Panoramic View of Lviv

The artwork

Top left, on the highest hill, a small Q refers in the key to a “vieux château ruiné”, an old ruined castle: it is the High Castle of Lviv, of which only a stretch of wall survives today. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The panorama of Lviv with the High Castle and a key in French and German.
• The long, narrow view suits a corridor or the wall above a sofa.
• A gift for anyone who knows Lviv or has roots in Galicia.

It was built in stone around 1362, under King Casimir III of Poland. In 1704, with the Swedes in the city, it was badly damaged; from 1777 the Austrians began dismantling the fortifications around it, and in the nineteenth century the ruins were taken down too. Today the hill is a park, and at the top, at 413 metres, the highest point in the city, stands a viewing mound begun in 1869 partly with the castle's stones.

The title, on a ribbon in the sky, is “Vue de Lemberg Capitale des Royaumes de Galicie et Lodomerie”. Lemberg is the German name of the city, which is Lviv in Ukrainian and Lwów in Polish; from 1772 it belonged to the Habsburgs and was the capital of the new Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. Below runs a key of more than twenty entries, in French and in German, from the city gates to the Jewish cemetery. It is signed by François Perneuer, who calls himself “engineer of navigation”, and dedicated to Maria Theresa, “dowager Empress”, who died in 1780: the plate was therefore engraved between 1772 and 1780. It is a copper engraving published in Nuremberg by the Homann firm, and the copy reproduced here comes from the David Rumsey Map Collection.

Along a hallway or above a sofa, it is a gift for anyone who knows Lviv and for anyone with roots in Galicia, between Poland and Ukraine. And up there, beside the Q, the castle is still standing.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 40 x 60 cm (15.7 x 23.6 in)
With frame: 42 x 62 cm (16.5 x 24.4 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass