Restoration of the Krzyżanowski's Chapel

Lviv lawyer, Stanisław Krzyżanowski, erected a mausoleum commemorating his mother, Teofila Krzyżanowska Kalicińska Tarnowska (née Targowska), at the Lyczakiv Cemetery.

Corroded and damaged secondary sheathing was removed from the roof. The original wooden roof truss which was then exposed, proved to be in very poor condition in many places. The restoration of the truss consisted of the replacement and repair of decayed rafters and structural elements.

The new roof covering is copper sheet laid on a wooden sheathing using the traditional seam joining technique.

During the work on the roof truss, fragments of ceramic tiles glazed in various colors were found. It was later uncovered that the entire area around the chapel was strewn with fragments of broken ceramics, remnants of tiles that originally had covered the entire roof of the chapel. Following this discovery, it was decided that a complete reconstruction of the original roof covering would be added to the works. 

The original glazed ceramic tiles, carp rods, had been produced in two colors in the factory of Jan Lewiński. Similar ones were found on the roofs of other buildings in Lviv, dating from the end of the 19th century.

Carved stone details made of sandstone and marble required cleaning, and in some cases cavities in the stone were filled. The stone carvings were cleaned and coated with a biocidal product. Damaged and missing fragments and details were supplemented with reconstructions using better-preserved fragments as models.

The works on the painted decorations on the vault were carried out in stages, and consisted of securing the better-preserved fragments and the reconstruction of those completely destroyed.

The vault was cleaned of surface dirt with a soft brush, remaining fragments of the preserved paintings were removed from the walls, secured, fixed and pasted over the new plaster in the final stage of the works. Transfers of 12 plaster sheets were made. This process included the removal of plaster fragments, securing them, fixing and cleaning them, and then pasting them onto new substrate. 

Then, on the basis of these redraws and photos, traces were made with a drawing of the reconstruction of the polychrome. These decals were used for the reconstruction of the most damaged fragments of the decoration. In the final stages, retouches and underpainting was performed and the entire polychrome was consolidated and blended, in terms of colour.

In the final stages, retouches and underpainting was performed and the entire polychrome was consolidated and blended, in terms of colour.

The stained-glass windows, which are an indispensable element of neo-Gothic designs, were almost entirely destroyed, with only shards surviving.

Research confirmed an Austrian company which had carried out numerous orders from Lviv at the time, had also made the stained glass windows for the Krzyżanowski chapel.

In the archives of the Tiroler Glasmalerei und Mosaik Anstalt company, a note was found referring to an order for "two ornamental stained glass windows with church symbols for the funerary chapel."
This find resulted in a decision to perform a full restoration of the stained glass windows on the basis of the surviving designs.