In the shopping gallery at 5 Mitskevych Square in Lviv, a lost mosaic by Lviv artist Stanislav Servetnyk, created around 60 years ago for the Barvinok department store, has been recreated. The restored ceramic panel once again adorns the space beneath the glass arched vault of the Mariacka Gallery, where a new Silpo supermarket has opened.
The mosaic depicts recognisable images of Lviv: the Opera House, City Hall, the university, the silhouette of a lion sculpture, townhouses, trees, as well as a bus and an aeroplane in the sky. The history of this work is closely tied to the Mariacka Gallery, one of the city’s oldest shopping arcades. During renovation works the original panel disappeared, and for a long time it was remembered only through archival photographs; the exact date of its loss is unknown.
The initiative to recreate the work came from the Silpo chain team, which was preparing to open a shop in the historic premises. At first, they managed to find only a black-and-white photograph of the mosaic. Later, the artist’s granddaughter, architect Marta Servetnyk, discovered colour slides from the 1960s in the family archive, which made it possible to reproduce the original colour palette as accurately as possible. Like the original, the new panel is made of ceramic tiles.
“We studied the history of the building where the new shop was to appear and learned that there had once been a mosaic by Stanislav Servetnyk here. Later we met his granddaughter Marta, who gave our team photographs from the family archive and colour slides. Thanks to them we were able to recreate the lost work and return it to the space for which it was created. Now we want to share this discovery with everyone,” said Kateryna Ohuryayeva, Marketing Director at Silpo.
Marta Servetnyk notes that for her, taking part in the project was an opportunity to see Lviv once again through her grandfather’s eyes and to preserve part of his artistic legacy for future generations.
The Lviv City Council’s Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, Nataliya Bunda, stressed that this story shows how business can contribute to preserving the city’s cultural heritage. According to her, the company had no legal obligation to restore the mosaic, yet did so on its own initiative, which is an important example of a responsible attitude to the historic environment of one of Lviv’s oldest arcades.
To mark the opening of the new Silpo, the chain, together with cultural institutions, has prepared the Servetnyk Weekend programme, dedicated to the mosaic and its creator. The programme includes guided tours, lectures, talks and workshops on the history of the Mariacka Gallery, the work of Stanislav Servetnyk and Lviv’s monumental and decorative art. All events are free of charge.
In 2028 it will be 100 years since the birth of Stanislav Servetnyk. To mark the centenary, separate events and exhibitions dedicated to his work are planned in Lviv.
This is not the first time the city has restored or saved monumental works. Previously in Lviv, the ceramic panel Grape Harvest was preserved, restored and opened to the public at a new location. Last year, the destroyed mosaic Information Space in the former Vilna Ukraina publishing house building at 2 Volodymyra Velykoho Street was recreated; it is now part of the interior of the venue operating in these premises. In 2020, the mosaic Sea and Fish on the former Okean shop building at 26 Volodymyra Velykoho Street was restored; the work to recreate it was funded by the property developer who had earlier demolished the panel.
At the end of 2024, Lviv approved an updated list of valuable mosaics and, for the first time, included ceramic works in it. In total, the list comprises around 150 mosaic and ceramic objects at 79 locations within the Lviv community.