The Jesuit Church of St. Peter and Paul is located on Teatralna Street and is considered one of the first monuments of Baroque architecture in Lviv.
In 1610, the Jesuits (members of the monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church) began its construction. It is known that at the very beginning the work was led by monk Sebastian Lamhaus, and continued by D. Briano. By 1630 the church was almost finished. In its forms, the church is very similar to the Church of il Gesu in Rome. At that time its dimensions were impressive: 41 meters long, 22 meters wide and 26 meters high.
In plan, the church is triple-nave (three elongated rooms bounded by rows of columns or pillars), with a weakly expressed from the outside apse (an overhang of the building, covered with a half-dome or a closed half-vault). The main facade consists of two levels. The lower part is decorated with six monumental pilasters (a vertical projection of the wall, conventionally representing a column). In four niches there are statues of Jesuit saints. The southern facade looks much more modest and restrained. On this side in 1702 was erected the tower of the church, which at that time was the highest in Lviv. In 1756 a clock was installed on it. In 1830, after the disaster that happened to Lviv City Hall, it was decided to dismantle the church tower and leave only the first tier next to the apse.
The magnificent vaults of the church were painted with frescoes in 1740 by Moravian artists J. and S. Eckstein.
After the fire in 1734 the interior of the Jesuit church was thoroughly restored. Among the sculptures and decorative carvings the altar, built in 1747 in the Baroque style, stands out. In the 19th century, artists Y. Makarevich, A. Reichman, M. Yablonsky worked on the decorations and restoration of the church.
Nowadays services are held in the church, but until recently it housed the book depository of the library named after V. Stefanyk. V. Stefanyk. And the dungeon of the Jesuit church can be visited with an excursion. Every visitor of the Jesuit Church can leave a donation for its restoration, which is necessary after many years of neglect.