This is a hand drawn map of Lviv’s city center from 1777. It is one of the first maps of the city from when the city was under Austrian rule.

The author of the map is Josepho Daniele de Huber.

Legend:

• In the upper right corner is the name: “Capital or Major City Lviv” (Hauptstadt Lemberg).
• In the upper right corner of the map is a graphic depiction of the map’s scale and a note that 7½ Viennese inches in the map is equal to 150 Viennese fathoms (Masstab von 150 Wiener Klaftern oder von 7½ Ordinäiren Zoll) [12], p. 221; next to that is the wind rose.
• In the upper right corner is information about the author Josepho Daniele de Huber (Leve et Deo Josepho Daniele de Huber) and the year 1777.

• The map was drawn using ink and gouache.
• The map is on a 140x90 cm. sheet of paper that is glued on a fabric backing. [78], p. 561
• The map contains detailed configurations of some structures and fortifications around the city including: walls, ramparts, towers and gates.
• The map shows how land was parceled out.
• Most buildings have their building numbers noted.
• Buildings in the city center and in the outlying areas are numbered separately.
• Districts are not demarcated.
• All the wording on the map is in German.

• Administrative buildings (3)
• Hydronyms (3)
• Roads (5)
• Cemeteries (4)
• Unidentified (11)
• Miscellanea (41)
• Orchards (5)
• Sacred buildings (33)
• Military buildings (5)
• Agricultural buildings (4)
• Hills (1)
• Fortifications (29)

• Czerner Olgierd. Lwów na dawnej rycinie i planie. Wrocław. Zakład Narodowy imienia Ossolińskich. 1997. Il. 108.
• Notes from the Shevchenko Scientific Society vol. CCXLIX. Commission of Architecture and Construction. Lviv, 2005. Il. 1, p. 561.

Obtaining Capital status greatly influenced Lviv’s development. One of the most important catalysts for the urban transformation of Lviv was the demolition of the defensive walls, towers and gates around the city.

The liquidation of these Middle Aged fortifications started in 1777 under the leadership of Clemence Fesinger. The demolition debris was sold to locals as building material for low prices. This prompted locals to build new structures. [23], p. 64, [77], p. 115

The map shows the already liquidated segments of the Low (Nyzkyj) wall between the Jesuit gate and bastion I (Hetmanska), separate fragments between bastion II (Hrodska) and bastion III (Krakivska) and a section between the Krakivska gate and Small (Malyj) beluard. [12], p. 221

In 1773 Pergen, Governor of the crown land ordered that the Jesuit order be liquidated; this started the process of closing most monastic orders in the city. [74], p. 52

Very few buildings for public use were constructed in the 1770. The few that were included the educational establishment Collegium Pijary in the Brodiv suburbs (1776) and the wooden theatre led by Gottersdorf which, from 1775-1785, was located near the Jesuit gate (probably the building numbered 344). [74], p. 69, [77], p. 123

There were nearly 25 000 individuals living in the city in 1780. [20], p. 113 The population growth can be attributed to an increase in the number of officials who came to work in the capital city of Lviv. [20], p. 35

The educated traveler Baltasar Hacquet gives an indication that Lviv contained nearly 2759 buildings in 1790. [20], p. 30

Intensification of construction started in 1760 when a 1774 law was revived that exempted newly built or reconstructed buildings from taxes for 10 years. [74], p. 30, [77], p. 117

Author: Serhiy Tereshchenko