The Da Vinci fountain on Halytska Square in Lviv has been temporarily shut down. The announcement does not specify the reason or when it will be brought back into operation.
The fountain, dedicated to Hero of Ukraine Dmytro “Da Vinci” Kotsiubailo and to all volunteers, was installed on Halytska Sq. in 2023. The system operates in automatic switch-on and switch-off mode, with around 10 m³ (10,000 litres) of water circulating in the basin. A public space for recreation has been created around it: vandal-proof benches, inclusive surfacing, additional greenery and lighting have been installed.
Workers are currently dismantling the metal slabs from the fountain. The Da Vinci structure is made of corten steel, which changes colour under the influence of weather conditions. Similar Cor-Ten steel design solutions are used in various countries around the world, and in Lviv this material has been used, in particular, at the Memorial to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred.
Halytska Square has a long history of fountains. In 1880 a well with a fountain and a sculpture of the Switezian girl — the heroine of Adam Mickiewicz’s ballad, created by Polish sculptor Tadeusz Błotnicki — appeared here. The sculpture was lost after the Second World War. Sometime after 1970, an abstract composition entitled Dandelion by Lviv artist Oleh Mykyta was installed on the square.
Reconstruction of the square began in 2019. During the works, walls were discovered beneath the site of the future fountain, which archaeologists and scholars identified as the foundations of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, dating back to 1530. The church was dismantled at the end of the 18th century together with the city fortifications. That same year, at an extended meeting of the advisory council under the Department for the Protection of the Historical Environment, participants agreed that it would be inappropriate to return Dandelion, after which the composition was transferred to the Territory of Terror museum as an element of Soviet heritage.
The new Da Vinci fountain was officially opened on Halytska Square on 21 April 2023.