The paper presents issues connected with the artwork of Jan Matejko in the context of usefulness of his works for the process of the restoration of selected historic towns located in the area of the former Eastern Galicia (Austro-Hungarian Empire), and their documentation. Jan Matejko, one of the most outstanding Polish historical painters, made sketches and drawings of Galician towns during his numerous trips, both in the areas of Western and Eastern Galicia – the former borderlands of the Republic of Poland. Some of those works have been preserved until today, sometimes constituting the only form of documentation of cityscapes, panoramas or historic objects in Galician towns. Besides the documentary layer, the artist was able to convey their climate and ambience, which is either vanishing before our eyes or no longer exists. It is of particular importance especially in the case of towns from Eastern Galicia, located in the territory of modern-day Ukraine, whose cultural landscape crystallized in the 19th century, is gradually dying out.