The initiator, founder and implementer of the idea of establishing the Skabkowski Theatre was Count Stanislaw Skarbek (1780--1848) - one of the richest men in Galicia. He came from an old noble family sealing the Abdank coat of arms. Orphaned in childhood, he and his brother came under the care of their aunt, Julianna Skarbek Rzewuska, wife of Franciszek Rzewuski, court marshal of the Crown and chamberlain to King August III. The upbringing of the boys was also supervised by the husband of their other aunt, Brygida, Tadeusz Skrzetuski. When he came of age, Count Skarbek inherited his grandfather's inheritance, and then that of his aunt Juliana, and as he turned out to be an exceptionally capable man with a talent for business, over time he greatly increased the family fortune.

Skarbek was an unconventional and eccentric man, which won him many enemies. While other businessmen concentrated on multiplying the family fortune, he enthusiastically played the stock market, took out huge loans and credits, leased commercial premises, bought real estate, land, machinery and cars. He opened mills, sawmills, breweries and distilleries on his estates, raised cattle, which he sold at fairs in Przemyśl, Vienna and Olomouc. Contrary to the traditions of the nobility, he joined the guild of steer traders and then drove cattle to the fairs himself, to the horror of the Galician nobility. He obtained a concession from the Viennese magistrate to run his own slaughterhouse in the city and was unconcerned either by a strike by local butchers or by comments from those who considered his activities unworthy of a nobleman. He built roads and became the largest supplier of fuel to Lviv. When he discovered deposits of iron ore in his estate, he immediately built factories and began producing agricultural tools, having applied for a monopoly in Galicia. He also fought for a long time to realise what many considered the utopian idea of building a canal connecting the Baltic with the Black Sea. Skarbek's wealth was estimated at over 2.5 million Rhine gold, and he was the owner of, among other things, three towns and nearly 40 villages with estates, land, ironworks, mines and mines, as well as many factories, trading posts and institutions. His life's work, however, was the construction of one of the largest theatres in Eastern Europe and the founding of an institution for the poor and orphans, to which he put all his efforts and vast wealth.

At the beginning of 1818, the count asked the Austrian government for permission to build a theatre in Lviv on the model of the Viennese establishments. The idea was supported by the director of the German theatre in Lviv, Franz Henryk Bulla, and presented to the governor, Franz Hauer, on 13 September 1818. In January 1819, Skarbek took the matter to Emperor Franz himself, but failed to achieve his goal. It was not until the autumn of 1835 that he finally received permission. The authors of the theatre project were Jan Salzmann and Ludwig Pichl. Salzmann, a native of Vienna, where he graduated from the Polytechnic and the Academy of Fine Arts, is considered the creator of the Biedermeier town houses that characterised Lviv's urban development in the first half of the 19th century. He also directed the construction of the Archbishop's Palace in Lviv (1844), and was co-author and executor of the plans for the theatre. The original design was drawn up in the spring of 1834 at the behest of the then governor of Galicia, Archduke Fedrynand d'Este, by the well-known Viennese architect of Italian origin, Ludwig (owner: Alois) Pichl, who had among other things reconstructed the Lower Austrian state building, the Palais Niederösterreich at 1313 Herrengasse.

The city donated a plot of land in the grounds of the Low Castle for the construction and allowed materials from the city's brickworks to be used. The construction was to be directed by Salzmann, whom the Treasurer had previously sent with the decorator Pohlman to France, the Netherlands and Belgium to see the technological innovations. The building was erected on the site of the former bastions, on marshy land, and therefore rests on 16 thousand oak logs brought from the count's estates. Skarbek, who was sixty years old at the time, personally supervised the construction, as we read in a study of the Polish Theatre in Lwów by Stanisław Pepłowski, published in 1889:

"The construction of the theatre continued without a break through the winter of 1840 and occupied everyone's attention. From Skarbek's vast estate, long lines of peasants' carts brought building materials, bricks, lime and stone. He himself was constantly on the building site from morning to night, giving nails to the carpenters and paying the workers himself."

Popular legend had it that Skarbek gave the citizens of Lviv a choice: to regulate the river or to fund a theatre, and the art-loving citizens of Lviv chose the theatre. The truth is rather more down-to-earth - the Count, with his business sense, certainly saw the construction of the theatre as a profitable business. Be that as it may, the construction of the theatre was not met with universal enthusiasm by the citizens. The Poles saw the investment as an instrument of planned Germanisation, and the Austrians protested against entrusting the construction of the theatre to a Polish investor to stage Polish plays there. One protest letter reads:

"How can one entrust such a notorious swindler as Skarbek, who has more than 50 lawsuits in the courts, with the construction of a huge edifice [...] How can one be indifferent to the terms of the contract, decreeing that the entrepreneur is only allowed to give Polish plays and not German ones?"

Despite all odds, the Skarbkowski Theatre was completed. The classicist edifice, modelled on the Munich theatre, was the most magnificent and largest building of its kind in Eastern Europe, with an auditorium that could seat 1,460 people. The magnificent chandelier and oil lanterns were imported from the Demuth factory in Vienna, while the decorations were made by Friedrich Pohlmann. The Count took out a loan of 80,000 zloty for the interior finishing and furnishings. The building was to additionally house a hotel with around 300 rooms, as well as offices, shops, cafés and conference rooms. It also housed private quarters where Artur Grottger and Juliusz Kossak, among others, stayed. Between 1861 and 1880, the redoubt hall also served for the sessions of the Galician National Diet.

By virtue of a privilege granted to Skarbek, the theatre was to stage plays in German four days a week (208 a year in total), while on the other days considered "inferior" - Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - Polish, French and Italian plays could be performed. As you can imagine, the auditorium was empty on the "better" days. It was only after 1871, with the gaining of Galician autonomy, that the theatre was taken over by a Polish company. A year later, the theatre became the only opera and operetta stage in Galicia. The opening ceremony of the Skarbek Theatre was accompanied by a lavish reception combined with a tour of the unusually grand building. As Gazeta Lwowska reported on 31 March 1842: "[...] while the curtain is being raised, they are pulling up the lantern hanging in the middle as well, so that the amphitheatre is in the shade, making the stage stand out better for the audience". However, complaints were made about annoying draughts and the lack of a foyer for the audience.

The opening was inaugurated by Franz Grillparzer's German play Życie snem [A Dream Life], and a day later, on 29 March 1842, there was a performance of Aleksander Fredro' s Śluby panieńskie [Maiden Vows], for whom the Skarbek Theatre was to become an artistic home, and this despite the fact that he had married Countess Skarbek. It is worth mentioning here that the Skarbeks' marriage was unsuccessful from the very beginning, when fifteen-year-old Zofia was married to Stanisław, almost twenty years older. Married for three years, the countess and Aleksander Fredro met in Lwów in 1817 - it was love at first sight, the lovers only being able to finally reunite after eleven years of her seeking a divorce. Interestingly, in 1818, then 25 years old, Fredro wrote the first major comedy in his output entitled Pan Geldhab . The story tells of the adventures of a young nobleman who seeks the hand of the daughter of the eponymous rich man, Flora, who in turn wants to marry her off to an impoverished prince.

During the time of the Skarbek Theatre, the Lwow theatre scene was famous for its famous premieres and great works by Polish artists. Plays by Słowacki, Mickiewicz, Krasiński, Zapolska or Korzeniowski were staged there, as well as dramas by Shakespeare and Schiller. Until 1848, Stanisław Skarbek himself acted as director, hired actors and directors, and selected the repertoire. He drew up a comprehensive code for actors entitled Rights for the Polish Theatre in Lwów , and also established a "Pension Fund for Actors, Actresses, Suffragettes and Directors of the Polish Theatre in Lwów". This does not mean that the cooperation between him and the theatre troupe always went smoothly - on one occasion, for example, he did not renew the contract with the existing acting troupe. He only bowed to public pressure. On another occasion, for reasons known only to himself, he banned non-participating artists from entering the theatre as spectators free of charge. This decree caused a general outcry among the artists and was loudly echoed in the Viennese press.

After Skarbek's death, the theatre was managed by Jan Nepomucen Nowakowski and Witalis Smochowski (1857-64), Jan Dobrzański (1875-81 and 1883-86), Adam Miłaszewski (1864-72 and 1881-83), Zygmunt Przybylski (1894-96), among others. Nowakowski and Smochowski reported the following in the Gazeta Lwowska of 7 August 1857:

"The enterprise and management of the Polish stage in Lvov have been entrusted to us by the admiaistracy assumed by Count Skarbek. We wish to develop the performing arts in all their branches. We will therefore try to gather around us the best talents. It is also our intention to admit young people of both sexes of decent upbringing and conduct, who feel a passion for the dramatic arts and have a preparatory education for this profession, to the Stage Society, and to make every effort to educate them artistically and mentally.

In turn, thanks to the efforts of Jan Dobrzański, an opera and operetta stage was created, the only one in Galicia, where the opera Lohengrin by Richard Wagner, written in 1848, was performed for the first time on Polish soil (on 21 April 1877). The last director of the Skarbek Theatre was Ludwik Heller (1896-99), who organised the Lwow Philharmonic in November 1902 in the Skarbek Theatre building, which had been converted for this purpose. At the time, it was the second on Polish soil after Warsaw, and its orchestra was conducted by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, among others. Concerts were given there by, among others, Ferenc Liszt and Niccolò Paganini.

Skarbek gave the theatre building to the city for free use for fifty years. After this time, on 28 March 1892, the rent for the use of the theatre was to be 17,000 Rhine gold per year, which was a considerable sum. Other theatre tenants also paid rent to the foundation established by the Count. The proceeds were to be donated to an institution for the needy, then in the process of being realised. The Count included this condition in his will:

"The theatre in the city of Lvov built by me [...] bequeathed with all the buildings belonging to it and all the equipment - I hereby dedicate it for the upkeep of the poor and orphan home to be established in Drohovych".

After fifty years, when the city had to start paying rent for the use of the building, the theatre was in decline and was not profitable. Eventually, the Lviv authorities decided to build a new, more modern city theatre building, which was erected in 1898-1900 under the name of the Grand Theatre.

In issue 37 of the magazine "Kraj" from 1900, we read the following summary of Skarbkowski's theatre activities and its importance:

"There was not a more famous artist in Poland who did not pass through the Skarbkow stage. [...] Whole stage generations have passed through this amphitheatre, as have whole generations of spectators. [...] Twenty-two thousand performances have been given within these walls. They have featured authors of all nationalities and ages, from Calderon to Suderman, from Kochanowski to Kasprowicz. The Skarbek Theatre experienced changing fortunes. There were times when performances were cancelled due to a lack of audiences, times when the theatre was empty for months at a time, times of disorganisation and collapse, times when there was even a two-week period of actors' standstill, and there was a period of such flourishing (1875-1881) under the Dobrzański family that the theatre's selection of plays and artistic forces could compete with the best theatres in Europe.

For half a century, the Skarbek Theatre played an enormous role in the socio-cultural life of the city. It was a place of great debuts, interesting premieres, tradition and innovative trends clashed on its stage. It became a symbol of the persistence of national art during the partition period.

Stanisław Skarbek did not live to see the end of his theatre, as he died in 1848. This is how he was commemorated many years later by the "Kurier Lwowski", in its memoirs of 8 May 1888:

"Stanislaw shared [...] the fate of genial people, exposing themselves to the indifference, sarcasm and ostracism of the majority, consisting of common people, who, paying no attention to the independent creativity of geniuses, see only the contradiction of their behaviour with the accepted general principles".

Until 1940, the hall of the theatre housed a bust of Skarbek by Parys Filippi, removed by the Russians. It was not until 1997 that the image of the founder was restored in the foyer of the building in the form of a medallion made by Dmytr Krwawycz. The building, which housed the theatre, philharmonic hall and cinema in turn, is now home to the Maria Zankovetskaya Ukrainian Drama Theatre.

Location: 26 Liberty Avenue, Lviv, Ukraine