Chapter Three of Habsburg Lemberg

What is it about?

Chapter three concentrates on the process of building and outlines the way in which various preconceptions, noted in written accounts, influenced building practices. Details of the building processes of several Vormärz cultural institutions that later became key national buildings – the Ossolineum, the Skarbek Theater, the Ruthenian National Institute, and the Town Hall – demonstrate the great extent to which the imagined national character influenced the popular perception of these buildings. A discussion on public parks between the Vormärz and fin de siècle periods demonstrates the shifting meaning of public space to officials involved in planning public green spaces. Following their particular vision of a truly public space – that is, of Lemberg’s streets and squares – these authorities chose to commemorate nonthreatening figures who embodied the loyal Habsburg subject, but who at the same time were Polish nationals and represented a particular social class, the nobility.

Featured Image