Lviv Historical Museum

Lviv Historical Museum is one of the oldest and the richest museums in Ukraine, established in 1893. The museum has rich and glorious traditions. Its history dates back to the end of the nineteenth century, when in 1893 the Historical Museum of the city of Lviv was founded. In 1940, the Historical Museum of Lviv and the National Museum named King Jan III (b. 1908) were merged into one institution - the Lviv Historical Museum (LHM). Its collections included also separate collections of dispersed Lviv museums, in particular, the Museum of the names of the princes of Lyubomyrsky, the Museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, the Museum of the Stauropigy Institute.

Today LHM collections number more than 370 thousand museum exhibits. These are archaeological materials, paintings, sculptures, drawings, archival documents, manuscripts, early printed books, metal, leather, wood, glass and porcelain, furniture, clocks, musical instruments, photographs and photo negatives, guns and the artifacts of Numismatics, Faleristics, Sigillography and others. Museum exhibits are the witnesses of the past; they retell the stories about important events in the history of our land, the way of life of Lviv and Galicia citizens from ancient times to the 21th century. These collections were formed throughout the history of the Museum. His first director Oleksandr Cholovsky, a well-known researcher, scientist, collector, played an important role in organizing the collection of LIM stock collections. Now LHM is a treasure of not only the national cultural heritage, but also the legacy of many European nations.

Every year the museum is visited by approx. 400 thousand people - Lviv citizens and guests of the city.
Some of the museum's sights and collections were exhibited at exhibitions in New York, London, Vienna, Paris, Prague, Warsaw and other European cities. An important event in the history of Ukraine from ancient times tells the exposition of the Department of History of Ukraine (Rynok Square, 24). In the royal halls of the Kornyakt building, old furniture, paintings, watches, orders from the museum's funds are represented (Kornyakta Kamyanytsia department, Rynok sq., 6). The Museum-Arsenal presents rare samples of weapons and protective weapons of the XII-XX centuries. from different countries of Europe, Asia and Africa (Department "Museum-Arsenal", Pidvalna St., 5). The Museum of Historical Treasures (now the LHM Department - Palazzo Bandinelli ) was opened in the renovated and handed over by the city authorities to the Museum Palazzo of Bandinelli (Rynok Square, 2) in 2005. In 2012, an exposition of the Museum of the Liberation Movement of Ukraine (Lysenko St. 23a) was opened in the premises of the former Strelnitsa. The interior and atmosphere of the literary-artistic salon reproduces the sector "Literary Lviv I half. Twentieth Century" (18, Guards Street). During the years of independence, the historic-memorial museums of the general-coroner UPA Roman Shukhevych (Bilogorshaya St., 76a) and Yevhen Konovalets (Zashkiv village of Zhovkva district) were opened. Currently, work is ongoing on the creation of the Lviv town History Museum (Rynok Square, 4). On the ground floor there is an exposition of stone monuments of Lviv. In the hangar on the 57a Vitovskogo str. is working on the creation of the Museum of the History of Science and Technology.

LIM is a recognized scientific and methodological center of historical and local lore museums of the western region of Ukraine. Scientists of LІM are actively engaged in research, cultural and educational activity. LIM has initiated and organized a number of scientific conferences, in particular, "Lviv Museums: Events, Collections, People", "Museum-Platform of Public Dialogue", which have become effective platforms for sharing the experience of museums. On the basis of the Lviv Historical Museum in 2011, a scientific seminar for young scientists was launched. Much attention is paid to museum pedagogy - a comprehensive program "Museum - School" has been developed, which enables to combine effectively the study of the school curriculum with museum practice. The museum has repeatedly participated in conducting all-Ukrainian museum festivals in Dnipropetrovsk. Three times LIM was awarded as a winner in mini-exhibitions competitions (2005, 2011, 2015) and and received honors for winning individual nominations at the Mezhibozh Museum Festival (2018). Understanding the challenges of modern times, scientists have developed the Strategy for the development of the Museum for 2017 - 2027 years.

In recent years, the work of the Museum has been intensified in the field of obtaining grants. In September 2016, the project of the Lviv Historical Museum "Restoration of the Black House in the Rynok Square in Lviv" won the competition grant program "The Great Project" of the US Embassy's Fund for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (AFCP). It was implemented during September 2016 - October 2019.. Lviv Historical Museum actively participated in the Lviv-Lublin Museum Dialogue within the framework of the implementation of the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Cross-Border Cooperation Program (the project aims to deepen cross-border communication and improve the work of museums). Much attention is paid to the Museum's intensification of cooperation with museum workers, both in Ukraine and foreign countries. During the last year, there were signed, in particular, about 30 agreements on cooperation with museums of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, China, Germany. In 2016, the museum signed a long-term cooperation agreement with the Google Cultural Institute. On June 2, 2016 at the session of the Lviv Regional Council the new director of the Lviv Historical Museum was appointed vice president of the Ukrainian National Committee of ICOM, a member of the Scientific Society named after T. Shevchenko, a member of the Polish People's Society, Doctor of Historical Sciences Roman Chmelik.