village Pidhirtsi
Zamkova St, 1
On the way from Lviv to Broda, in the village of Pidhirtsi, Zolochiv district, on the picturesque Brod Plain rises Pidgoretsky Castle — a monument of late Renaissance and Baroque architecture, the pearl of the “Golden Horseshoe of Lviv region”, the museum unit of the Lviv National Gallery art named after B.G. Voznitsky. Glorious and mysterious, strong and chamber-elegant, the architectural ensemble of Pidhirtsi — with bastions, palace, church of St. Joseph's courtyard and park were founded by Hetman the Great Crown Stanisław Koniecpolski in 1635—1640.
The core of the architectural complex is a palace, originally two-storey, with three-storey side pavilions and a tower, built according to the project of the Venetian architect Andrea del Aqua with the participation of the French engineer Guillaume Levasser de Boplan. The concept of the holiday residence “Mars after the feats of war” was embodied in the architecture and decoration of the building by Hetman Crown Stanislav Mateusz Zhevsky in 1718—1728. With the testimonies of an educated patron — a collection of paintings and military trophies, an archive with rare documents, oriental decoration of interiors, theatrical performances and sounds of the orchestra — Podgortsy was fulfilled during the time of the magnate and voivode Vaclav Petr Zhevuski in the 1728—1760s. In 1833—1865, the efforts of tycoon and publicist Leon Zhevuski carried out scientific musealization of the palace, arrangement of collections, archives and inventory of painting works.
With the outbreak of World War II, the then owner of Podgortsy, Prince Roman Vladislav Sangushko, evacuated most of the collection, which became the basis of the art collection in São Paulo (Brazil). The historical and architectural complex suffered devastating losses in the wars and fires of 1956. In 1997 Pidgoretsky Castle became part of the Lviv Art Gallery.
To this day Pidgoretsky Castle retains a refined Renaissance musical harmony, encouraging the completion of its original image — with Mirror, Gold, Yellow, Green, Karmazine, Knight's Halls, Mosaic and Chinese Cabinets, now lost gilding of vaults, incisions stained glass ceilings, wall paintings, Venetian mirrors, porcelain, portraits of founders, copies of paintings by Raphael, Rubens, Titian, Caravaggio, battles of Jan de Baan, canvases by Yuri Radyvilovsky, Hyacinth Alexinsky, Luka Smut Hlevicha, Augustin Mirissa and Shimon Chekhovych — in perception of an inquisitive traveler.