  We discuss the effect of hypothetical violation of Lorentz invariance at high
energies on the formation of atmospheric showers by very-high-energy gamma
rays. In the scenario where Lorentz invariance violation leads to a decrease of
the photon velocity with energy the formation of the showers is suppressed
compared to the Lorentz invariant case. Absence of such suppression in the
high-energy part of spectrum of the Crab nebula measured independently by HEGRA
and H.E.S.S. collaborations is used to set lower bounds on the energy scale of
Lorentz invariance violation. These bounds are competitive with the strongest
existing constraints obtained from timing of variable astrophysical sources and
the absorption of TeV photons on the extragalactic background light. They will
be further improved by the next generation of multi-TeV gamma-ray
observatories.
