Kamyanets-Podilskyi

The main City Gate is one of the key elements of the defense system of the Old City of Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

It belongs to the oldest defensive structures of the city. The gate closed the entrance to Kamyanets through the Turkish Bridge from the Old Fortress.

The City Gate complex was rebuilt in 1746 by the military engineer Christian Dahlke. The entrance to the city was carried out through the Gate Tower, in the premises of which there is now a small cafe. The current passage is cut in the defensive wall. On the opposite side, there is a casemate-laboratory for testing gunpowder, which was produced at gunpowder mills on the Smotrych River. Currently, the laboratory complex houses the restaurant "Under the Gate".

A little above the gate is the Armenian bastion - a powerful hexagonal structure with large embrasures, built under the leadership of the military engineer Kamilus.

From the viewing platform above the laboratory, a classic view of the Old Fortress opens.

The old fortress of Kamyanets-Podilskyi is one of the most outstanding monuments of fortification art of Ukraine.

It is a part of Kamyanets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve.

Nowadays, the name "Old Castle" is most often used, although formally this fortress was a castle (residence of the feudal lord) only at the very beginning of its existence, under the princes Koriatovych (Koryatovych).

A powerful defensive junction at the entrance to the city on the main road across the bridge over the narrow isthmus of Smotrych Canyon was built in the XVI century. on the basis of ancient n fortifications of the XI-XII centuries. The old fortress consists of 11 towers: Papska (Karmalyukova), Kovpak, Tenchinska, Lyaska (Billa), Denna, New (Velyka) Western, Small Western, Rozhanka, Komendantska, Lyantskoronska Tower, New Eastern. The towers are connected by defensive walls, barracks and a siege well are located on the territory. The oldest of the towers - Denna (possibly built on the foundations of Roman fortifications).

In the XVII century. the earthen bastions of the New Fortress were added, which withstood the artillery fire more effectively. The strength of the Kamianets fortifications impressed contemporaries. The phrase of the Turkish khan Osman became winged, who in 1621 approached the walls of the fortress and asked who had strengthened it so much. "God himself," replied the khan. "Then may God take her," Osman replied, withdrawing his troops. However, in 1672 Kamianets-Podilskyi was captured by the Turkish army of Sultan Mohammed IV and the Cossacks of Petro Doroshenko.

In the western bastion of the fortress, the defense scene was reconstructed, which was led by Mykolay Potocki and during which Yuriy Volodievskyi died. People's hero Ustym Karmalyuk escaped from prison three times from the Old Fortress. The papal tower, in which he was kept, has been named after him ever since, and an exposition has been arranged in it. An exposition of light metal weapons is located in the eastern bastion.

Night excursions are conducted. The old fortress is often the scenery of numerous festivals and historical reconstructions.

The Ruska Gate (Ruska Brama) is a unique hydrotechnical fortification structure of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, which, together with the Polish Gate, formed a system for flooding the canyon of the Smotrych River in case of danger.

Construction began around 1527. The ensemble of the Ruska Gate consisted of 8 towers, a barbican and defensive walls connecting them, 230 meters long, which completely crossed a canyon 90 meters wide. There were sluices in the wall at the crossing of the river bed.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, as a result of frequent floods, the coastal fortifications of the Ruska Gate began to collapse, and by the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, four towers collapsed. The Clock Tower, Nadbramna, Pryvorotna, Pryberezhna towers and the Barbican have been preserved.

Currently, the restoration has been carried out. Part of the premises of the Ruska Gate is used as a creative workshop of potters, and the creation of a cultural and craft center is planned.

The building of the Polish magistrate was built in the center of Kamyanets-Podilskyi after the city was granted the Magdeburg right in 1374.

Kamyanets-Podilskyi Town Hall is considered to be the oldest in Ukraine. This is the main civil structure of the Old Town. It consists of a two-story council building and an eight-story clock tower. Initially, the building was Gothic, but later it was layered with different architectural styles.

The museum "Court of Medieval Kamyanets" with an exposition of instruments of torture was opened in the cleared part of the multi-level basements. On the ground floor there is an inexpensive cafe "Town Hall".

The Museum of the History of Magdeburg Law and the Museum of Money are located on the second floor.

The massive octagonal pavilion near the town hall on the Polsky Rynok of Kamyanets-Podilskyi was erected over the Armenian Well, which was opened in 1638.

A well with a depth of 55 meters (according to other sources - 40 meters) was cut in solid rock by order of the Polish king Vladyslav IV Vazф. It was to become the main source of drinking water for the city's residents.

According to legend, the construction was carried out on the remains of stolen funds bequeathed to the construction of the city's water supply by the rich Armenian merchant Narzes. However, the water in the well turned out to be salty, and it was deemed unsuitable for drinking. Because of this, the Armenian well was jokingly nicknamed the "monument of corruption".

For a long time, the well pavilion was used as a warehouse. Now it is an exhibition hall.