Town Hall, Bilshivtsi

The town hall in Bilshivtsi is a testament to the fact that this small Galician village once had the ambitions of a real city. Although it has somewhat lost its authentic appearance, the building still serves as the magistrate's office where the local village council meets.

The town hall was built in the center of Bilshivtsi in the 19th century. There are, for example, testimonies of Professor Mieczysław Hurawski, who wrote that "the center of the town is occupied (...) by a rather large but irregular market with a town hall." By the way, the fairs on Vicheva Square in front of the town hall were famous throughout the entire district in those days.

The town hall in Bilshivtsi is a two-story rectangular building in the classical style. An octagonal tower with a small decorative clock rises above the main entrance. Around the spire of the tower, there is even an observation deck fenced with a railing.

Old drawings and photographs show that the tower of the Bolshevik town hall used to be much slimmer and taller than it is now. Most likely, this was a consequence of the war. After all, during the First World War, Bilshivtsi served as an arena of fierce fighting between the Austrians and Russians, and was virtually destroyed. And even over time, the town could not be fully restored. Nevertheless, the town hall still attracts attention today with its elegant outlines, fan-shaped windows, and stone cladding on the facade.

More recently, the Bilshivka Town Hall had to be demined. In May 2015, two Austrian grenades were found in an old sewer under the building. The sappers were called in to defuse the dangerous find outside the village.

The town hall is located in the very center of Bilshivtsi, at 1 Vicheva Square. If you are driving along the Lviv-Ivano-Frankivsk highway, you need to turn off at a sign a few kilometers before Halych, and then go another 3 km from the main road.