Royal Lviv

Exhibit 8

Kings of Poland

From the 14th century till 1772, L’viv was under the rule of Polish kings. The city was being built and developed, and in 1356 was granted the Magdeburg Rights.  L’viv was the center of the Rus Voivodship of the Crown of Poland and played an important role in the history of this country. Famous Polish kings visited L’viv, were born or lived here.

The exhibit tells about 3 Polish kings, whose lives were related to L’viv. 

This is King Jan III Sobieski, who was born near L’viv in 1629. This king was a pillar of the Polish state, one of the most respected monarchs, a great military leader, who took part in many landmark European battles and won brilliant victories. One of those was the battle of Vienna, where the Cossacks and citizens of the Rus Voivodship fought together with Sobieski, having saved Europe from the Ottoman invasion.  

The king from an old Ukrainian noble family Michael Korybut Vyshnevetsky, the son of a famous Polish statesman. It was for the first time in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian state that a person of Ukrainian descent became King. He maintained relations with the Zaporozhian Host, having signed with them the Ostroh treaty of 1670. King Vyshnevetsky died in 1673 in L’viv in the age of only 33 years. 

Another king born in L’viv, Stanisław Leszczyński. He was elected King of Poland and Duke of Rus and Lithuania with the help of the Swedish King Charles XII, after they met in 1704, during the Great Northern War, when Charles and his army invaded Poland and were getting ready to the Moscovia campaign.   

And this scene, that shows Hetman Mazeppa writing a letter to the Swedish King Charles XII, is inspired by a story of the insidious slander, when Muscovites and later the Russian Empire blamed Mazeppa in treason. However, it was not so. In fact, it was the Moscow Tsar Peter I who betrayed Mazeppa and Ukraine, having left them face to face with the Swedish threat.    

For more details, you are welcome to read the information boards of the exhibition.

Stop and bow down to me, for I am Michael Korybut, by the grace of God King of Poland, Grand Duke of Rus, Lithuania and Prussia. I come from an old noble family of Ukrainian princes Vyshnevetsky of the Korybut coat of arms, same as the famous Cossack Hetman Dmytro-Baida Vyshnevetsky. I died in L’viv, praying for the victory of Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine in the battle with the Turks near Khotyn.

Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all! Save Poland! Give me strength to defeat all my enemies — those who advance on Vienna, and those who, like snakes, dwell around me, as well as those who watch my every step in the hope of my hasty mistake. Help me, Jesus, and I will serve you forever with my sword. Amen.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, help the Cossacks from Ukraine arrive on time to support my beloved husband, the Polish and Austrian Crowns…By your mercy, the Blessed Virgin, do not decline our prayers in the time of sorrow, but help us out of trouble and save from the enemy …

I want you to know, brothers and sister and my descendants, that I served Ukraine loyally and faithfully.
We shared thoughts with Peter the Muscovite, but each of us acted to the good of his own motherland, that is why I was cursed by Moscow priests. 
However, it is time to know, brothers, that it is better not to be born at all than live in such woe.

— I, by the grace of God King of Sweden, have conquered the whole of Poland and now I wish to fight against the terrible Tsar Peter of Moscow and to free the Moscovites from his tyranny. But tell me, Your Illustrious Highness King Stanislaw of Poland, how can our troops march through Ukraine, for its ruler Hetman Mazeppa is on the side of my enemy?

— Your Majesty, sire! We will ask Countess Anna Dolska from L’viv to help us. She knows Hetman very well, she can influence him and be our emissary in all military and political plans… I know that Mazeppa did not receive from Peter any help, which he requested to protect the Ukrainian lands. I am telling you, Your Majesty, that the Tsar violated the treaty made between Moscow and Ukraine, he betrayed Mazeppa! So, it will be easy for us to talk with the Hetman…..