By the roads of Mykolaivshchyna By the roads of Mykolaivshchyna | Page 16

At the age of 34, the count fell deeply
in love with a 15-year-old girl, Sophia
Jablonska, who gave her consent to
marriage. But Sophia was not his only
passion at the time. The count was also
seized with the zealous desire to increase
his fortune. So, he got down to the
construction of a road but, unfortunately,
fell short of money, and got into debt
again. However, the debt was paid off as
soon as he managed to get more funds.
At the beginning of 1830s, Skarbek
got his next great dream. He decided
to build the largest in Eastern Galicia
stables for racehorses. So, 300 builders
worked ceaselessly, erecting stables (of
course, for borrowed money). The next
financial collapse was looming ahead
when Austrian emperor Franz Joseph
visited Lviv. The count managed to get
an audience; and having produced a very
favourable impression upon the emperor,
got rather big amount of money for the
construction. As that very time, the count
was abandoned by his wife. The divorce
process lasted for more than 10 years, and,
in the end, Sophia got married to a famous
Polish playwright Alexander Fredro.
The divorce marked the beginning of
gloomy days for Skarbek, which brought
him a new financial turmoil. Apart from
that, the count was seriously ill. His
brother Ignatius refused to give him any
financial support. Nevertheless, having
recovered from illness, Stanislaw Skarbek
got resurrected again – like the Phoenix
bird. In the year 1833, he became
captivated with the idea of constructing
a theatre in Lviv; in fact, that would
become his major project.

14

The members of Lviv gmina also
liked the idea: as early as 50 years before,
cezar Joseph I allocated the land plot for
a theatre construction. For more than 10
years, the name Skarbek, who rose to fame
as a constructor of the largest theatre in
Europe (and the third one by the seating
capacity (1,460 seats)), could be seen in
newspapers. The theatre was inaugurated
in 1842. The first play performed on its
stage was a German drama with the title
Life As a Dream.
The last project of the count was the
establishment of the institution for the
poor and orphans. On October 27th,
1848, four years after the theatre was
opened, the count passed away. The
money, available at theatre box-office
at the moment of his death, was hardly
sufficient to cover funeral expenses. The
farewell ceremony was attended only
by the closest relatives. As Yury Yamash
writes “Notwithstanding such a valuable
present to Lviv, the city community did not
cherish any kindly feelings for the count,
who was reputed to be authoritarian,
even cruel personality. His lack of interest
in politics as well as seeming indifference
towards the Polish national movement as
well as towards the revolutionary events
of 1830s did not render him much attractiveness in the eyes of the contemporaries.
Such characteristic really conforms to the
impression that his portraits make. Biting,
harsh look from under frowned eyebrow
seems to have never radiated warmth.
Skarbek, who lost parents at an early age,
was familiar with the feelings of unfairness, insecurity, lack of parental love better
than everybody else.”