Attractions of Kamyanets-Podilskyi

The Museum of Miniatures "Castles of Ukraine" presents miniature models of 21 most famous architectural monuments of Ukraine, including medieval fortresses and aristocratic palaces located in different regions of Ukraine.

The open-air museum gives an opportunity to get acquainted with all at once, learn the details of their history, interesting facts, secrets and legends, as well as appreciate the work of Kyiv masters who accurately conveyed the smallest details of buildings.

Museum of Miniatures "Castles of Ukraine" is a great place for family vacations and spending time with friends.

The Department of Antiquities (Archeology) of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve is located in the former palace of the Armenian bishop, which was founded in the 15th century as a trading house.

After the Turkish invasion, the commandant of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, Yan de Vitte, settled in the house.

The archeological exposition is based on a collection of antiquities, which began to be collected in the XIX century. The halls of the museum recreate the dwellings of ancient man, exhibit ancient tools, household items of the people who inhabited Podillya from ancient times to the baptism of Rus.

In the courtyard is a lapidary of pagan idols.

The National Nature Park "Podilski Tovtry" with its administrative center in the city of Kamyanets-Podilskyi was created in 1996 to preserve the unique natural landscapes of Podillya.

Tovtry (Toltry) is the local name of a mountainous arched ridge, the height of which within the park reaches 401 meters above sea level. The ridge is the remains of an ancient barrier reef that formed 15-25 million years ago in the coastal zone of the Miocene sea. The microclimate of Kamyanetske Transnistria is formed by the Tovtry ridge and the canyons of the Dniester and its tributaries, so there are special conditions for the preservation of rare and relict plants, among which most are medicinal.

There are many caves within the park, the most famous of which is Atlantis (the village of Zavalne). There is a huge supply of mineral waters. One of the most interesting tour routes runs from the village of Verbka through Verbetska Tovtra to Karmalyukova Mountain.

The Novoplanivsky Bridge in Kamyanets-Podilskyi connects the Old Town with the so-called "Noviy Plan" - the current administrative center of the city.

In the middle of the 19th century, when the provincial center of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, with the growth of the population and the bureaucratic apparatus, became cramped within the medieval walls, the idea of expanding the city beyond the Smotrych Canyon arose. The decision was made in 1859 during the visit of the Russian Emperor Oleksandr II, who was fascinated by the view of the city from the hill near where the Oleksandr Nevsky Cathedral is now located. Five years later, construction began, and in 1872, the Novoplaniv bridge with a wooden deck on stone bulls was put into operation.

Simultaneously with the laying of the bridge, the city gardener Severyn Kovalsky laid out a park.

From the bridge over the deep canyon of Smotrych, a breathtaking view of the medieval towers and walls of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, rocks above the ribbon of the river with a natural waterfall and a park with figures of deer on the hills and stones opens up.

The Grand Cathedral of Oleksandr Nevsky is the main Orthodox church in Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

The neo-Byzantine style cathedral was built in 1893 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Podillya "accession" to Russia. The temple was built with public funds collected by the Oleksandr Nevsky Guardianship. The building was impressive in its grandeur and was one of the most beautiful temples in Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

Oleksandr Nevsky Cathedral had a large main dome and four semi-domes on the sides, a small bell tower was located above the western entrance. The main altar of the cathedral was dedicated to Saint Oleksandr Nevsky, in memory of Oleksandr III, the southern altar bore the name of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, the patroness of Catherine II, and the northern altar - Saint Nicholas. The church premises were heated by steam heating.

The Oleksandr Nevsky Cathedral was destroyed during the years of Soviet power, but after the restoration of Ukraine's independence, the cathedral was rebuilt.

On April 8, 2023, the residents of Kamyanets-Podilskyi unanimously supported the transfer of the Oleksandr Nevsky Cathedral to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. However, the faithful of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate still do not allow the people of Kamyanets-Podilskyi to enter the church.

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is one of the oldest in Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

The exact date of its construction is unknown. In 1834, during the reconstruction, the date 1580 was discovered on one of its elements. The first documentary evidence of the already existing Peter and Paul Church dates back to 1591 and 1593. Some historians believe that the church is older and attribute it to the period of the reign of the Rus-Lithuanian princes Koriatovych (Koryatovych), who ruled in Podillya until the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century.

The bell tower in the Empire style was built on the ruins of the old bell tower, which was destroyed during the Turkish occupation of the city. The architecture of the temple is characteristic of Podillya. In the harsh border conditions (throughout its medieval history, Kamianets was an outpost of Christianity and blocked the way for the spread of Islam to Europe), religious buildings lost their external decoration and often performed defensive functions.

Of the defense-type Orthodox churches in Kamyanets-Podilskyi, only the three-conch (which resembles a shamrock in plan) church of Saints Peter and Paul has survived to this day.

The Polish Gate is a unique hydrotechnical fortification structure in Kamyanets-Podilskyi, which served simultaneously as a city gate, a defense tower, and a dam.

The well-known military engineer Jov Pretvych, who at that time was reconstructing the Kamyanets-Podilskyi fortress, took part in the construction. The Polish Gate complex consisted of five towers on both sides of the Smotrych River and a dam wall that crossed the canyon. In normal times, the dam kept the high water level on the river above the city. In case of danger, water was launched through the locks into the canyon, which was closed by the Rusky Gate located downstream, and the river level rose, creating a water obstacle for the attackers.

By the end of the 17th century, frequent floods destroyed the dam, but the Nadvrantna, Naskalna, Priberezhna towers and the Barbican have survived to this day. In the 19th century, they were handed over to blacksmiths, and since then they have been called the Blacksmith Towers. On the other side of the river, you can see the Wall Tower, which is now on private property.

From the Polish Gate, you can go up to the Peter and Paul Church by the Farenholtz Stairs.

The Potter's (Honcharska) Tower is a distinctive fortification structure above the Smotrych Canyon, which is well visible from the Novoplanivsky Bridge in Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

The tower was built in the 16th century at the expense of a potter's workshop.

The Potter's Tower is open for visitors. Inside the tower, it is fashionable to walk through the restored galleries, to view the panorama from the loopholes. Exposition tablets with information about the monument and its restoration are also installed in the tower.

The "Stara fortetsya" restaurant has opened in the building adjacent to the Potter's Tower.

The house of the Rusky Viyt Kiriak, which in 1658-1670 housed the administration of the Rusky (i.e. Ukrainian) quarter of the city, is now occupied by the administration of the Kamyanets National Historical and Architectural Reserve.

The rights of the Ukrainian community to self-government were approved by the Polish king Yan Kazymyr in 1658. When the Ukrainian community was deprived of the right to self-governance and the Rusky magistrate was disbanded, the premises were used for meetings of the Podillya nobility, later as a theater.

In the years 1805-1865, there was a theological seminary here, where the famous Ukrainian poet Stepan Rudansky and the writer Anatoliy Svydnytsky studied in the 1950s. The building of the Rusky Magistrate is also called the "House with the Dragon" because of the characteristic drain on the facade.

In the eastern buildings of the Rusky Magistrate, there are exhibits "Archaeological ceramics from the funds of NIAZ Kamianets" and "Podillya Lyulka". In the courtyard of the Rusky Magistrate, there is an exposition "Stone lace of the city" (lapidarium).

The Church of Saint George on Polish Farms in Kamyanets-Podilskyi was built in the second half of the 19th century.

The church is made in the style of ancient Rus religious buildings and is typical of the Rus-Byzantine direction in the architecture of the 19th century.

The location of the new Orthodox church in Kamyanets-Podilskyi was chosen in such a way that the parishioners of the Catholic Peter and Paul Cathedral, leaving their church, could see the Orthodox church in perspective through the doorway.

The construction of Saint George's Church began under the supervision of the diocesan architect Anton Ostrovsky, and in 1854 the supervision was taken over by the architect Mykola Kulakovskyi and the Podillya gubernatorial architect Mykola Korchevskyi.

In the ensemble of the urban landscape, the church clearly stands out with its white walls and blue-blue domes.

Saint Nicholas Church is the only building in the Old Town of Kamyanets-Podilskyi that has come down to us from the 14th century almost in its original form.

It was built by Armenian settlers under the leadership of Synan Kotlubey in 1398 on the basis of an older temple. The thickness of the walls of this squat defensive-type temple reaches one and a half meters. The austere image is complemented by small loophole windows and powerful buttresses supporting the walls. A traditional Armenian stone cross-hatcher is mounted in one of the buttresses.

The building is devoid of decoration both outside and inside. Repairs were carried out in 1544, 1701, 1804. At the end of the 18th century, a belfry was added to the western facade.

The ruins of the huge Armenian Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, even in their current state, impress with the elegance of the fence fragments and the monumentality of the bell tower.

The temple is located in the center of the quarter, where Kamyanets-Podilskyi Armenians lived since the 14th century. The first wooden Armenian church was built in 1395, and it was rebuilt in stone in 1495. Built in 1555, the bell tower with loopholes and four observation towers above looks like a defense tower.

After the Turkish occupation of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, the church was restored only in 1767 - already as a Catholic church. It was a majestic temple of Byzantine architecture with an octagonal dome and covered galleries around the perimeter.

In the 1930s, the temple was blown up. Now the preserved belfry houses a small chapel, which is used by the parishioners of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Restoration of the cathedral is planned.

The Dominican Church of Saint Nicholas, located at the highest point of the Old Town, is considered one of the oldest churches in Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

Sung by poets as the "Pearl of Podillya", a beautiful temple of the region.

The Dominican monastery in Kamyanets-Podilskyi was mentioned for the first time in 1372. The church was made of wood, and in 1420 it burned to the ground. A new life was given to the monastery in the 16th century by the family of Potocki, who were cared for by the Dominicans.

During the Turkish rule, the church was rebuilt as a mosque in honor of Sultan Haseki's beloved wife, Rabia Gul-Nush. A white stone Muslim pulpit was installed in it, which has survived to this day.

The complete restoration of the Church of Saint Nicholas was completed in 1754 at the expense of Mikhal Frantsishek Potocki. On the facade, you can see the coat of arms "Pilyava" of the Potocki family and the sculpture "Dog with a torch" (Dominicans called themselves "Dogs of God"). To the left of the church is a two-story building, in which Pototsky lived.

Currently, the church belongs to the Catholic Pauline Order (Brotherhood of Saint Paul the First Hermit), restoration is ongoing.

The State Bank building is the first architectural structure of the Novy Plan, built at the entrance to the new part of Kamyanets-Podilskyi immediately after the opening of the Novoplanivsky bridge.

It consists of two buildings: the first is built almost above the canyon of the Smotrych River, the second is a little higher. Both buildings were built in 1896-1901 by the architect Ivan Kalashnikov under the supervision of the Kanakotn provincial architect. The central building, in the plan of the letter "Г", was directly occupied by the State Bank itself, the second building, a rectangular building in plan, was the bank's employees' house. The main building is decorated with risalites and rustication, reminiscent of stone masonry. The front entrance is decorated with columns and a triangular pediment. For the construction of reliable bank vaults, basements more than 10 meters deep were cut into the rock.

Stefan Batory's seven-story tower is the largest defensive structure of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi fortification system.

It is the upper part of the Polish Gate complex - one of the three entrances to the Old Town. It had great fortification value, as the gentle bank of the Smotrych River made it easier for enemies to attack here.

The tower was built on the site of the ancient city gate in 1564-1585 at the expense of the Polish king Stefan Batory, which is why it got his name. After the repair of the tower in the 17th century by the artisan workshop of furriers, it was also called Kushnirska.

According to legend, in 1711, during the visit of Kamyanets-Podilskyi to the Russian Tsar Peter I, who was passing through the gate of the tower, his hat was blown off his head by the wind, after which the tower began to be called the Wind Gate.

In the 1780s, during the reign of King Stanislav Avhust, the commandant of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi fortress, Yan de Vitte, completed the tower to seven levels and added a rectangular building. Many decorative elements have been preserved.