The article provides a comparative analysis of the MAK (Vienna Museum of Applied Arts, arch. Heinrich von Ferstel, 1871) and the Main Building of Lviv Polytechnic (arch. Julian Zachariewicz, 1874–1877) in the context of cultural transfers within the Habsburg Monarchy. The study reveals that the MAK's Neo-Renaissance architectural and artistic programme, including its classical order system, volumetric and spatial solutions, and wide range of high and decorative art media, served as a conceptual prototype for the Lviv edifice. For the first time, all eleven portrait roundels in the lunettes of the Polytechnic's main staircase have been fully identified, and their semantic relationship with the MAK's "pantheon of masters" façade has been demonstrated. A shared didactic principle of 'architecture as a textbook' has been identified: Emil Schrödel’s sculptural allegories of Science and Art in Lviv correspond to the female personifications of the arts in Ferdinand Laufberger’s fresco cycle in Vienna. Technological parallels have also been identified, particularly in the use of faux-marbling and other decorative techniques that serve as a visual catalogue of finishing methods in both buildings. These findings are of practical significance in advancing the methodology of historic interior conservation, and they broaden our understanding of cultural circulation in Central Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century.
The practical value of the work lies in the substantiation of the restoration concept of Lviv Polytechnic: reconstruction of the original aesthetics of the building's exteriors and interiors, restoration of the authentic image of a representative group of premises, taking into account the Viennese prototype as a methodological ‘standard’. The research also expands the understanding of the circulation of ideas within the Habsburg monarchy, demonstrating that provincial centres not only passively adopted metropolitan models but also actively adapted them, enriching them with their own cultural and scientific priorities.
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