The Astronomical Observatory of Lviv Polytechnic National University and its dungeons have only recently been opened to visitors. This is a unique place where you can see the whole Lviv below, and no one can see you!
The observatory is amazing! Two large green domes on the roof of the main building are literally stuffed with authentic equipment. And all this is still spinning! There is also a telescope here to observe the sky. The main thing is that it must be clear and peaceful.
Do you know that you can get from St. George’s Square to Stepana Bandery Street without going outside? There is an extensive network of passages and tunnels under the academic buildings of Lviv Polytechnic. You enter the modern student library, and you come out on the opposite side of the campus from the Austrian dungeon of the main building. Using these passages, students can quickly and safely move between academic buildings.
The civil defense headquarters is located in one of the corridors. It is open and available for viewing. People say that even trucks can drive into these dungeons, since the corridors are so spacious. The main building of Lviv Polytechnic could certainly host wedding ceremonies – it’s so beautiful here.
We go upstairs to the third floor and enter the inconspicuous door No. 346. Behind it is a steep spiral staircase somewhere up. They lead to a separate building above the main one. Its construction reduces the influence of building vibrations on the accuracy of measurements. For the same purpose, the observatory is equipped with two insulated concrete columns that go all the way into the ground.
The classrooms of the Department of Geodesy are completely filled with old Austrian maps and authentic equipment. It feels like this observatory is over 150 years old! This observatory has been working as long as Lviv Polytechnic has existed. At the opening of the institute in 1877, the Kaiser himself presented the Department with two globes: the earth and the starry sky.
But not only the sky was explored by the students. The observatory also carried out accurate linking of terrain coordinates to the stars. It was primarily used in military cartography.
During the Second World War, the observatory was looted. The telescope disappeared, and since then only geodesy has been used here. After Independence, the observatory was restored by installing a modern telescope.
Today, the observatory consists of two parts. In fact, there is a telescope in a dome with a folding roof, and a museum of geodetic equipment in a rectangular building. Around the observatory there is an authentic, still Austrian, observation deck. From here you can see the whole of Lviv and its domes from above! Even the Town Hall is somewhere far below.
The museum of geodetic equipment is located under the second dome. This room, together with its rarely old equipment, is a real monument of engineering art.
The full text and a detailed photo report are on the website of Photos of Old Lviv.