The text mentions two former Polish arsenals in Lviv, recovered as antiquities from the military; they are described as places from the time when the Lviv stronghold was "the bulwark of Poland and Christianity". In the following part of the text, the history of both arsenals is described: the one in Podwale Street, at the exit of Sobieski Street, and the so-called "royal" arsenal, behind the Dominican Fathers' monastery (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1914, Półrocze II, pp. 526-527, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

The Polish Arsenal next to the Dominican Friars' Church in Lviv. Former arsenals of the city of Lviv.

Thanks to the efforts of Dr. T. Rutowski, Lviv's Deputy Mayor, and Dr. Aleksandr Czolowski, director of the local archive, who were tireless in their efforts to save the city's historical monuments, Lviv has regained two very venerable monuments from the times when Lviv's strongholds were "the bulwark of Poland and Christianity". These are two former Polish arsenals, until recently still occupied by the military. The first, and most important, is located on Podwale Street, at the exit of Sobieskiego Street. From the moment of its new location by Casimir the W., Lviv was a fortress, surrounded by walls and towers, and thus for their defence it had to have a sufficient stock of weapons, which also required a separate building.

Such a building, known as a "cekauz" (Zeughaus), armoury, or arsenal, already existed in Lviv at the beginning of the fifteenth century; where it stood is unknown, but probably on the spot where the building in question stands. However, in the course of time this building proved to be too small, so in 1555 and 1556 the city councillors built a new, much larger arsenal. This arsenal has survived to the present day. Dr. Czolowski, to whom I turned for information as a great expert on the history of Lviv, told me that the condition of the arsenal was excellent at the time when the city was flourishing. Its resources, consisting of half a hundred cannons and mortars, thousands of bullets, bombs, cartridges, hundreds of armour plating, hooks, grenades, small arms and firearms, aroused the admiration of locals and strangers alike.

All this rested under the watchful eye of the canvassers and administrators (provisores armamentarii), elected from the councillors and jurors. In times of siege and wartime trepidation, as in the memorable years of 1648, 1655 and 1672, the arsenal came alive with feverish life and was the main source from which the city drew its war resources. In addition to its proper significance, the arsenal had another: from the mid-17th century onwards, it was somewhat of a pantheon of Lviv. Plaques with the names of citizens of particular merit to the city were built into its walls, and so the famous defenders of Lviv against the Khmelnytskyi, Krzysztof Arciszewski and Krzysztof Grodzicki, were also honoured here by the city with stone busts, placed in the niches. The inventories, preserved to this day, give us an accurate picture of its rich contents in the 17th century, which were destroyed, unfortunately, irretrievably by the Swedish invasion of Charles XII in 1704. After the conquest of Lviv, in the general catastrophe of the city, above all its arsenal fell victim.

The finest weapons were taken, some of them of exquisite workmanship, and the enemy had neither horses nor time to imprison the numerous cannons. He took them behind the Bernardine Monastery and destroyed them with gunpowder, and:

"the unfortunate town," writes an eyewitness, "had to listen to the crackling of such an exquisite cannon, from which pieces flew around the town, other pieces were drowned by Swedish dragoons in a nearby pond, others were distributed among the Jews and sold for a few pennies or a few zlotys. The Swedish general, Lagierkron, riding on a horse, had these cannons rolled out of town, nailed up, dug into the ground, so that they had to shatter into tiny pieces, without being begged or pleaded with to keep them intact.

At the same time, the fire destroyed a lot of war equipment. Only 6146 bullets were saved, 403 different plates of armour and 77 destroyed hooks, which were hidden from the Swedes in the graves under the cathedral.The arsenal collapsed, there was no money to wash some of what was destroyed and imprisoned. It was not until 1740 that the city council made 12 guns of smaller calibre, 7 of which have survived to this day in the collection of the John III Museum. In view of his difficult financial situation, in 1753 King August III again allowed the cannons destroyed by the Swedes to be sold to repay his debts. They were bought by Michał Duke Radziwiłł, Warrant Officer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for 65,456 zlotys. 26 groschen, and took 37 cannons and 1 mortar to Nesvizh, where several of their pieces of exquisite form are still preserved.

The last inventory of the arsenal in 1757 states that it still contained 17 cannons, 62 hackney guns, 5716 bullets and bombs, and 230 different plates of armour. The Austrian invaders also found the arsenal in this condition and seized it for the benefit of the treasury. The destructive hand removed commemorative plaques, inscriptions and busts from the arsenal. In 1800, a military storehouse was established there, which still exists today. During the 19th century, numerous restorations changed the arsenal's original form; the upper part of the octagonal tower was removed, but the general type of the arsenal remained. The building, 53 m long, 11 m wide, dry inside, consists of three storeys: a vaulted lower storey, lying below street level, and two upper storeys. There used to be a proud inscription on the front wall:

FELIX CIVITAS QUAE TEMPORE PACIS PROVIDET FUTURA SUI PERICULA. LEO SEMPER VIGILAT. ("Happy city that in time of peace prevents future dangers. The lion is always vigilant").

On the side of Sobieskiego Street where Arciszewski's bust used to be, three stone plaques with bas-reliefs were erected in 1801. The central one depicts, between two figures, a Polish eagle with the shield of the coat of arms of Jan III (Janina) on its breast, supported with its paws on an iron cartouche bearing a panegyric inscription in honour of the shield. The left one depicts the coat of arms of Lviv, the right one the coats of arms of Hetman Stanislaw Jabłonowski and families related to him. This arsenal is one of the last witnesses of Lviv's glorious knightly past. The second arsenal, the so-called "royal arsenal" behind the Dominican monastery, although almost a century younger than the "city arsenal", is a monument that also played an important role in Lviv's history. Its foundation is linked to Vladislav IV and his great idea of a campaign against Turkey, for which he prepared equipment and supplies in Lviv. It was built in 1639 by the crown artillery general Pawel Grodzicki, based on an excellent Dutch or Belgian model.

From then on, the arsenal, as the property of the Republic, belonged to the most prosperous in the 18th century. From then on, as the property of the Republic, it was one of the most extensive in the country until the early 18th century. Its interior was filled with dozens of cannons of various calibres and shapes, with all their accessories, and thousands of muskets, flintlocks, grenades, halberds, spades, plate-axes, armour plating, lion-feathers and so on. Piles of bullets and bombs were piled up - separate were storerooms for barrels of gunpowder. During all military expeditions in the second half of the 17th century, this was the place where armour was purchased, and where the spoils of war were stored, such as those from the battle of Berestecz, Warsaw, Chocim, Vienna, etc. The arsenal was under the authority of the Crown artillery generals, who were also commanders of the Lviv fortress.

Great names: Krzysztof Arciszewski, Zyg. Przyjemski, Krzysztof Grodzicki, Marcin Koncki - were closely associated with this venerable building. The arsenal was directly supervised by the so-called "tekkwarts", i.e. the administrators who lived there, along with the tinkers, craftsmen and carters. Some of these Tejquards, such as Kazimierz Siemionowski, Sebastyan Anders and Frederick Getkaut, earned European fame with their cannons. Charles XII, who destroyed so many arsenals in Poland, dealt perhaps the most terrible blow to the Lviv arsenal.

In 1704, he carried away the most important cannons, and destroyed the rest, like the city's arsenal, as mentioned earlier. After this catastrophe, the arsenal, further destroyed by a gunpowder explosion, was in ruins, from which it never recovered. In 1772, Austria took ownership of it, having destroyed all the Polish plaques. In 1831, 1846-8, 1863-4, its storerooms were filled with piles of weapons, bought from private individuals at Polish manor houses, which were destroyed and sold for iron. Externally, apart from the gable wall above the main gate, reminiscent of the motifs of old Gdansk, the 53-metre-long building with its side extensions is of little architectural value today.

Its courtyard, on the other hand, is monumental in character and forms one of the most beautiful, extremely picturesque, and so far almost unknown monuments of old Lviv. The most noteworthy feature is the beautiful portal with mascarons on sweeping Baroque volutes with a frieze and a carved frame. It was on this portal that a statue of St Michael, the patron saint of Lviv, was erected in 1637 as a gift from King Vladislav IV. The statue of the saint, a model by the arsenal's creator himself, Pavel Grodzicki, and a cast by Lviv's engraver Franke from 1638 represent a valuable monument of Polish foundry work. The dragon, on the other hand, made of solid bronze, is a monument of far older Italian work of high artistic and archaeological value.

St Michael, so far kept in the municipal collection, will soon stand in its old place. Both of these jewels of the former glory of the Lion's Castle knighthood are returning to the ownership of the nation, thanks to the efforts of Dr Rutowski and Dr Czołowski. It happened quietly, almost imperceptibly, just as quietly as the work of these two brave and noble guardians of Polishness in today's Lviv always does for the city. Lviv's history will one day judge their immense merits, but today we note this fact with the joy and deep gratitude that Dr Rutowski and Dr Czolowski so richly deserve. The city council, which approved this act of redemption, gave itself a commendable testimony of civic sense. After the necessary adaptations, the "city" arsenal will be used for social purposes, while in the "royal" arsenal Dr. Czołowski will place the Archive, the City Library, the Museum of Old Lviv, studios, offices and so on.