Sambir. The Town Hall. An excursion up the clock tower

Among the sights that travellers in Sambir are recommended to visit without fail are Market Square and the Town Hall, which was and remains the historic core of this industrial, cultural and tourist centre of the Lviv region.

Sambir. The Town Hall

The history of Sambir's calling card begins in the 15th century.

The Town Hall. The cannons — a monument of 19th-century European history

The first building of the city administration was wooden and burned down together with the whole district in 1498 during a hostile Tatar invasion. The second was also erected of wood, and it too was consumed by fire.

The Town Hall. The view from Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street

The third town hall was built over 30 years, from 1638 to 1668. It was a two-storey stone building with a 40-metre tower. After reconstructions, the renewal of the facades, the addition of porticoes and the changing of the entrances to the magistrate, a Renaissance portal survived from the original building, supplemented with a modern detail — a trident.

The Town Hall. The entrance portal

In 1760 a sculpture of the Mother of God was installed on the facade of the building on the southern side. Later it was replaced by a figure made of copper. With the coming of Soviet power in 1939 the holy image was removed. In 1997 a plaster sculpture of the Most Holy Virgin Mary occupied the shallow niche.

In 1885, in Prague, four clock faces were purchased for a huge sum of money, and ever since then the city's chief guardians of time have proclaimed its fleeting nature. Unfortunately, after a repair in 1980 the hands on the northern side remained motionless.

The architectural style of the Town Hall is Classicism and Renaissance. It has the status of an architectural monument and has never changed its purpose. Three floors are occupied by the city administration and other offices and organisations. The building, rectangular in plan, has a corridor system.

In the centre of the building a stairwell with overhead lighting is arranged.

The entrance hall with cylindrical vaults is decorated with wooden panels.

Of particular interest to tourists is the ascent to the observation platform of the clock tower and the view of the surroundings from a bird's-eye height. The climb can be made in the company of a guide, but I had to conquer the tower's summit on my own. In the absence of a guide, at the request of a guest of the city, the doorkeeper opened the cherished little door and gave some instructions about moving carefully up the steep stairs.

The walls of the tower, 1 metre thick, are cut through with narrow, long arched windows.

In the central opening a clock mechanism with counterweights is installed.

Wooden stairs, tier after tier, lead out onto a balcony, from which a wonderful panorama of the Galician town opens up, with its townhouses, churches and parks.

According to legend, it was from this balcony that False Dmitriy addressed the noble szlachta with a call to set off to conquer Moscow. The rebels listened to the impostor tsarevich from Market Square.

Market Square

The modern central square is partly pedestrian; a public garden with a fountain and benches has been laid out on it, and it is one of the favourite recreation spots of the city's residents.

In the centre of the square, since 2010, rises the monument to Mother Ukraine, the guardian of the Ukrainian people.

Market Square. The monument to Mother Ukraine

In different directions, like rays from the sun, the main thoroughfares radiate from the square — Taras Shevchenko, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ivan Kotliarevsky, Mykola Kopernik, Petro Sahaidachny and Ivan Mazepa Streets, Ruska Street and the small Sambirchyk Street, along which you can continue your acquaintance with this beautiful Subcarpathian town.

The view of the Town Hall roof from the clock tower

The view of Taras Shevchenko Street from the clock tower

The view of the concert organ hall and the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin from the clock tower

The view of Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street from the clock tower

The address of the Town Hall: the city of Sambir, Lviv region, Market Square, 1.

Coordinates: 49°31'5"N 23°11'47"E