All About L’viv

Zygmunt Gorgolewski - main architect of the Opera House (Grand Theatre) (1897–1900). To avoid being accused of using his well-established position in society, Gorgolewski prepared his winning project of the theatre in secret and then sent it under a false name from Leipzig.

Zygmunt Gorgolewski died July 5, 1903 in Lviv and was buried in the Lyczakiv Cemetery.

Zygmunt Gorgolewski born on February 14, 1845 in Solec, near Bydgoszcz, was a Polish architect, renowned for his construction of the L’viv Opera House (Grand Theatre).
 
Between 1866 - 1871 studied in Berlin in the Royal Academy of Construction. During his studies, Gorgolewski also supervised the construction of Hannower Train Station in Berlin. After graduating, for six years he worked as an assistant in his alma mater. After that he became an advisor at the German Ministry of Public Works, official royal palace architect and architecture inspector in Halle. Gorgolewski was one of the most notable supporters of historicism in architecture in the Kingdom of Prussia and then Germany.

Among his projects were two versions of the future Reichstag building, which he proposed in 1872 and then in 1882. His projects were among merely 20 chosen by the committee out of more than 100. However, in the end his ideas for these projects were refused. 

He was also appointed as the main architect of the refurbishment of the Palace of Ferdynand Radziwill in Olyka, in Volyn. During his stay there, Gorgolewski for the first time visited Wilno, Krakow, Kyiv and Lviv. The latter city enjoyed a period of fast expansion and in 1875 Gorgolewski took part in the contest for the project of the future Galician Seim. His project was the most disputed and highly praised, but it was finally turned down, mostly due to financial reasons.

In 1879, Zygmunt Gorgolewski married Helena née Hulewicz. He was also an active member of many architectural juries across the partitioned Poland. Among others, he was the member of the jury during the contest for the project of Krakow Old Theatre (1889), the bank in Czerniowce and St. Elisabeth’s Church in Lwów. In 1893 he moved to L’viv, where he was chosen as the main architect of the L’viv Opera House (Grand Theatre) in 1897–1900. 

To avoid being accused of using his well-established position in society, Gorgolewski prepared his winning project of the theatre in secret and then sent it under a false name from Leipzig. Other notable building of his authorship was the Industrial School in the same city.

Zygmunt Gorgolewski died July 5, 1903 in L’viv and was buried in the Lyczakiv Cemetry.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org

Tags: architect, Galician Seim, Lyczakiv Cemetery, Opera House, Palace of Ferdynand Radziwill, Reichstag, Zygmunt Gorgolewski

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