Lviv Historical Museum. Arsenal Museum, Lviv

Lviv Historical Museum. Arsenal Museum

The City Arsenal (5 Pidvalna Street) is a defensive structure of the 16th century, which now houses Ukraine’s only Weapons Museum. The main entrance to the City Arsenal used to be adorned with the inscription: «Happy is the city that in time of peace cares for its future security».

Lviv, which lay at the crossroads of the main trade routes between West and East, was always a tempting prize for invaders of every kind. After the completion of two castles and a fortified line of defence, an urgent need arose to build a city arsenal, where weapons for the defence of the city were to be made and stored. The City Arsenal was built hard against the high wall of the city fortifications in 1555 from large stone blocks. Cannons were cast here, and an ammunition store was located nearby. In the tower adjoining the arsenal lived the city executioner, and interrogations and torture also took place here.

In 1768–1770 the Haidamaks, participants in the Ukrainian liberation uprising, were imprisoned in the City Arsenal. After the Austrians entered Lviv in 1772 the arsenal building was finally converted into a prison.

Since 1981 the arsenal has housed the Weapons Museum, the only museum of its kind in Ukraine and in the whole post-Soviet space. On the lower floor there is an exhibition hall where you can see an old sculpture group that once adorned the defensive walls of the city, «Saint Michael Slaying Satan». An antique shop operates on the museum premises.