Drohobych is a city known not only for the fact that Bruno Schulz (1892-1942) lived here, but also in the interwar period it was one of the most important centres of the petrochemical industry, as well as the most motorised city in Poland at that time.

City of Bruno Schulz, petrochemical industry and motorisation

Drohobych - Bruno Schulz's hometown, located on the Tyśmienica River in the Brzeżany Beskids - had the status of a district town in the Lviv Voivodeship in the interwar period. It was a multinational centre, called "one and a half towns" due to the fact that Jews, Poles and Ukrainians made up a roughly equal proportion of the population. The town had the largest synagogue in Galicia, built in the mid-19th century.

Above all, however, interwar Drohobych was one of the most important centres of the petrochemical industry. Oil was exploited here by the state-owned "Polmin" and the private "Galicia". In 1926, the town became part of the Stryi-Stebnik gas pipeline, and in 1933 it received a water supply system. Drohobych was also one of the most motorised cities of interwar Poland. The streets were lined with the latest models of Bentleys, Mercedes, Fiats, Packards and Austro-Daimlers; a super-modern black Packard was driven, among others, by Rajmund Jarosz, the mayor in 1932-1935.

The transformation of the city was associated with new building investments, the most representative example being the new City Hall building on the Market Square, built between 1927 and 1929.

The history of the town hall - from a wooden building to modernised classicism

The first wooden town hall in the middle of Drohobych's market square was built in the 15th century, after Casimir the Great had granted town rights. A brick, three-storey building with a tower and a clock was built shortly afterwards. In the 17th century, the town hall was extended in the Baroque style, but in 1829 the building was demolished due to its poor technical condition, and a new single-storey town hall was built in its place, according to a design delivered from Vienna. The unattractive, barracks-like architecture of this building led to the idea of another reconstruction shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.

In 1913, the city council, in agreement with the Circle of Polish Architects, held an architectural competition, which received a lot of publicity among Galician designers due to the large number of participants. However, no first prize was awarded, only two second prizes (to Antoni Budkowski from Kobierzyn and Ferdinand Liebling from Krakow). The professional press was critical of the way in which the competition had been conducted, and the project was ultimately not realised due to the outbreak of the First World War.

The matter of reconstruction was revisited in the 1920s. Efforts for this investment were led by the municipal authorities with Mayor Leon Reutt in the lead. The architectural design was created by the prominent Lviv architect Marian Nikodemowicz (1890-1952 ), a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic, author of such projects as the Central Spa House in Morshino and the Abrahamovych Bursa in Lviv. The old building was partly demolished and transformed according to a new design, including the addition of a third storey. The consecration and ceremonial opening of the town hall took place on 29 September 1929.

Architectural form of the town hall

The architecture of the town hall is in the form of modernised classicism. The prominence of the façade is emphasised by a rather prominent risalit with a recessed portico and triangular pediment. The portico features two pairs of large-order pilasters with Ionic capitals, but styled in an archaic-folk spirit. The remaining façades are segmented by a calm rhythm of window openings with varied frame - at the basement level in semicircular panels, at the high ground floor level topped with such panels, on the ground floor with high triangular pediments. The quasi-expressionistic character of these pediments, the rhombic window woodwork in the risalit and the geometric pattern of the window grilles in the ground floor indicate the stylistic inspiration of the so-called Cracow School.

In the middle of the building there was an open courtyard, and the most representative room was the marble hall - the meeting place of the City Council. On the outside, the function of the building was emphasised by the tall and slender octagonal (octagonal) tower with a viewing terrace and a baroque cupola. The terrace offered a view of the entire city.

Mstislav Mściwujewski wrote about the tower in his 1929 book The Royal Free City of Drohobych : "High above the entire city and its surroundings rises the beautiful city hall tower. At its top, against the background of a medieval pennant, is the town's coat of arms, nine barrels of salt, and beneath the graceful coat of arms with a turret, the tower is flanked by a porch with an ever-vigilant town fireman. Below the clock, and just above the building itself, royal birds, eagles, are perched on the four corners of the tower, ready to fly, keeping a watchful eye on brave Lviv, which is fading away in the fog, and on the border peaks of the Carpathian Mountains, which are also looking towards the ancient castles of Halicz and towards the whole of Sambirsk.".

The Town Hall building - a witness to the changes after the war

The Town Hall building did not undergo any significant transformations during the Soviet period, except for the tower decorations (eagles), which were removed. On the top of the tower, on 2 April 1990, the blue and yellow flag of independent Ukraine was hung, the second after the flag was flown in Stryi (14 March 1990). The building was renovated in later years. Today, as before the Second World War, it houses the headquarters of the Drohobych City Council, and the tower is open to the public - it overlooks almost the entire city.

It is worth knowing that the book Triad of Time: Drohobych City Hall ( Тріада часу: дрогобицькій ратуші ), prepared for the 90th anniversary of the building, was published in 2020. It is the only literary collection in Ukraine dedicated to the City Hall building. The publication, in addition to a brief historical sketch, contains literary works about this one of the most beautiful seats of municipal power in Ukraine.