Maria Zankovetska National Academic Ukrainian Drama Theatre
Lviv's national drama company in the Skarbek Theatre of 1842, once among Europe's largest playhouses.
The theatre occupies the Skarbek Theatre, built between 1837 and 1842 at the expense of Count Stanislaw Skarbek to designs by the Viennese architect Ludwig Pichl with Johann Salzmann. The classical block combines an auditorium with ranges of flats and shops that were meant to fund the stage, and on completion it was reckoned one of the largest theatre buildings in Europe. Its foundations rest on thousands of oak piles driven into the marshy ground of the buried Poltva river.
The Ukrainian company named after the actress Maria Zankovetska was founded in 1917 and moved into the Skarbek building in 1944, receiving national status in 2002. Its repertoire mixes Ukrainian drama with world classics across four stages: the Main Stage of about 785 seats, the Chamber Stage, the attic space known as Strykh and the Skarbek Hall. Recent seasons have included new work responding to the war alongside staples such as the musical Chervona Ruta.
Highlights
- Skarbek's classical theatre block of 1837-42, built on oak piles
- Main Stage of roughly 785 seats plus three studio spaces
- Ukrainian repertoire from Ivan Franko to contemporary writing
- One of the oldest continuously working theatre buildings in Ukraine
