House of Scientists. Lviv

House of Scientists in Lviv is a splendid 19th-century neo-baroque building. It was used before as an aristocratic casino, while today is often used as a film set, for obvious reasons. The project was created by the Viennese architectural bureau of F. Fellner and G. Helmer. This team is the one that designed other theatres in Europe, such as the Opera houses in Odesa, Zurich, and in the Romanian city of Cluj.

The building is gorgeous on the outside, but the interior is just as amazing. This is a museum and can be visited during the day for a small fee. There are seven rooms to see, the stunning staircase, and the balcony which is pictured above. Below are the ground floor rooms.

The details are beautiful. Some of these decorations were made by European artists, while most of them were made by local artists. The building was used by the aristocracy and the wealthy until the soviets converted the building into the regional house of scientists.

In 1999, Lviv hosted the press centre of the summit of the Presidents of Central and Eastern Europe. The building was used for that summit. Recognising its importance in Ukrainian history, in 2008, the House of Scientists was included in the register of monuments that are not subject to privatisation.

The staircase is so beautiful I took my time to admire the small details.

The balcony is lovely. There are a few benches to sit and the whole balcony has a net to prevent pigeons from coming and damaging the furniture. I imagine that in the summer people spend there a few minutes to relax, during their visit.

I passed by the building quite a few times, but only earlier this month I took the time to visit it. It takes about 30-40 minutes to visit while taking enough time to look at the beautiful decorations and details. The building is not far from another beautiful building, Potocki Palace, which I did not visit as there was an event on that day.