Originally built when Lviv was the capital of the autonomous province of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Lviv Opera (German: Lemberger Oper) first stood at the end of Archduke Karl Ludwig Avenue, was later known as the Grand Theatre (Polish: Teatr Wielki) of the Second Polish Republic, and during the time of Soviet rule, entering patrons would pass by a towering statue of Vladimir Lenin.

In order to solve the space problem, he boldly proposed to enclose the Poltva River underground, and instead of using a traditional foundation, utilized—for the first time in Europe—a reinforced concrete base.

[4] Stories remain that despite the engineering innovations used by Gorgolewski to construct the foundation of the building, it began to slowly sink because of the Poltva river running underneath it in a tunnel.

[citation needed] In April 1990, immediately prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, the first performance of the Ukraine's national anthem, Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia, was held at the theatre.

[citation needed] The grand opening gala that evening included excerpts from Jan Kasprowicz and Seweryn Berson's ballet Baśń nocy świętojańskiej (Tale of the Midsummer Night), Władysław Żeleński's opera Janek, and Aleksander Fredro's comedy Odludki (Recluses).

[citation needed] The Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet is built in the classical tradition using forms and details of Renaissance Revival and Neo-Baroque architectural styles.

The building's façade is decorated with numerous niches, Corinthian columns, pilasters, balustrades, cornices, statues, reliefs and stucco garlands.

The team supervised by these artists included the painters Aleksander Augustynowicz, Ludwik Kohler, Walery Kryciński, Henryk Kuhn, Edward Pietsch, Zygmunt Rozwadowski, Tadeusz Rybkowski and Julian Zuber.