[Lviv - Hetman Embankment. Skarbek theater, Jesuit church. Photograph. Turn of XIX/XX century]

[Lviv] Hetman's Bulwarks. Skarbek theater, Jesuit church. Photograph size: 38,7 x 25 cm. Print on albumen paper. On the reverse side description in pencil and ownership stamp. Condition: large paper loss in l.g. corner and minor losses in l.d. corner and on p. marg. Visible creases of the paper.

The monograph by Irina Kotlobulatova reproduces a smaller photograph (12 x 18 cm), by an unknown author, of a slightly different performance of the Skarbek Theater from around 1894. This photograph differs slightly in detail and is most likely slightly earlier than the one offered.

Following Kotlobulatova's description:

"The Skarbek Theater was the first building in Lviv erected to serve the arts. This happened thanks to the patronage of Count Stanislaw Skarbek (1780-1848), who in 1835 received, "theatrical privilege" - permission to build and use the theater, which was to be part of an ensemble combining a theater, apartments for actors, rooms for various associations, meeting rooms, a 300-room hotel, cafes, and stores. One of the many conditions of the privilege was to keep to the parity of performances: four performances a week should be in German, the rest could be in Polish, French or Italian. The outstanding theater was built in 1. 1839-1842 on the plot of land where the Low Castle once stood. The theater was built according to the design of the Viennese arch. A. Pichl and Lviv builder J. Salzmann. Lviv received a theater building with an auditorium of 1,460 seats - at that time it was the third largest theater in Europe, after the famous La Scala in Milan (3,000 seats) and the court theater in Dresden (2,000 seats). For the opening ceremony of the theater on April 27, 1842, the comedy , "Maiden Vows" by Alexander Fredro was presented. In 1871, a statue of St. Count Skarbek, chiseled by P. Filippi, was placed in the theater's vestibule. In 1902, arch. J. Balaban adapted the theater's premises for use as a philharmonic hall. In 1908 a cinema, "Urania", one of the first in Lviv, was opened here. It was not until 1940 that the theater began to operate again in the Skarbek building. Since the end of World War II, it has housed the Maria Zankovitskaya dramatic theater."

Lit. by I. Kotlobulatova "Lviv in photographs 1860-2006". Lviv 2008, p. 88