Boim Chapel

The Boim Chapel (Ukrainian: ; Polish: Kaplica Boimów) is a monument of religious architecture in Cathedral Square, Lviv, Ukraine. It was constructed from 1609 to 1615 and is part of Lviv's Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The chapel was built for the Boim family on the territory of a contemporary urban cemetery near the Latin Cathedral. The Boims came to Lviv (Polish: Lwów, then in the Kingdom of Poland) from the Kingdom of Hungary. Their national origin is unclear. They were affluent patricians of Catholic background and became polonized. George (Jerzy) Boim (Hungarian: György Boym) is credited with the foundation of the chapel. The building was finished by his son, Paweł Boim. 14 members of the Boim family are buried there. The chapel was designed by Andrzej Bemer. He followed a simplified diagram of the architecture of the Sigismund's Chapel at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków with Italians' elements. In the second half of the 18th century, the chapel was replaced by the Lviv cemetery as a burial place for the Boim family.

The chapel combines a variety of stylistic trends. The ornamental decorations are of Dutch provenance. The narrative reliefs bear some degree of resemblance to those found in central and southern Poland, but are presumably based on German or Dutch graphic models. The appearance of the facade and the altar recalls the iconostasis form. The sculptor Jan Scholtz, who was likely responsible for the second stage of the work, originated from Königsberg. The quality of the design and the lack of moderation persists in Kraków active works of Italian masters, but acting example of bourgeois art. The chapel was built on a square plan and is covered by a paneled dome based on an octagonal tambour. On the chapel lantern rises on eight fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals, covered again with a small dome, having a statue of Christ on top.

Data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).