The originator, founder and driving force behind the idea of establishing the Skabkowski Theatre was Count Stanisław Skarbek (1780–1848) – one of the wealthiest men in Galicia. He came from an old noble family bearing the Abdank coat of arms. Orphaned in childhood, he and his brother were taken into the care of their aunt – Julianna née Skarbek Rzewuska, wife of Franciszek Rzewuski, Crown Court Marshal and Chamberlain to King Augustus III. The husband of their other aunt, Brygida, Tadeusz Skrzetuski, also oversaw the boys’ upbringing. Upon coming of age, Count Skarbek inherited his grandfather’s estate, and subsequently that of his aunt Julianna; and as he proved to be an exceptionally capable man with a gift for business, he significantly increased the family fortune over time.

Skarbek was an extraordinary and eccentric man, a trait which earned him many enemies. Whilst other entrepreneurs focused on increasing their family fortunes, he enthusiastically traded on the stock exchange, took out huge loans and credits, leased commercial premises, and bought property, land, machinery and cars. He opened mills, sawmills, breweries and distilleries on his estates, and reared cattle, which he sold at fairs in Przemyśl, Vienna and Olomouc. Contrary to noble tradition, he joined the ox-traders’ guild and subsequently drove cattle to the fairs himself, much to the dismay of the Galician nobility. He obtained a licence from the Vienna city council to run his own abattoir in the city and paid no heed either to the strike by local butchers or to the comments of those who considered his activities unworthy of a nobleman. He built roads and became the largest supplier of fuel to Lviv. When he discovered iron ore deposits on his estates, he immediately built factories and began producing agricultural tools, having secured a monopoly within Galicia. He also fought for a long time to realise what many considered a utopian idea: the construction of a canal linking the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea. Skarbek’s fortune was estimated at over 2.5 million Rhine guilders; he owned, amongst other things, three small towns and nearly 40 villages, complete with estates, land, ironworks, mines and salt works, as well as numerous factories, trading posts and institutions. However, his life’s work was the construction of one of the largest theatres in Eastern Europe and the establishment of an institution for the poor and orphans, into which he poured all his effort and a vast fortune.

In early 1818, the Count approached the Austrian government with a request for permission to build a theatre in Lviv modelled on those in Vienna. This idea was supported by the director of the German theatre in Lviv, Franciszek Henryk Bulla, who presented it to the governor, Franciszek Hauer, on 13 September 1818. In January 1819, Skarbek took the matter to Emperor Francis himself, but he failed to achieve his aim. It was not until the autumn of 1835 that he finally received permission. The theatre was designed by Jan Salzmann and Ludwig Pichl. Salzmann, who came from Vienna, where he graduated from the University of Technology and the Academy of Fine Arts, is regarded as the creator of the Biedermeier townhouses characteristic of Lviv’s urban architecture in the first half of the nineteenth century. He also supervised the construction of the Archbishop’s Palace in Lviv (1844) and was the co-author and designer of the theatre’s plans. 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 renowned Viennese architect of Italian origin, Ludwig (actually Alois) Pichl, a well-known Viennese architect of Italian descent, who had previously been responsible, amongst other things, for the reconstruction of the Lower Austrian State Palace – the Palais Niederösterreich at Herrengasse 1313.

The city provided a plot of land within the Lower Castle grounds for the construction and authorised the use of materials from the municipal brickworks. Salzmann was to oversee the construction; Skarbek had previously sent him, together with the designer of the decorations, Pohlman, to France, the Netherlands and Belgium to observe the latest technological innovations there. The building was erected on the site of the former bastions, on marshy ground, and thus rests on 16,000 oak logs brought from the count’s estates. Skarbek, then aged sixty, personally supervised the construction work, as we read in the 1889 study *The Polish Theatre in Lviv* by Stanisław Pepłowski:

“Construction of the theatre continued uninterrupted throughout the winter of 1840 and captured everyone’s attention. From Skarbek’s vast estates, long lines of peasant carts brought building materials, bricks, lime and stone. He himself was constantly on the building site from morning till night, handing out nails to the carpenters and paying the workers himself.”

A popular legend had it that Skarbek gave the people of Lviv a choice: to regulate the river or to fund the theatre, and the Lvivers, who were enamoured with the arts, chose the theatre. The truth is rather more down-to-earth – with his business acumen, the count certainly saw the construction of the theatre as a lucrative venture. Be that as it may, the construction of the theatre was not met with widespread enthusiasm amongst the inhabitants. The Poles saw the investment as a tool of planned Germanisation, whilst the Austrians protested against entrusting the construction of the theatre to a Polish investor, lest he stage Polish plays there. One of the letters of protest reads:

‘How can the construction of such a colossal building be entrusted to a notorious swindler like Skarbek, who has over 50 court cases pending [...] How can one remain indifferent to the terms of the contract, which stipulate that the contractor is permitted to stage only Polish performances, and not German ones?”

Despite all the obstacles, the Skarbkowski Theatre was completed. The Classicist building, modelled on the Munich theatre, was the most magnificent and largest of its kind in Eastern Europe, with an auditorium that could seat 1,460 people. A magnificent chandelier and oil lamps were imported from the Demuth factory in Vienna, whilst the décor was created by Fryderyk Pohlmann. The Count took out a loan of 80,000 zlotys to complete the interior and furnish the building. The building was also intended to house a hotel with around 300 rooms, as well as offices, shops, cafés and conference rooms. It also contained private apartments, in which Artur Grottger and Juliusz Kossak, amongst others, lived. Between 1861 and 1880, the redoubt hall also served as the venue for sessions of the Galician Provincial Sejm.

Under the terms of a privilege granted to Skarbek, the theatre was to stage plays in German four days a week (a total of 208 per year), whilst on the remaining days – considered ‘inferior’ – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – Polish, French and Italian productions could be staged. As one might easily guess, on the ‘better’ days the auditorium was virtually empty. It was not until after 1871, following the granting of Galician autonomy, that the theatre was taken over by a Polish company. A year later, the theatre established the only opera and operetta stage in the whole of Galicia. The opening ceremony of the Skarbkowski Theatre was accompanied by a lavish reception combined with a tour of the exceptionally magnificent building. As reported by the *Gazeta Lwowska* on 31 March 1842: ‘[…] as the curtain rises, the lantern hanging in the centre is raised so that the amphitheatre is in shadow, thereby making the stage stand out more clearly for the audience’. However, there were complaints about nagging draughts and the lack of a foyer for the audience.

The theatre’s opening was marked by a performance of Franz Grillparzer’s German play *Life as a Dream*, and the following day, 29 March 1842, Aleksander Fredro’s *Maiden Vows* was staged; for him, the Skarbkowski Theatre was to become his artistic home, despite the fact that he had married Countess Skarbkowa. It is worth noting here that the Skarbkowski marriage was a failure from the very beginning, when fifteen-year-old Zofia was married off to Stanisław, who was almost 20 years her senior. The countess, who had been married for three years, and Aleksander Fredro met in Lviv in 1817 – it was love at first sight, but the lovers were only finally able to be together after eleven years of her efforts to secure a divorce. Interestingly, in 1818, Fredro – then aged 25 and head over heels in love – wrote the first significant comedy of his career, entitled *Pan Geldhab *. The story recounts the misadventures of a young nobleman who seeks the hand of the daughter of the eponymous wealthy man – Flora – whilst the latter, in turn, wishes to marry her off to an impoverished prince.

During the era of the Skarbkowski Theatre, the Lviv theatre scene was renowned for its high-profile premieres and the great works of Polish artists. Plays by Słowacki, Mickiewicz, Krasiński, Zapolska and Korzeniowski were staged there, as well as dramas by Shakespeare and Schiller. Until 1848, Stanisław Skarbek served as director himself, hiring actors and directors and selecting the repertoire. He drew up a comprehensive code of conduct for actors entitled *Rules for the Polish Theatre in Lviv*, and also established the ‘Pension Fund for Actors, Actresses, Prompter and Director of the Polish Theatre in Lviv’. This does not mean that his collaboration with the theatre company was always free of conflict – on one occasion, for example, he failed to renew the contract with the existing cast. He only relented under pressure from public opinion. On another occasion, for reasons known only to himself, he forbade artists not taking part in a performance from entering the theatre free of charge as members of the audience. This decree caused widespread outrage amongst the artists and was widely reported in the Viennese press.

Following Skarbek’s death, the theatre was managed by, amongst others, Jan Nepomucen Nowakowski and Witalis Smochowski (1857–64), Jan Dobrzański (1875–81 and 1883–86), Adam Miłaszewski (1864–72 and 1881–83), and Zygmunt Przybylski (1894–96). Nowakowski and Smochowski published the following announcement in the *Gazeta Lwowska* of 7 August 1857:

‘The management and administration of the Polish theatre in Lviv have been entrusted to both of us by the administration of Count Skarbek’s foundation. We wish to develop the performing arts in all their forms. We shall therefore endeavour to gather the most promising talents around us. It is also our intention to admit to the Theatre Society young people of both sexes of decent upbringing and conduct, who feel a passion for the dramatic arts and possess an education preparatory to this profession, and to make every effort towards their artistic and intellectual development”.

In turn, thanks to the efforts of Jan Dobrzański, an opera and operetta theatre was established – the only one of its kind in Galicia – where Richard Wagner’s opera *Lohengrin* , written in 1848, was performed for the first time on Polish soil was performed for the first time on Polish soil (on 21 April 1877). The last director of the Skarbkowski Theatre was Ludwik Heller (1896–99), who, in November 1902, established the Lviv Philharmonic in the Skarbkowski Theatre building, which had been converted for this purpose. At that time, it was the second such institution in Polish territories after the one in Warsaw, and its orchestra was conducted by, amongst others, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. Ferenc Liszt and Niccolò Paganini, amongst others, gave concerts there.

Skarbek granted the city free use of the theatre building for fifty years. After this period, on 28 March 1892, the rent for the use of the theatre was to amount to 17,000 Reichsmarks a year, which was a considerable sum. Other organisations renting theatre premises also paid rent to a foundation established by the Count. The proceeds were to be donated to a facility for the needy, which was then under construction. The Count included this condition in his will:

“The theatre in the city of Lviv, built by me […] bequeathed together with all its appurtenances and the entire fit and finish – I hereby dedicate it to the maintenance of a home for the poor and orphans to be established in Drohobych.”

Fifty years later, when the city was forced to start paying rent for the use of the building, the theatre had fallen into disrepair and was no longer profitable. Ultimately, the authorities of Lviv decided to build a new, more modern municipal theatre, which was erected between 1898 and 1900 under the name of the Grand Theatre.

In issue 37 of the magazine *Kraj* from 1900, we read the following summary of the Skarbkowski Theatre’s activities and its significance:

‘There was no more celebrated artist in Poland who had not graced the Skarbkowski stage. [...] Entire generations of stage performers have passed through this amphitheatre, just as entire generations of audiences have. [...] Twenty-two thousand performances were staged within these walls. They featured works by authors of all nationalities and eras, from Calderón to Suderman, from Kochanowski to Kasprowicz. The Skarbek Theatre experienced its share of ups and downs. There were times when performances were cancelled due to a lack of audience; there were entire months of emptiness, disorganisation and decline; there was even a two-week actors’ strike; and there was a period of such prosperity (1875–1881) under the Dobrzańskis that, in terms of its repertoire and artistic talent, the theatre could rivale the finest stages in Europe.”

For half a century, Skarbek’s Theatre played a hugely significant role in the city’s social and cultural life. It was the venue for great debuts and intriguing premieres; tradition and innovative trends clashed on its stage. It became a symbol of the endurance of national theatre during the period of the Partitions.

Stanisław Skarbek did not live to see the end of his theatre’s activities, as he died in 1848. This is how the *Kurier Lwowski* commemorated him many years later, in an obituary dated 8 May 1888:

‘Stanisław shared […] the fate of brilliant people, who expose themselves to indifference, sarcasm and ostracism from the ordinary majority, who, paying no heed to the independent creative work of geniuses, see only the contradiction between their behaviour and generally accepted principles”.

Until 1940, the theatre foyer housed a bust of Skarbek by Parys Filippi, which was removed by the Russians. It was not until 1997 that the image of the theatre’s founder was restored in the foyer of the building in the form of a medallion created by Dmytro Krvavych. The building, which has successively housed a theatre, a concert hall and a cinema, is now home to the Maria Zankovetska Ukrainian Drama Theatre.

Location: 26 Aleja Wolności, Lviv, Ukraine