Stonemasons

Many of Lviv’s historical buildings are endowed with magnificent stone ornaments and other decorative stonework elements: sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, natural stone portals, and various parts made from artificialstone. Each of these elements is made in a particular way and from a particular type of stone, which needs to be cared for in a special kind of way, and the methods used for their maintenance or restoration have to be similarly specific. Stonework restorers must therefore be familiar with historical masonry and historical masonry techniques. But restorers should also be able to use modern materials and methods, which can better protect the masonry against mechanical and chemical damage.

The training courses for stonemasons, like those for other craftspeople, are practise-oriented and are carried out on-site on selected objects in the town.

Each training course or series of courses focuses on a particular topic, for example, the presence of damaging soluble salts in historical masonry, and how to cure it.

A series of four courses in 2010 were carried out on the 18^th century stone portal of No.40, Rynok Square. The portal consists of various elements including large sculptures of heroic figures. One of these was missing, and most of the portal stonework was severely damaged by salts. Trainees worked on desalinating the masonry, restoring the damaged surfaces, reconstructing the missing stone figure, and replacing other missing stonework elements of the façade.

In addition to the training courses for stonemasons, the project also works closely with the Department of Restoration at the Polytechnic University of Lviv. One of the largest undertakings carried out in cooperation with the department was the restoration of the statue of Mercury at No.3, Sichovykh Striltsiv Street, which dominates the local skyline. The statue was restored by students and specialists from the Department of Restoration under the supervision of the project’s stonework expert.