Founded in 1844, until 1915 the Lviv Polytechnic Academy was the only Polish technical university, if we exclude the Preparatory School for the Polytechnic Institute in Warsaw, which functioned for a short time. From 1877 onwards, under the name of the Polytechnic School, it operated in a representative edifice in the Neo-Renaissance style, modelled on Viennese buildings and designed by Julian Zachariewicz, the founder of the Lviv architectural school and rector of the Polytechnic School.

The establishment of the Polytechnic was the aftermath of the dynamic development of industry in the 19th century, which brought with it the need for technical training for new generations of specialists and scientific and technical staff. In the Polish territories under partition, science and culture could not develop in an unhindered manner, while the Industrial Revolution was changing the face of the world. The few specialists educated at foreign universities were unable to meet the needs of the developing technical branches of the economy. An imperial decree of 24 January 1843 established a technical university in Lwów, which was to lay the foundations of Polish technical education and become the germ of the rapid development of technical sciences in independent Poland. Solemnly opened on 4 November 1844, the academy was one of the oldest technical colleges in Europe. The first polytechnic on Polish soil brought together within its walls the most distinguished scientific staff, who set about vigorously organising and opening the institution as soon as possible. The flourishing of scientific life in Lwów at this time was associated with the formation of scientific societies and a number of publications that formed the Polish technical thought of the second half of the 19th century.

Initially, the Lviv academy offered two-year, and as of the 1847/-1848 semester, three-year studies at the Faculty of Technology, one-year studies at the Faculty of Commerce (converted in 1853 into a two-year secondary school, abolished in 1875), and a two-year real school (separated in 1856 and converted into a six-class secondary school) preparing for higher technical studies. According to an imperial decree, the lecturers of the technical and commercial faculties were given the rank of university professors, while the lecturers of the real school were given the rank of grammar school professors. The division of the technical faculty was repeatedly requested, but did not take place until 1872. As a unified technical course encompassing all areas of engineering knowledge taught at the time, according to the 1860 and 1872 ordinances, it conferred the right to practice engineering. With the academic year 1872/1873, a five-year course of study in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture and a three-year course of study in the Faculty of Technical Chemistry, which was expanded to four years a year later, were distinguished. On 3 October 1875, the long-awaited mechanical engineering faculty was opened, with a four-year course of study. In 1894, by a resolution of the Galician Sejm, the 'Principles of Organisation' of the Lviv Polytechnic were issued, and three years later the first organisational statute of the university was issued by decree of the Ministry of Religion and Education. It regulated the legal basis of the institution and its organisation until 1921, with some changes. Florian Schindler, a graduate of Vienna Polytechnic and doctor of philosophy at the University of Vienna, became the first director.

From its inception, the technical academy was housed in the so-called Darowski House on the corner of 2 Teatralna and Armenian Street (the National House operated there after 1848), opposite the Jozefinsky University, with a real school located nearby. In the memoirs of the writer and publicist Ludwik Dębicki (1843-1908), we read that Mieczysław Darowski "[...] owned an edifice in Lwów which housed a polytechnic. During a bombardment, several bombs were thrown at this edifice, not without an order from above, the edifice burned down, and with it almost the entire fortune of the family". This is about the bombing of Lviv on 2 November 1848, during the so-called Spring of Nations, as an aftermath of the "uprising of the students, revolutionary bourgeoisie and proletariat". The fire consumed valuable scientific collections, the university library and university records. After the fire, until 1850 the university functioned within the walls of the town hall until the building was rebuilt in its previous location. After the reconstruction was completed, the polytechnic operated there until 1877, but due to the creation of new faculties and a lack of space, permission was granted in 1867 for the construction of a new building on Castrum Square, where the Municipal Industrial Museum subsequently operated. During the design work, Agenor Gołuchowski, Governor of Galicia, changed his original decision, deeming the future seat of the polytechnic insufficient. With a loan of almost 1.5 million zlotys obtained in 1873, a plot of land on Sapiehy Street was purchased from Countess Zofia Fredrowa, and the design was to be drawn up by Professor Julian Zachariewicz.

Construction of the new polytechnic building began in 1874 and lasted for three years. It was led by Prof. Zachariewicz with the help of senior government engineer Karol Słapa. On 15 November 1878, a ceremony was held to consecrate the new building of the university, renamed the Polytechnic School a year earlier, at the same time as the inauguration of the new academic year. Prof. Zachariewicz then took office as rector. In 1880, the Polytechnic was visited by Emperor Franz Joseph I., who praised the organisation and architectural design of the newly-built edifices, and commissioned 11 paintings-egories illustrating the development of mankind from the studio of Jan Matejko, which can still be seen today in the hall of the spacious, three-nave vestibule of the main building. It is worth noting the monumental portico with six columns and a high stone attic crowning the risalit, which features a group of three figures chiseled by Leonardo Marconi - allegories of engineering, architecture and mechanics. The attic bears a gilded inscription in Latin - Litteris et Artibus (To the Sciences and the Arts). The spacious three-nave vestibule of the main building, with its double row of columns and decorative cornice supporting the cross vaulting of the side aisles, opens onto a view of the spacious staircase. To the left, a sculpture of Professor Zachariewicz by J. Bełtowski made of white marble has stood here since 1910. The staircase with arcades supported by decorated impost pillars, above which are allegories of Art and Science (made by Emil Schrödl), is lit from above by a glass ceiling and decorated with ornaments in the Neo-Renaissance style. The wall paintings, which were designed by Zachariewicz himself, are the work of the brothers Maurice and Eric Fleck. Not far from the auditorium is a beautiful library room with a carved wooden ceiling and paintings, as well as cabinets made in 1880 decorated by Tadeusz Sokulski, which were designed by Zachariewicz with Marconi and made by the Wszelak brothers' company in Lviv.

In 1876, the second one-storey building of the university, which was to house the chemical laboratories, was successfully completed. Ten years later, a fire broke out in it, after which the building was restored. Interestingly, the buildings were constructed on the assumption that the number of students would not exceed 300, an assumption that soon proved to be wrong. It was not only Poles from Galicia who wanted to study at the university, but also those from the other annexations, which was possible thanks to the fact that in 1848 the institution was granted the right to admit students from outside the borders of the Empire. A sharp increase in attendance towards the end of the 19th century necessitated the need for more space, which was achieved by the addition of wings to the main building in 1904-1905. In 1901, the university was granted the right to confer the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences (a system later adopted by all technical universities in the country), and in 1903 the Emperor bestowed the title of Magnificence on the Rectors. At the opening of the academic year 1904/1905, Professor Rector Leon Syroczynski gave an inaugural speech in which he expressed the following wish:

"May our technology be a fortress whose gates open wide, giving access to everyone who wants to learn and work for the economic well-being of the country, in which the accumulated and constantly fed resources of knowledge and experience would not be exhausted in spite of constant use, in which there are no defenders and besiegers, conquerors and oppressed, and whose crew constantly remembers that with each other and with the country it is to live as free with free and equal with equal".

Even before the outbreak of the First World War, the headquarters of the chemistry department gained a second floor in 1911-1912. Shortly before the outbreak of war, construction of the foundations for another building to house the engineering laboratory began (it was not built until 1923-1927), and several private buildings were also rented. Unfortunately, the outbreak of war interrupted further expansion work at the university, and by August 1914 the main building had already become the site of a war hospital. After the Austrians withdrew, the buildings were occupied by the Russian army, and after the Austrian army returned to Lviv, lectures resumed (the main building still housed the hospital). For the summer term of 1915/1916, there were 125 students on the student register; the following academic year began with 218 students. By order of the Chief Józef Piłsudski, the school's main building was exempted from military occupation in 1920, but efforts to actually regain the building continued for many months, followed by months of necessary renovations. On 10 December 1920, the first post-war inauguration of the academic year took place. It is worth mentioning that the increase in the number of students between the wars was also significant - in the academic year 1918/1919 it was 989, including 31 women, while in the academic year 1929/30 it was already 2660, including 105 women. Under the new statute, adopted by the university on 18 June 1921, it now functioned under the name of Lviv Polytechnic. There were six faculties: engineering with departments for roads, waterways and surveying (four-and-a-half-year studies), architecture with departments for art and construction (four-year studies), mechanics with departments for machines, electrotechnics, mining and petroleum (four-year studies), chemistry with departments for laboratory and factory chemists (four-year studies), agriculture and forestry with departments for agriculture and forestry (four-year studies) and a general faculty, educating future teachers in four-year studies.

The Lviv Polytechnic, as the university was called from 1921, was not only an educational institution, but also an active centre of progress in technical sciences. Many prominent and distinguished scientists of the interwar period worked within its walls. It is worth mentioning just a few of them:

-Professor of Descriptive Geometry Kazimierz Bartel - President of the Polish Mathematical Society, head of the Ministry of Railways, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Religion and Public Enlightenment in the first government of Józef Piłsudski. Arrested during the Second World War by the Gestapo, he was executed after three weeks on Himmler's orders.

-Professor of electrochemistry Ignacy Mościcki - author of more than 40 Polish and foreign patents, after he became President of the Second Republic (1926-1939), he transferred the use of the rights to his patents free of charge to the Polish State.

-Professor Stefan Bryla, who lectured on the construction of bridges, was a pioneer in the practical application of welding and welded structures, a respected engineer and welding theorist of international recognition.

-Maximilian Huber - Professor of applied mechanics, dealt with the strength of materials.

-Wlodzimierz Krukowski -- prominent Polish metrologist, specialist in meter technology, formulas and measurements, author of many patents, taught electrical measurements. He was deported in 1941.

-Stanisław Pilat -- professor of oil and gas technology, author of many patents, extremely meritorious for the development of his field, shot dead by the Nazis on the Wuleckie Hills.

-Gabriel Sokolnicki -- Rector in 1931/1932, taught subjects such as electric lighting, wire calculations and electrical appliances, author of the first Project for the Electrification of Poland, played a significant role in the electrification of the country and the drafting of regulations in this field.

During the Second World War, the Soviets renamed the Lviv Polytechnic Institute as the Lviv Polytechnic Institute, which continued to operate after the war. Many of the professors were murdered by the Nazis; some of the survivors had no intention of remaining in Lviv under Soviet rule and took the opportunity to leave with their families for Poland. The university's buildings were destroyed - the Nazis dismantled and carted away a lot of machinery and equipment, and in the chemistry building copper wires or lead pipes were torn out of the walls. When the war ended, all the university's property remained in Lvov, with only the books in Polish and German being handed over to the Krakow Polytechnic.

The construction of the Polytechnic building went down in the history of Lviv as a momentous event. The beautiful buildings grew into the history of the city, becoming a centre for the formation of technical personnel and a cradle of science, engineering thought and invention. Thousands of specialists in sought-after industries emerged from its walls, responsible for the further development of Polish science and technology.