Lviv Art Gallery

You can't pass by this gorgeous building in Lviv and not wonder what it is. There are not many buildings with such big yards. We walked in the front door (surprised it was open) and found out the historic building housed an art museum! The biggest art museum in Ukraine, actually, and over 100 years old.

We wandered through the pretty rooms and saw paintings from all over Europe, though none by notable artists we recognized. We were hoping to see more art from Ukrainian artists (there was a small section). Some of the paintings were actually quite poor in quality and very black, but I wasn't very surprised. I can't imagine that the museum has much funding (most of the Ukrainians I know don't appreciate art very much). Maybe we were comparing it to the art museums we had visited in Paris and Vienna. With a little Google research, we found out that 150 paintings were confiscated by the Germans during WWII and never returned. So terribly rude of them.

The place was charming and old. The most creaky wood floors I've ever encountered. Yuriy and I felt the need to tiptoe, even though the place was deserted. At least you know the beautiful mansion wasn't totally renovated into a modern museum. A nice relaxing little break from the outside cold. 

We only had time for one floor of the museum, so we chose to go upstairs which had paintings. We completely missed the ground level, which has antique furniture.

Most of the photos are from the outside of the building. Photos inside the museum were not permitted and there were a few mean looking ladies following us around because they had nothing better to do (and we were the only guests). By now you know that didn't stop us. Our darn camera produces such loud shutter clicks which makes stealthy photos impossible, but we got a few on our little compact camera. 

- Julia