk Rosen).

According to the recommendations of the "Ritual", the baptistery should be decorated with a depiction of the baptism of Christ ("Rituale Romanum", Katoviciis 1927, Titulus II, Caput 1, no. 46). On the wall opposite the entrance was the 'Baptism of Christ', there were cut-out windows in the wall to the left, and opposite them, to the right of the entrance, ran a Latin inscription taken from the architrave of the colonnade surrounding the baptismal pool of one of the oldest baptisteries of Christianity - the Roman church of San Giovanni in Fonte (Saint John at the Spring) at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. This work, which is a perfect summary of the Christian teaching on baptism, is traditionally attributed to Pope Sixtus III (432-440).

"GENS SACRANDA POLIS HIC SEMINE NASCITVR ALMO
QVAM FECVNDATIS SPIRITVS EDIT AQVIS
VIRGINEO FETV GENITRIX ECCLESIA NATOS
QVOS SPIRANTE DEO CONCIPIT AMNE PARIT
COELORVM REGNVM SPERATE HOC FONTE RENATI
NON RECIPIT FELIX VITA SEMEL GENITOS
FONS HIC EST VITAE QVI TOTVM DILVIT ORBEM
SVMENS DE CHRISTI VVLNERE PRINCIPIVM
MERGERE PECCATOR SACRO PVRGANTE FLVENTO
QVEM VETEREM ACCIPIET PROFERET VNDA NOVVM
INSONS ESSE VOLENS ISTO MVNDARE LAVACRO
SEV PATRIO PREMERIS CRIMINE SEV PROPRIO
NVLLA RENASCENTVM EST DISTANTIA QVOS FACIT VNVM
VNVS FONS VNVS SPIRITVS VNA FIDES
NEC NVMERVS QVEMQVAM SCELERVM NEC FORMA SVORVM
TERREAT HOC NATVS FLVMINE SANCTVS ERIT".

"Here a strain sanctified from a strong seed is born,
Which yields the Spirit with the fertile power of its waters.
And the Church, the Mother of this race, having taken in virgin conception
of Divine breath from these waters of wellspring emerges into the world.
In this fountain, reborn, hope for the Kingdom of Heaven:
. Those born to you once are not waiting there.
This is the spring of life, which has flooded the Land of the universe,
Drawing for ever from the wound of Christ its power.
Sinful one, immerse yourself in this holy cleansing stream;
The old shall embrace the drown, the new shall turn you out again.
If thou wilt be without blemish - in this bath bathe thyself.
Does the weight of your fathers' guilt weigh you down, does your
not divided, make them a living unity.
One faith and one spirit, like one fountain.
No number of transgressions, nor their form, shall terrify:
. This holy spring whitens above the snow".

The aforementioned stained glass window designed by Rosen (now in the collection of the Lviv Art Gallery, inv. no. Рз-121. ЛГМ), symbolically referring to the function of the room, bearing the following Latin inscription:

"Deo advinuante [adveniente]
baptisterium hoc anno domini 1931 exornatum est".

was made in the Warsaw stained glass workshop of Franciszek Białkowski, as evidenced by the factory's preserved signature: "F. Białkowski i S-ka Warsaw". The workshop was initially set up in partnership with Władysław Skibiński, but the partners parted company in 1905.It executed, among others, designs by Wyspiański and Mehoffer (see "Życiorysy artystów zmarłych w 1928 roku" [Life stories of artists deceased in 1928], [in:] "Raport Komitetu Towarzystwa Zachęty Sztuk Pięknych za 1928 rok" [Report of the Committee of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts for 1928], Warsaw 1929). 'The same firm made stained glass designed by Rosen for Lviv's Armenian Cathedral and also for the windows of the chancel of Częstochowa Cathedral. The stained glass window from the baptistery also bears the artist's signature: "Jan Henryk Rosen" and the date "1931".

In the middle of the baptistery stood a baptistery made probably of alabaster, in modern forms, possibly by Witold Minkiewicz (who designed the decoration of the altar mensa of the church of St Mary Magdalene).

The baptistery, together with its decoration and furnishings, was destroyed, probably after 1962, when the church, taken away from the faithful and handed over to the Lviv Polytechnic, ceased to perform its sacred function. It was turned into a youth club, and probably in connection with this change, toilets were installed in the part of the former monastery wing that housed the baptistery (now the church is used as a concert hall, and is only partially open to the faithful for worship). However, the memory of the original function of this room and its - seemingly forever lost - decoration was still alive in Lviv. During the recent renovation (ca. 2020), the painting was uncovered from under the repainting and it seems that the degree of preservation of the painting makes its reconstruction possible.