Shkotska Kamianytsia, Lviv

Lviv has become a tourist mecca thanks to its architecture and atmosphere. Almost every building in the heart of Lviv has its own legends. The Shkotska Kamianytsia in the city center also has a story to tell. At one time, it housed a coffee shop that was a favorite place for Lviv mathematicians.

The ShkotskaKamianytsia in Lviv was built in 1909 in the Modern Gothic style by architect Zbigniew Brochwicz-Lewinski for entrepreneur Emil Wexler in the Modern Gothic style. The building is an architectural monument (Okh. No. 731-M) and a historical monument (Okh. No. 1232). From 1909 to 1944, the building housed one of the most famous establishments in the city, the Shkotska ("Scottish") coffee house, a gathering place for prominent Lviv mathematicians. The walls were decorated with panels based on the works of Walter Scott. It was in this coffee shop that Stefan Banach, a prominent representative of the Lviv mathematical school of the first half of the twentieth century, discovered the theory of functional analysis, which was later called the "Schockian theory."

Until the mid-1930s, Lviv mathematicians regularly gathered in the Roma café (now the Akademichne café at 25 Shevchenka Ave.). Stefan Banach was a central figure among them. After the owner of the Roma refused to serve the learned society on credit, the community of mathematicians moved to the Shkotska coffee shop located opposite. Over a beer, Banach and his colleagues solved complex mathematical problems and held discussions. The tables in the cafe had marble tops, on which guests used chemical pencils to write equations (later the staff had to wipe these notes off). It was in the Shkotska that Banach broke records for the speed of solving problems.

At first, he did not make notes on paper, only verbally informing his colleagues about his scientific ideas. In 1935 (according to other sources, in 1933), after his wife bought him a large notebook, Banach began to write down his formulas and theorems. This notebook was kept in the coffee shop. Every day, the barber brought it to the owner and put it in a hiding place before closing the place. The first entry in the notebook was made on July 17, 1935, and the last on March 31, 1941.

At that time, Stefan Banach became the dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Lviv University (from 1940). The book contains entries related to the solution of 193 mathematical problems. Banach personally wrote down 14 problems, his colleagues Ulam and Mazur wrote down 40 and 24, respectively; collectively, they developed 40 problems.

Stefan Banach died in Lviv on August 31, 1945. After his death, the large notebook, known as the "Shkotska Book," was passed to his son and taken to Wroclaw. Between 1945 and 1948, Banach's followers continued to write in it, but under the name of the New School Book. Thus, the name of the world-famous theoretical work comes from the name of the coffee shop.

House 9 on Fredra Street is an architectural and urban planning monument of local significance (decision of the session of the Lviv Regional Executive Committee No. 330 of 24.06.1986), registration no. No. 731-M (Lv), and a monument of local history (session of the regional executive committee No. 183 of 05.05.1972), oh. № 1232.

The house is located on the edge of the block, on a trapezoidal end parcel. The corner plot is bounded by Fredra, Herzen, and Shevchenka streets. The expressive silhouette of the building accentuates the southern border of the avenue. The building has four floors, is made of brick, and is constructed of reinforced concrete. It has three facades with bay windows and half-towers at the corners, and is covered with a high roof. The building has a V-shaped configuration. The interior layout is of the corridor-enfilade type, with two apartments on each floor. The entrance to the building is through a narrow vestibule with a coffered ceiling. The designer used modernized Gothic motifs in the massive architectural forms.

Now the building houses the Atlas Deluxe Hotel. There is also a restaurant where you can leaf through a copy of the legendary "Shkotska Book" and taste the specialty of the house - goose fillet.

ShkotskaKamianytsia is located at 27 Shevchenka Avenue. It takes about 10 minutes to walk from the monument to Taras Shevchenko to the house.