Bernardine monastery

The Bernardine church and monastery is a true decoration of the old part of Lviv. Now the buildings of the monastery belong to the Lviv State Historical Archive, and the church building to the Greek Catholic Church.

The history of the monastery begins in the XV century. Then the first wooden temple of the Order of Bernardines was erected on this site. The modern appearance of the church acquired in the XVII century, when, according to the project of the monk Bernard Avelides, buildings of cells and the church of St. Andrew were built. At the same time, powerful monastic walls with loopholes appeared, along the perimeter of the monastery were surrounded by deep ditches. At the same time, a 38-meter tower of the church appeared, which became the final point in the creation of a single composition of monastic buildings. In 1753, a battle clock was installed on the tower. The facades of the church are decorated with coats of arms of Lithuania and Poland, decorated with statues of the holy order of Bernardines.

There were many events in the history of the temple, but two can be noted: here in 1604 before the campaign to Moscow, the tsar false Dmitry married Marina Mnishek, and in 1648 the monks were able to fight back the Cossacks of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who besieged Lviv. In honor of the second event, a column was built in front of the temple, decorated on top with the figure of St. Jan of Dukla.