The text also provides a history of Lviv's arch-cathedral church, the construction of which began under Casimir the Great around 1344, but which continued until 1480, also thanks to the efforts of Wladyslaw Jagiello. The remainder of this article describes in detail the church's façade and interior, including the miraculous painting painted by Jozef Wolfowicz, which was moved inside the church by Archbishop Sierakowski in the 18th century. The tombstones in the church are also described, including those of Michał Buczacki and Stanisław Żółkiewski (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1867, T:16, pp. 64,66, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

Lviv Archcathedral Church.

Lviv, although twice the size of Krakow, has half as many churches, with only a few larger ones in between. There are eighteen of them today, but once there were forty, but most of them were either converted for other uses or demolished altogether.

The first place among the churches of the Latin rite is taken by the Archcathedral, standing in the very centre of the city on Halytska Street, on a small square named after the cathedral. Casimir the Great began to build this magnificent and costly edifice in 1344 (*), as a result of a vow he had made; however, it took a very long time to complete it, due to a lack of funds and the careful construction typical of all Gothic churches, so that it was not finished until 1480.

Vladislav Yahaila contributed a great deal to its construction, and the citizens of Lwow contributed not only with money but also with their own labour to the building of the cathedral. The architects were Piotr Stecher and Scheller, the construction was completed by Grom, a builder from Breslau, and the stonemason Hann added the cloister and the chapels were sealed in 1493. The temple is in the original gothic style; it is not decorated with lacey stone ornamentation, nor does it have such lofty walls as the gothic churches in Krakow or Wroclaw, but it impresses with its austerity and purity of style.

Two towers adorn it, but one only projects high and the other a quarter lower, as if unfinished. Six chapels touch the nave, and besides these, one, called the Garden Chapel, stands apart; there was also another, but it was pulled down without a trace. This church, like almost all our churches, suffered a fire. It happened in 1527 and the roof, the vault and the tower were consumed by flames, but the walls remained intact.

The then Archbishop Wilczek rebuilt the tower, fitted it with bells, and covered the church with a roof and vault. In addition to the chapels, there are six side altars. The interior of the church is far less impressive than its exterior. A multitude of ornaments, cornices, gilded stuccowork, vases with brightly coloured flowers and frescoes in the vaulting - although beautiful in themselves - detract from the austerity of the pure Gothic lines, which are difficult to recognise in this chaos and which somehow reduce the volume of the interior.

Felicyan Lobeski, who died not too long ago, wrote extensively about the paintings of Lviv temples and enumerated in detail the frescoes and oil paintings of the cathedral. We cannot undertake to list them in detail, but we should at least mention the main ones. Above the altar in the chancel, there are frescoes depicting the Virgin Mary with a sceptre in her hand; to the left, a garden full of trees and water features; to the right, a tower of shields and armour, at the foot of which stands a psalmist. Further on, one can see the ark settled on top of Ararat and the four parts of the earth in symbolic figures.

On the vault in different divisions are the Annunciation, the Visitation of N. P. Mary, the Nativity of Christ and the Adoration of the Three Kings. On the side walls on either side of the presbytery, paintings depict the miracles that the pious experienced from the image in the great altar located. And there is no shortage of frescoes in the chapels. It would even be beautiful, if it were not so contrary to the austere style of the temple. The image just mentioned, like all miraculous images, has its own story.

It was originally located outside the temple. Jozef Wolfovich, Lviv geometer and painter, painted it on a small panel and placed it on the outside wall on his daughter's gravestone. When the painting started to become miraculously famous among the people, Jozef Domagalicz, a citizen of Lviv, placed it in a chapel for the convenience of the devout praying in the street. In the second half of the 18th century, the image's fame grew so much that Archbishop Sierakowski moved it to the centre of the church in 1765 and placed it in the great altar.

The painting depicts the Virgin Mary in a sitting posture, holding the infant Jesus, who touches her face with his right hand. In the side altars and chapels, most of the paintings were painted by Jozef Chojnicki around 1770-80; the drawing and colouring in them are good, only the strength of the brush and the originality of the creation are missing. In addition, there is a large and, in terms of commemorative value, very respectable collection of portraits in the sacristy. They include almost all archbishops, several dignitaries, church founders, city officials and citizens of Lviv.

As Starovolsky writes in his "Monumenta Sarmatorum", Lviv Cathedral once had more than forty magnificent tombs; today only a small number remain. The most beautiful are those of Michał Buczacki, killed in the battle with the Tatars in 1483, and Stanisław Żółkiewski; both are located in the chapel adjacent to the great altar, to the left of the entrance.

The sarcophagus of Buczacki is made of stone; on it lies a knight made of bronze, covered with heavy armour and supported on his elbow; a helmet is at his chest. Żółkiewski is also cast in bronze, standing, his left hand on the hilt of his sword, his right on his hip, and the helmet rests at his feet. There is no inscription on the first one, but the chapel still bears the name of Buczaccy and tradition confirms that it is the tomb of the mentioned warrior. Among other tombs, there is a monument to the Krosnowskis in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and a tomb of the Kampians in the chapel of their name, distinguished by rich marble decoration. A detailed description of all monuments in the cathedral and the inscriptions on them can be found in the 1856 supplement to "Gazeta Lwowska".

These are the main monuments of the cathedral; in this respect it cannot stand comparison with Krakow cathedral, it is inferior to it in majesty, but nevertheless it is beautiful and magnificent. There are two pulpits in the cathedral: one for Polish and one for German preachers. In other churches, sermons are preached exclusively in Polish; the Dominicans are only obliged to have a German preacher, while the Lviv Jesuits, who have several members of German nationality among their number, preach in this language.

The jurisdiction of the Lviv Archdiocese once included the bishoprics of Przemyśl, Lutsk, Chelm, Kamieniec and Cecora; today it is subordinate only to those of Przemyśl and Tarnów, already established by the Austrian government. In 1817, the Lviv archbishops received the title of primate of Galicia. There used to be brotherhoods here, namely also literary brotherhoods, founded as early as in the 14th century; now only one remains. In concluding this brief description of the cathedral, we cannot omit to mention the iron ball, chained to the outside of the edifice and preserved to commemorate the Turkish siege of 1672. This ball bears the following inscription:

"Pro gloria obsidionis Leopolini Turcis A.D. 1672 die 29 Septembris, globus hic 30 libris, uriculi fratrum a largo Maris magno in incilio ecclesiae cloramento missus, sub Cruris SS. Regni nullum damnum causato fertur in festo D. Michaelis Archangeli, gravissimis procellae, fulguribus et fulminibus luna a mane.".