Potocki Palace. Lviv’s most French palace: Louis XVI–style state rooms and European paintings of the 14th–18th centuries

The facade of the Potocki Palace in Lviv
A Potocki Palace hall with a skylight and chandelier
The rear facade and stairs of the Potocki Palace
The portico of the Potocki Palace in Lviv
The facade of the Potocki Palace in LvivA Potocki Palace hall with a skylight and chandelierThe rear facade and stairs of the Potocki PalaceThe portico of the Potocki Palace in Lviv

The Potocki Palace is one of the most important architectural landmarks of the late 19th century in Ukraine, which researchers call the most French building in Lviv. It was built to a design by the Paris architect Louis Dauvergne for Count Alfred Potocki, the imperial governor of Galicia, and today it houses a museum of the Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery. On the first floor visitors find state rooms in the Louis XVI style, and on the second a collection of European art from the 14th to the 18th century.

Why visit

  • One of the most important architectural landmarks of the late 19th century, called the most French building in Lviv
  • Five Louis XVI state salons with gilding, marble, stucco and silk wallpaper
  • Eleven halls on the second floor with European painting of the 14th–18th centuries: Titian, Ribera, La Tour, Honthorst
  • The Banquet Salon with hunting and fishing motifs on the walls and a still life with a red parrot above the fireplace
  • A formal French garden behind the palace with rare trees, including Lviv’s only dawn redwood
  • Workshops, quests and group tours, including in foreign languages, help you get to know the palace’s history more deeply

Good to know

Ticket prices
Adult ticket UAH 200, children and pensioners UAH 100, students UAH 150. Family ticket for one adult and 1–2 children UAH 300, for two adults and 1–2 children UAH 500.
Opening hours
Wednesday–Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00; the box office is open until 17:30. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Workshops and quests
A workshop or a quest costs UAH 150.
Group tours
Group of up to 20 people: a tour for adults UAH 700, for children and pensioners UAH 500, for students UAH 600. A tour in a foreign language for a group of up to 10 people UAH 1,000.
Professional shoots
For professional photo and video shoots, call +38 068 966 23 48 or +38 032 261 64 32.
Getting there
The palace is at 15 Kopernyka Street in central Lviv; the facade and courtyard can be seen from the street through the fence.

The state rooms form an enfilade of five salons. The Reception Salon impresses with its ivory boiserie, snow-white decoration and golden silk wallpaper, and the Music, or Red, Salon with a fireplace of white Carrara marble, copper mounts and gilded stucco. In the Ballroom, or White Salon, the walls are finished in stucco, and the mirrors are set in bronze frames with musical instruments; the Banquet, or Turquoise, Salon is covered with motifs of hunting, fishing and nature’s bounty, and above the jasper and marble fireplace hangs “Still Life with Flowers and a Red Parrot”, which the Potockis themselves once saw. Eleven halls on the second floor display one of the finest collections of European art in Eastern Europe, above all painting. The exhibition is arranged by region and period: Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Austrian, German, Dutch, Italian, French and Spanish masters, among them Titian, Jacopo Zucchi, Sofonisba Anguissola, Georges de La Tour and Jusepe de Ribera. The design is by the Paris architect Louis Dauvergne, while construction and decoration were carried out by Lviv craftsmen: the design and construction partnership of Julian Cybulski and Ludwik Baldwin-Ramułt, and the firm of the sculptor Leonard Marconi and his pupil Piotr Harasymowicz. The palace is surrounded by a fence with tall gates decorated with Alfred Potocki’s monogram and a count’s coronet, and its spacious courtyard could once take eight carriages at a time. Behind the palace lies a formal French garden, where Lviv’s only dawn redwood still grows. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, and the box office is open until 17:30. It hosts workshops and quests, and offers guided tours for groups, including in foreign languages.