Attractions of Svirzh

The Castle Church of the Assumption of the Virgin was built in Svirzh in 1546 by the magnate Andriy Svirzhsky on the site of a wooden church of the 15th century.

After several reconstructions, the church acquired a Renaissance appearance, although it was originally Gothic. Above the entrance you can see the remains of the noble coat of arms of the former owners.

An underground passage led to the church from the castle, which can still be traced in the moat near the drawbridge.

In Soviet times, the temple was used as a warehouse.

In 1994, the church building was handed over to the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The temple was consecrated as the Church of the Holy Trinity and the Assumption of the Virgin. The restoration has been carried out.

The Svirzh Castle from the "Golden Horseshoe of Lviv Region" is a picturesque medieval building in the Renaissance style, a unique monument of defensive architecture of the XV-XVII centuries.

It was originally built as a fortress, but after the reconstruction of the 17th century, it acquired the noble features of a magnate's residence. The first defensive structures on Mount Belz, surrounded by lakes and marshes, date back to 1484 (the ruins of the tower and grotto to the right of the entrance).

Svirzh Castle was first mentioned in documents in 1530, when it belonged to the Svirzhsky nobles. In the middle of the 17th century, it was rebuilt and significantly strengthened by Count Oleksandr Zetner, according to one version, inviting the famous fortification engineer Pavlo Hrodzytskyi from Lviv.

The castle with a defensive moat and a bridge is divided into two courtyards of different levels, surrounded by Renaissance towers and houses. Having become a comfortable residence, Svirzh Castle was able to withstand several Turkish sieges, but before that it was captured by the Cossack troops of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.

He suffered greatly during the First and Second World Wars.

During Soviet times, the Svirzh Castle became the property of the Union of Architects as the House of Creativity, but the restoration was never completed. It is planned to transfer the castle to a private investor under concession conditions.