Celling paintings in the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Lviv, Ukraine

Franz Gregor Eckstein began creating the paintings decorating the vault of the Sts. Peter and Paul Church in 1739. After his death in 1741, the work was continued by his son Sebastian, who completed it in 1749. Franz Eckstein had already created similar illusionistic paintings on the ceiling and walls of the Piarist Church in Cracow, and that work had taken him six years. The vault decorations of the Lviv church, occupying more than a thousand square meters, were funded by the Bishop of Kiev Samuel Jan Ożga and Elżbieta Szczuczyna, née Potocka. The church had been built in the early 17th century, but it required restoration and decoration after a fire in 1734. Archival records indicate that it was Elżbieta Szczuczyna née Potocka who initiated commissioning Eckstein to do the painting work in Lviv. She was probably familiar with his magnum opus at the Piarist Church in Cracow.
The illusionistic quadratura paintings on the church's vault masterfully combine architectural elements painted in geometric perspective and figural representations. They were composed to give the illusion of monumental space opening to the heavens with figures of God and saints. Such decorations were widespread in churches of the mature Baroque, when monumentalism and theatricality of architecture and decoration were valued with a view to making the greatest possible impression on the faithful. They are found in many Jesuit churches.
The Jesuit Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Lviv was modeled on the Roman church Il Gesù, the first Baroque church. It was built between 1610 and 1635 and can accommodate up to five thousand worshippers. After World War II it was turned into a book storage facility. In the 1990s the library collection of the former Ossolineum was stored there. Now it is the Greek Catholic garrison church of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Projects of POLONIKA Institute
2018-2021 - Strategic Program PROTECTION - restoration works to the fresco paintings in the former Jesuit church in Lviv
2021 - Strategic Program POPULARIZATION - exhibition "Beauty recovered - restoration of Ekcstein's paintings"