Attractions of Kamyanets-Podilskyi district

The Vrublivetsky forest on the hills at the confluence of the Tarnava River with the Dniester is a state botanical natural monument of local importance.

The territory of the reserve occupies 89 hectares.

This is a forest area of natural origin, covered with hornbeam and oak trees. There is a relict species - white sedge (carex alba), on steep hills (tovtras) an ordinary orchid grows, which does not have green leaves and can provide its nutrition only in symbiosis with woody plants.

A pentagonal defensive tower on a rock above the river. Zhvanchyk is all that is left of the once powerful Zhvanets Castle.

It was built by the Kamyanets chief Valentiy Kalynovskyi at the beginning of the 17th century, but the first fortifications here arose much earlier. As early as the 15th century, Lithuanians were reconstructing ancient fortifications.

The new Polish fortress, which had 5 towers, competed in size with Kamyanets-Podilskyi. In 1653, during the siege of Zhvanets, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, betrayed by the Tatars, decided to conclude a military alliance with Muscovy and went from there to Pereyaslav for negotiations.

At the end of the 17th century, the castle was destroyed several times during the Polish-Turkish war. The last attempt at restoration was made by the Lianskoronski nobles as their manor. The Russian government planned to build a large fortress here, but these plans were never implemented. Later, the castle fell into disrepair and was almost completely dismantled.

On the eve of the Second World War, the Pillbox "Stalin Lines" was built on the ruins.

The most picturesque view of the preserved tower opens from the opposite bank of Zhvanets.