1661, or 1784? When Lviv University Actually Began

The official website of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv traces its history from a charter that Polish King Jan II Casimir signed on January 20, 1661. The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies’ (CIUS) Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (IEU), on the other hand, calls the university “the oldest university in Ukraine, founded in 1784 by Austrian Emperor Joseph II,” treating the Jesuit academy dating from 1661 as merely its predecessor.

Why does the same university have two “founding years”? This article lays them out side by side, drawing on the university’s own history, IEU, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine’s Енциклопедія Сучасної України (Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine, “ESU” below), and its Енциклопедія історії України (Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine, “EIU” below), as of September 2026.

A College From 1608, and the 1661 Charter

According to the university’s own history and EIU, the Catholic religious order of the Jesuits appeared in Lviv in the late 16th century and opened a secondary school (a collegium) in 1608. On January 20, 1661, Jan II Casimir signed a charter granting this college “the dignity of an academy and the title of university” — recognizing the right to teach the full range of subjects taught at universities of the time and to confer degrees such as bachelor, master, and doctor (the university, EIU).

This charter did not take effect immediately, however. According to ESU, the Polish nobility and the two academies at Kraków and Zamość opposed it, and the Sejm (parliament) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth refused to approve it. Not until Augustus III’s charter and a papal bull in 1758 was the university’s status clearly recognized, and the first six graduates received degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Licentiate of Theology in 1759 (ESU). The university’s own history likewise states that Augustus III confirmed the 1661 charter in 1758.

The academy had two faculties, philosophy and theology, with instruction in Latin (EIU). Student numbers are given by the university’s history as around 500 in 1667 and by EIU as 500 in 1676, rising to around 700 by the early to mid-18th century. The university’s own history states that 75% of students were Polish, the rest Ukrainian and other nationalities.

In 1773, when Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Jesuit order, the academy also closed (IEU, EIU, the university). The previous year, 1772, under the First Partition of Poland, Galicia including Lviv had become Austrian territory (EIU). ESU states that it was the Austrian authorities who closed it.

1784: Joseph II’s University

According to EIU, on October 21, 1784, Emperor Joseph II, as part of his education reforms, issued a charter establishing a university in Lviv. Built on schools already in the town (including the former Jesuit academy), it comprised four faculties — theology, law, philosophy, and medicine. The university was granted the buildings of the former Trinitarian monastery and church, and its founding ceremony was held on November 16 (EIU, the university). Latin was the language of instruction (IEU, EIU).

In 1787, a two-year program called the “Studium Ruthenum,” taught in Ruthenian (the written language of Ukrainians at the time), was set up for candidates for the Greek Catholic priesthood who did not know Latin. Its end date is given differently: IEU and EIU say 1809, while ESU and the university’s own history say 1806.

In 1805, the university was downgraded to a “lyceum” (a higher-level school). According to ESU, this was because Austria had acquired Kraków and decided to consolidate Galicia’s university functions into a single Jagiellonian University. When Kraków became a free city outside Austria under the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the university reopened in 1817, taking the name of Emperor Francis I (IEU, EIU). EIU gives the signing of the reopening charter as August 7, 1817, and the opening ceremony as October 4.

A Shifting Name, and a Shifting Language of Instruction

Here is the university’s name and its main language of instruction, in chronological order.

The Old Name “Jan Kazimierz University,” the Current “Named After Ivan Franko”

According to IEU, after the 1918-1919 Ukrainian-Polish War in Galicia, Poland occupied eastern Galicia, and the university was named “Jan Kazimierz University” after the king who had established the Jesuit academy. IEU states that the Polish side claimed that academy as the university’s predecessor. The timing of the name change is given as 1919 by IEU and as November 18, 1918 by the university’s own history.

When the Soviet Union annexed western Ukraine in 1939, the university was Ukrainianized, and on January 8, 1940, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR gave it the name of Ivan Franko (EIU, the university). Franko had been a student here, and, per IEU, sought a lecturing position in 1895 and 1907, both times blocked by the Austrian government. Franko is covered in our article on Franko.

A Ukrainian Chair Within a Polish-Language University

When Galicia gained self-government in 1867, the university gradually Polonized (IEU). According to IEU, Polish became the university’s administrative language in 1871, and its main language of instruction in 1879. Course counts by language went from Polish 13, German 46, Latin 13, and Ruthenian (Ukrainian) 7 in 1870, to Polish 185, Ukrainian 19, Latin 14, and German 5 in 1906 (IEU, EIU).

Meanwhile, the first chair of Ukrainian studies (Ruthenian language and literature) was established in 1848-1849, headed by Yakiv Holovatskyi (IEU gives 1849; EIU, late 1848). In 1894, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi took up a chair of East European history (IEU, EIU). According to IEU, Ukrainian students in many years fell short of 30% of the total, and the Ukrainian-language university in Lviv that the Austrian government promised in 1912 never came about, due to World War I.

Arrests and Executions, 1939-1944

IEU states that 68 faculty members were arrested in 1939-41, and that 31 of the Polish faculty were later executed. EIU states that Mykhailo Marchenko, the first rector of the Soviet era, was arrested in 1941. In July 1941, the German occupiers executed up to 70 former professors from the university and other institutions of higher education in the city (IEU). The university could not hold classes during the occupation and reopened in 1944 (IEU, EIU).

Sources That Take 1661, Sources That Take 1784

Here is how sources describe the same university’s founding.

• The university’s official site: traces its history from the January 20, 1661 charter. 1784 is treated as the founding of “Joseph II’s university.”
• ESU (2017, updated 2025): “founded in 1661 as a Jesuit academy.” “One of the oldest universities in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.”
• EIU (2009): the “successor” to the 1608 college, the 1661-1773 academy, and the 1784 university, among others. “One of the oldest institutions of higher education in Europe.”
• Велика українська енциклопедія (VUE, Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia), in its headword description: “active in Lviv since 1661.”
• IEU (updated 2021): “the oldest university in Ukraine, founded in 1784.” The 1661-1773 academy is a “predecessor.”

IEU further states that the Soviet Union promoted a “false genealogy” dating the university’s origin to 1661, without acknowledging its Jesuit ties at the time — treating the framing of 1661 as the university’s starting point as a claim made under Polish rule and, later, Soviet rule. Today’s Ukrainian university and two encyclopedias take 1661; IEU takes 1784.

What Does “Oldest University in Ukraine” Actually Count?

Whether you take 1661 or 1784, calling it the “oldest” comes with conditions. In Kyiv, a college (later the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy) opened in 1632, and in Ostroh, in Volhynia, a school beyond secondary level existed from around 1576 (see our article on the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy). On Kharkiv University, VUE describes it as “the oldest university in Ukraine after Lviv’s” (see our article on Kharkiv University).

If you count from the school granted “the title of university” by a king, that’s 1661 — though that title wasn’t recognized by the Sejm until 1758. If you count from when the state opened it as a university, that’s 1784. ESU describes the academy’s period as one that “developed despite an ambiguous legal status.” Whichever way of counting you take, IEU calls this university “the oldest university in Ukraine,” while ESU calls it “one of the oldest universities in Ukraine.”