Attractions of Skalat

The Church of Saint Anna in Skalat was restored in 2002 on the site of the old Catholic church of the 19th century, which was blown up in the middle of the 20th century.

The church is made in the Neo-Gothic style.

It is located next to Skalat Castle.

Skalat Castle is a rare example of a defense complex of the Late Middle Ages and early modern times in Ukraine, which has the correct geometric shapes.

The first mention of the fortification of Skalat dates back to 1503. Probably then it was a wooden fortress with earthen ramparts. The current stone castle in Skalat was founded in 1630 by the Galician swordsman Kshyshtof Vikhrovsky. He built a regular castle, almost square in plan, surrounded by a moat. At its corners are pentagonal four-tiered towers with loopholes in the form of keyholes. The basements of the towers can be reached through tunnels.

Skalat Castle was damaged during the Liberation War led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky and during the Polish-Turkish War of 1672-1675, as a result of which it lost its defensive significance. It was not until the end of the 18th century that it was rebuilt by the new mistress Mariya Shynionova of the Vodzitsky family. She ordered a two-storey palace building to be added to the eastern wall and the entrance gate to be magnificently decorated (not preserved).

At the end of the 19th century, at the expense of Count Morits Rozenshtok (Rostotsky), the architect Teodor Marian Talovsky from Lviv reconstructed the tower and the castle church in the neo-Gothic style. The buildings were badly damaged during the two world wars. In 1960, the ruins were preserved. Only after Skalat Castle became part of the Ternopillya Castles National Reserve, its restoration began.

Now the territory and the preserved buildings of the castle have been cleared, tents have been erected over the towers, a wooden bridge has been thrown over the defensive moat, the central part of the courtyard is paved with cobblestones. In two towers there is an art gallery and a historical exposition, where you can see the firearms of the fortress of the XV-XVII centuries. In the basement there is an exposition of the castle prison. On the defensive walls there are pedestrian detours to see the panorama of the castle and the town. Thematic festivals with knightly battles are held.