Lviv Polytechnic is one of the oldest academic technical schools in Europe. The history of this educational institution began with the founding of a three-class real school (1817); 20 years later, its status rose to that of a Real-Commercial Academy. After the transfer of the construction department from the university, the Lviv Technical Academy was established on November 4, 1844. Until 1848, it was located in the Darovsky building on the corner of Teatralna and Virmenska streets. The building, which burned down during the bombing of 1848, was restored only two years later; until then, the Technical Academy was located in the town hall. In the 1870s, the governor of Galicia, Count A. Golukhovsky, purchased a plot of land in Novyi Svit from the Fredro family to build a new building for the Technical Academy. The project was designed by the renowned architect Julian Octavian Zacharewicz. In 1877, the academy was renamed the Polytechnic School, and the newly constructed building was officially opened by the new rector, Professor Julian Zacharewicz. From 1921, the educational institution was called Lviv Polytechnic; today it is the National University “Lviv Polytechnic.”