The Boim Chapel (; ) is a monument of religious architecture in Cathedral Square,

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

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. It was constructed from 1609 to 1615 and is part of Lviv's Old Town, a

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History

The chapel was built for the Boim family on the territory of a contemporary urban cemetery near the Latin Cathedral. The Boims came to Lviv (, then in the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

) from the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. Their national origin is unclear. They were affluent patricians of Catholic background and became

polonized Polonization or Polonisation ()In Polish historiography, particularly pre-WWII (e.g., L. Wasilewski. As noted in Смалянчук А. Ф. (Smalyanchuk 2001) Паміж краёвасцю і нацыянальнай ідэяй. Польскі ...

. George (Jerzy) Boim () is credited with the foundation of the chapel. The building was finished by his son, Paweł Boim. 14 members of the Boim family are buried there. The chapel was designed by Andrzej Bemer. He followed a simplified diagram of the architecture of the

Sigismund's Chapel Sigismund's Chapel () is a royal chapel of the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland. Built as a funerary chapel for the last members of the Jagiellonian Dynasty, it has been hailed by many art historians as "the most beautiful example of the Tu ...

at the

Wawel Cathedral The Wawel Cathedral (), formally titled the Archcathedral Basilica of Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Saint Stanislaus and St. Wenceslas, Saint Wenceslaus, () is a Catholic cathedral situated on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. Nearly 1000 years old, it ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

with Italians' elements. In the second half of the 18th century, the chapel was replaced by the Lviv cemetery as a burial place for the Boim family.

Architeсtural features

The chapel combines a variety of stylistic trends. The ornamental decorations are of

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

provenance. The narrative

reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

bear some degree of resemblance to those found in central and southern Poland, but are presumably based on German or Dutch graphic models. The appearance of the facade and the altar recalls the

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

form. The sculptor Jan Scholtz, who was likely responsible for the second stage of the work, originated from

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

. The quality of the design and the lack of moderation persists in

active works of Italian masters, but acting example of bourgeois art. The chapel was built on a square plan and is covered by a paneled dome based on an octagonal tambour. On the chapel lantern rises on eight fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals, covered again with a small dome, having a statue of Christ on top.

External appearance

The walls of the chapel are focused according to the sides of the world. Entablature creates the external appearance of the walls, which revolves around them, breaking down in accordance with their relief. The southern side is closed with a residential house, which is attached to the chapel. It was built in the 19th century. The eastern wall is divided by five pilasters and decorated with two mural portraits of Georgy Boim and his wife, Jadwiga. The portraits were created in 1617, by Jan Gianni. The northern wall is also divided by pilasters. Two fresco images are located there: the Virgin and Jesus Christ. A bas-relief of

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

(the name saint of Georgy Boim) fighting the dragon is situated on the wall of the octagonal tambour.

Western wall

The façade’s decorations are attributed to Andrzej Bemer. The western wall is considered to be the most important. It includes a great amount of decorative elements. The whole facade is covered densely with figures and ornamental sculptures, made of sandstone. The facade is divided with cartouche frieze and cornice on two parts. The upper part is decorated with two corinthian columns. The lower part is decorated with six corinthian columns. It also includes the statues of the Apostles Peter and Paul, which are located in the niches on both sides, with the prophets’ circular medallions over the door, windows and niches. Though this facade demonstrates the impression of exaggeration and manners. In the second tier of the cartouche above sculpture’s images of the prophets are located the quotes from the Bible in Latin (on the facade from left to right): * «Morte turpissima condemnemus / eum sapi I» ("Condemn him to death shameful" (Bk. Wisdom 2.20) – above St. Peter; * «Foderunt manus meos et pedes meos / DA Psal. XXI » ("They pierced my hands and my feet" (Psalm. 22 (21). 17); * «Corpus meum dedi percucientibus et genas vellentibus / Esai. L »(« I gave my back to those who hits, and my cheeks to those who pinches" (Isaiah 50.6); * «Mittamus lignum in panem eius. Et eradamus eum de terra viventium / Ier: XI » ("Cut down the tree with its fruit, and cut off it from the land of living " (Jeremiah 11.19)); * «Et post hebdomadas LXII occidetur Christus / DAN. IX » ("And after 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off "(Daniel 9.26); * «Et appenderunt mercedem meam XXX argenteos / Zach XI» ("So they weighed my wages – thirty pieces of silver" (Zechariah 11.12) – the entrance; * In Virga percutien maxillam ivdicis / Mich. V. ("Rod upon the judge’s cheek" (Micah 4.14)) – the entrance; * «Et dicent non est Rex Noster / Ose X» ("And they say, We have no king" (Hosea 10.3) – above St. Paul. The third tier has many relief images. It contains compositions, dedicated to the Passion of Christ: "Castigate", "Carrying the Christ," "Crucifixion", "Withdrawal of Christ." Due to the expressiveness these compositions and the interior’s composition are called "Bible of the poor". As it does not need to know the letters, to understand the essence.

Chapel interior

The interior of the chapel includes four stone figures of prophets, located in the altar, which resembles some images on frieze. The whole plastic decoration is made of stucco. A special attention is paid to

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s and the dome. On the pendentives, which have the rich framing of the telescopes from both sides. This framing consists of a flat – convex brass motifs and medallions with heads of angels, the same type as on the frieze external. On the pendentives there are angels, which hold cartouches with images of divinities, coats of arms and

house mark A house mark was originally a mark of property, later also used as a family or clan emblem, incised on the facade of a building, on animals, in signet and similar in the farmer and burgher culture of Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordic co ...

s. Beneath them there are figurines of patrons, both founders: St. Stanislaus and

Adalbert of Prague Adalbert of Prague (, , , , ; 95623 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch (), was a Czech missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, ...

. The majority of sculptures of the chapel’s interior are made by Hans Ficher. The dome is divided into 36 rectangular panels, recessed in three rows. They fill the figures of Christ, the apostles, prophets, angels with instruments of the Passion Pańzkiej and saints. At the top of the dome there is the octagonal lantern light. This arrangement gives the impression of a much bigger height chapel than it actually is. Three round windows provide chapel’s interior lighting. Two of them are situated at the top of the northern wall and another — under the dome of the octagonal lantern light on the western facade. Additional lighting is provided by four lower tier of the lower windows of the main facade. File:Lwów - Kaplica Boimów 13.jpg, Inside the dome of the chapel Boim bowl with three rows of caissons File:Boim Chapel, inside, window.jpg, Round windows File:Каплиця Боїмів, Львів.jpg, Part of the altar

References

Mieczysław Gębarowicz Mieczysław Jan Gębarowicz (17 December 189318 February 1984) was a Polish art historian, soldier, dissident, museum director and custodian of cultural heritage. He studied history and the history of art at Lwów University During the 1940s ...