Location: Medzhybizh, Khmelnytskyi Oblast Map
Constructed: 1540's
Medzhybizh Fortress stands at the confluence of river Southern Bug and river Buzhok. Its natural protection allowed defenders of the garrison to protect the citadel with modest size. Original castle on this place was constructed by the Russians during reign of Kievan Rus, however this citadel was burned in the middle 13th century during Mongol invasion. The Lithuanians who conquered these lands erected a new castle on this strategic location. It was reconstructed in 1540's under orders of rich and influential Polish hetman Nikolai Senyavsky or Mikołaj Sieniawski. During Ukrainian- Russian war for independence against the Polish rule the castle was taken by the Cossacks. Their leader Bogdan Khmelnitsky repeatedly stopped in this castle.
Medzhibiz Castle is built on a cape formed by the South Bug and
Buzhok rivers. Because of this topography, in plan it has the shape of
an elongated triangle with powerful walls and corner towers that
protrude significantly beyond the line of the walls. The castle yard is
130 m long, the greatest width (on the western side) is 85 m, and its
area is 0.75 ha. The thickness of the walls is up to 4 m, the height in
the highest places is up to 17 m.
The fortress walls, 1.8 m
thick, have rectangular embrasures, which are significantly different
from the ancient ones. They are covered by stone slabs. The size of the
shooting range reaches 65x77 and 50x60 cm (their predecessors were 33x28
cm in size). From the outside, their gunnery part is beveled. There are
not many archaic embrasures of this type left in Ukraine, because with
the development of fortification art in the second half of the 15th
century, the structure of the embrasures changes: they have an arched
overlap from the outside, and often from the inside. These archaic guns
were located on the ramparts that surrounded tenements of the XV
century. One of the tenements, similar to a three-story tower, was
attached from the outside of the eastern span (part) of the fortress
wall, the second, which served as a dwelling and was also three-story,
cuts into the southern span. The floors of both the first and second
tenements were covered with stone vaults and a folded roof.
Architectural monuments of national importance, which are part of the
Medzhibiz castle and are on the state register, are the palace complex
(security number 764/1, object "Palace"), the church of St. Nicholas
(security number 764/2, object "Church"), walls and towers (security
number 764/3, object "Walls with a tower").
Church of St.
Nicholas (Castle Church)
The castle church is located in the middle
of the yard. In 1586/1591 (?), it was reconstructed and consecrated as a
Catholic chapel of St. Stanislav In plan, it is a rectangular one-nave
building made of limestone and a tented roof with a signature. The
building underwent a number of architectural changes dictated both by
the religion practiced in it and by the wishes of the owners.
The "pontoon" tower with embrasures is located in the northwestern part of the castle. Carried out beyond the line of the castle walls for the defense of the central gate of the citadel. The perimeter is an irregular pentagon made of smooth limestone. The four defensive tiers are crowned by a restored tented roof with a small superstructure and a weather vane on the top. Artillery guns on all tiers had front firing niches on the inside with holes for removing smoke from cannon fire. The walls were 4 meters thick.
Built in the 16th century. the palace is a complex complex of residential, defensive and economic buildings built in the Renaissance style over similar buildings from the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The central donjon tower, the barbican (an element of the late medieval fortification that protected the approaches to the city gate), part of the southern tower and the western wall (below the surface level) have survived from the Lithuanian castle. The complex also includes a palace and wing of the 16th-19th centuries, a three-tier bastion of the 16th century. The architects are unknown, the style of the palace and wing has analogues among the Renaissance palace buildings of South-Eastern Europe, in particular Slovakia. The structure of the buildings preserved elements of the previous construction stages (up to the 16th century), partial reconstruction in the 19th century. brought neo-Gothic elements.
Despite attempts by archaeologists in the past to identify the
Medzhibo settlement with the cities of Bolokhiv land, today, according
to archaeological research, the time of its earliest existence has been
established — the 1080s. The first chronicle mention of Medzhibozh (then
- Mezhibozhya) is found in the Ipativ Chronicle in 1146. Apparently, the
construction of its wooden and earthen fortifications also belongs to
this period.
The wooden fortress, a child of the "castle" of
Mezhybozhya, was located in the eastern part of the modern castle and
occupied approximately ¼ of its territory. The fortifications were
wooden, folded into a log cabin, which was strengthened with stones at
the lower level. The cub was separated from the western part of the cape
by a moat, up to 6 meters deep from the modern daytime surface. It is
possible that in the western direction there were several more ramparts
and ditches, fragments of which were recorded during excavations in 1999
and 2017-2018. Another obstacle in this direction could be the modern
western defensive dry moat of Medzhibiz Castle. On the remaining
territory of the castle there was a fortified suburb.
The history
of Mezhybozh as a Bozhiv city ends in 1255, when Danyla Halytskyi's
voivode Dionysius Pavlovich conquers Mezhybozh:
After the Kremyanets
War [Khan] Kuremsa Danylo waged war against the Tatars. After consulting
with his brother [Vasylko] and his son [Lev], he sent [voivode]
Dionysius Pavlovich [and] took [the town of] Mezhiboje. And then
Danylo's people and Vasylko's people ravaged Bolochiv, and Lviv's -
Pobozhya and Tatar people.
After that, the jurisdiction of the
Galicia-Volyn principality was established over Mezhybozh, and for the
next hundred years it shared the fate of the latter. In most
settlements, life has not been restored. A similar fate befell the town
of Mezhibozhe, as evidenced by the materials of archaeological research:
during archaeological excavations in 2000-2002, on the territory of the
castle (in the place where the ancient Russian cub was located), burnt
constructions of defensive cages of the cub, a moat and the skeletons of
people who died at this time.
There is no reliable information on
whether life was revived in Medzhibozh during this period. Available
archaeological sources indicate that the fortifications of the
settlement were not restored.
After the victory of the Lithuanian prince Olgerd at Blue Waters in
1362, the Lithuanians recaptured Podillia from the Tatars, and Olgerd
handed over the region to his nephews, the Koriatovych brothers. During
this period, the Medzhibiz castle was being rebuilt — already brick. The
original core entered the ensemble as a child, where there were also
residential and utility buildings, obviously wooden.
A tower with
a gate appeared above the junction of Buzhka and Bugu, from which the
fortress walls diverged to the north and west. The western rampart, in
front of which a deep moat was dug, divided the fortress yard in half.
Round towers stood on the corners of the fortress walls, one of them has
been preserved until now in a rebuilt form.
The approaches to the
gate were protected by a rectangular barbican, 10x8 meters in plan and
10 meters high. Its entrance gate had a gers (a device for raising and
lowering the gate) gatekeepers, as evidenced by the 28 cm wide gaps in
the masonry of the doors. If the enemy would have broken through the
first obstacle - the hers, the inner space of the pre-fortification
would have been defended from the surrounding wooden galleries.
At the intersection of the Kuchmansky and Chornoy roads, the Medzhibiz
fortress became an outpost for the protection of the surrounding lands,
and was often destroyed and rebuilt. Thus, at the turn of the 15th and
16th centuries, the northern side of the castle, which faced the road,
was again strengthened. Two powerful towers appear - pentagonal
(Knight's) and northeastern round (Officer's) with walls four meters
thick and loopholes.
The intensity of Tatar attacks at the
beginning and in the middle of the 16th century. was extremely high. So,
in 1516, the Tatars went to Podillia and besieged Medzhibiz castle.
However, the construction of new fortifications played its role -
Kamianets chief Stanislav Liantskoronsky defeated the attackers in two
skirmishes.
In 1540, the owner of the fortress, Hetman Mykolay Senyavskyi,
thoroughly reconstructed the castle and palace. For the reconstruction
of the castle, he concluded a contract with the Ternopil architect Jan
Bąk, who was entrusted with the completion of the walls, the addition of
the bastion and other works. From those times, white stone portals and
shutters have been preserved. A new system of fortifications was also
created, which survived until the 21st century. A large five-petal
bastion is attached to the entrance gate. The Barbican is augmented by a
large rectangular tower with chamfered corners rising above the bastion.
And the highest structure of the castle was a round tower above the
gate, to which the fourth and fifth tiers were added.
Another
residential floor appears on the eastern side of the outpost. Wide
windows and chimneys in the rooms indicated that these were residential
premises. What is interesting: in the chimneys, next to the niche for
burning firewood, there was another one for drying them.
The
entrance gate was moved (so as not to interfere with the bastion) from
the southeastern corner of the fortress to the western side of the wall,
5 m from the pentagonal tower. It is still there.
In the 16th
century, a gate high above the ground appeared in the southern curtain.
However, the special device used to lift the cargo has not survived.
This gate is walled up.
At the new level of the yard, guardhouses
(in place of the old ones), stables are built again later. Built in the
17th century, the stables (later called the Carriage Building) have an
interesting structure: they are covered by closed vaults resting on
walls and pillars in the center of the elongated room (restored in
1978).
At the end of the 17th century, powerful stone buttresses
were erected outside the fortress, reaching the third floor of the
palace. This was prompted by cracks from the expansion of the vaults and
the pressure of oblivion on the walls. To protect the fortress walls and
the palace from cannonballs from the outside, so-called talus - earthen
embankments 4-5 meters high are created under them.
The courtyard
of the fortress became spacious, all the buildings around it formed one
ensemble. Since the fortress stands on a hill, the level of the daytime
surface of the courtyard rose by 3 meters in its upper part, and by 11
meters in the lower part. Accordingly, the gate near the pentagonal
tower rose to a new level, in front of it was placed a bridge across the
moat, dug back in the 15th century.
In 1672, during the
Polish-Turkish war, under the terms of the Truce of Buchach, Podillia,
including Medzhibozh, came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. At the
turn of 1672 and 1673, the Polish garrison leaves Medzhibiz Castle and
hands it over to the Turkish garrison. However, on October 17, 1673,
i.e., exactly one year after the conclusion of the Buchatsky Armistice,
the owner of Medzhibozh, the Crown Coroner Mykolai Hieronim Senyavskyi,
marching with his army to Khotyn, captured his ancestral city. Before
the threat of storming the castle, the Turkish garrison surrenders and
leaves in peace. From then until 1678, the city and parish were in the
hands of Mykola Ieronim Senyavskyi, and the castle housed a Polish
garrison. Mykolay Yeronym Senyavskyi, as the hereditary owner of
Medzhibozh, ignores repeated demands to hand over Medzhibizh to Ottoman
rule. Only in April 1678 he agreed to join if he received monetary
compensation from the Polish king. However, the Poles did not leave the
Medzhibiz Castle until September 1678.
The number of the Turkish
garrison that entered Medzhibiz castle was 100 people. In the spring of
1686, in anticipation of a major Polish offensive and having
difficulties with the provision and maintenance of the castle, the Turks
decided to evacuate the Medzhibiz Castle, and then attempted to blow it
up - however, unsuccessfully. The Polish pledge returns to the castle.
After the official return of Podillia to the Polish crown in 1699,
Adam Mykolaj Senyavsky undertook repair and modernization works on the
territory of Medzhibiz Castle and the city, entrusting them to
Jean-Baptiste Dessier. Modernization consisted in repairing the castle
walls, bastion fortifications, as well as the wooden palisade around the
city. The well was repaired in the castle, and the construction of a
wooden bridge leading from the city to the castle, which was built 150
cubits in 1702, began. In 1708-1713, works were carried out with castle
parapets, a drawbridge, brickwork of loopholes, lining of towers,
installation of a new fence. A new guardhouse was built and repair work
was carried out in the castle chapel. The renovation also concerned the
rooms, i.e. the palace — in them, in particular, wooden galleries
(galleries) were built instead of the previous brick ones.
In 1730, after the death of the last member of the Senyavsky family
in the male line, Adam-Mykolaj, Medzhibizh, together with the castle,
passed into the possession of Prince August-Olexandr Chortoriysky, the
husband of Sofia Senyavsky, the sister of the deceased prince.
During the next century, three generations of the Chortoriyskyi family
owned the castle and the Medzhibiz key estates. At that time, the castle
was used mainly for the economic needs of the lord's economy and,
periodically, for the quartering of the army. During this period,
Medzhibiz Castle did not undergo any significant reconstructions, until
the 21st century it was preserved almost completely in its original
form. In that period, artillery positions on the so-called "terepets"
(this part of the castle is called the "Bastion"), on the upper tier of
the "Great Tower" ("Lytsarska") and on the boulevard opposite the
entrance gate were used for defense purposes. Combat galleries
(so-called "fences") were kept along the upper part of the walls. In the
basement of the "round" tower, which is also called the "Officer's
Tower", there was a zeichhaus with a brick well in the middle, 14 Polish
fathoms deep (about 25 meters). Grain storage bins were arranged on the
upper floors of both towers.
From February 23, 1734 to November
27, 1735, Russian military units were stationed in Medzhibozh and its
surroundings in order to support August III in the struggle with
Stanisław Leszczynski for the Polish crown after the death of August II.
Their command was located in the Medzhibiz castle all this time, and
numerous damages were caused to the castle and its surroundings.
In 1759, instead of the wooden bridge that led to the castle gate, a
masonry one was built on ten pillars, which survived until the 21st
century. Like the previous bridge, it had a "chain vault", that is, a
lifting section in front of the gate itself.
The Chortoriyskis
stayed in their Medzhibiz castle only passing through or sporadically.
In 1784, Adam Kazimyr Chortoriysky received the government of the
General Starost of Podilskyi and for a short time moved to Medzhibozh
with a large court.
In 1819, Prince Adam Jerzy Chortoriyskyi opened a district school in
Medzhibozh, which he placed in the premises of the castle. The castle
was rebuilt to accommodate the school. In particular, the "Commandant's
House" (Western Administrative Building), dormitories for 250 students
(as of 2023 - the North-Western and North-Eastern wall buildings, in
which the museum exhibits are located), the "Officer's" tower, in which
there was an assembly hall. One of the teachers of the school from 1819
to 1826 was Wojciech Zborzewski, a naturalist and paleontologist who
discovered several fossil species of molluscs (including in the vicinity
of Medzhiboz). Among the students of the Medzhibiz school were Leonard
Sovinskyi, a future publicist, translator of Taras Shevchenko's works
into Polish, and Henryk Jablonskyi, a future Polish poet and French
diplomat.
In 1831, due to the fact that August Chortoriisky
participated in the Polish Uprising, Medzybizh, like other estates, was
confiscated from him. The county school founded by the prince continued
its activities until the end of the academic year of 1841, and then it
was transferred to Black Island. The castle, which was empty "due to the
age of the buildings" until 1844, was owned by the Ministry of National
Education, and then it was transferred to the military department for a
symbolic payment of 5 silver rubles: the buildings located in the town
of Medzhibyzh were planned to "...according to the highest will be
adapted for the regimental headquarters , and as a result of this, a
project is drawn up, after the production of which will be submitted to
the highest consideration both for the approval of this project and for
the payment of 5 rubles. silver for the transfer of buildings to the
military department." After being handed over to the military
department, the castle buildings were rebuilt in the romantic style
prevalent at the time, and their architectural decoration took on
pseudo-Gothic forms. The fortress walls were crowned with decorative
toothed parapets. The walls of all buildings and fortress walls were
covered with white lime plaster. The castle church was rededicated as an
Orthodox church at the request of the school superintendent and the
residents of Medzhibozh in 1840, who undertook to undertake further
maintenance.
On October 4, 1846, during an archaeological
expedition, the prominent Ukrainian poet, artist and thinker Taras
Shevchenko passed through Medzhibyzh. This is evidenced by a specially
installed memorial plaque on the wall of the Knight's Tower.
With the beginning of the Ukrainian revolution in 1917, the command of the South-Western Front initiated the Ukrainization of part of the former Russian imperial army, which was at that time in Volyn and Podil. On July 18 of the same year, the commander of the 34th Corps, consisting of two infantry divisions, General Pavlo Skoropadskyi, received the order for Ukrainianization. Soon the troops were transferred to the rear, in the Medzhibozh region, where the reorganization took place. Skoropadskyi and his headquarters were stationed in the castle, some in Medzhibozh itself and in a camp near the town. Two months later, the corps completed its reorganization and became the "First Ukrainian Corps."
During Soviet times until the beginning of the 1930s, various
military units were housed in the castle. Later, an oil factory was
placed in it, and this caused great damage to the monument. Then the
buildings survived the tests of the Second World War. But the castle
suffered the greatest losses due to the local authorities, who allowed
local residents to dismantle the fortress for building material for the
construction of the village council, individual estates, etc. Slowly the
complex turned into a ruin. Oleksandr Dovzhenko recalled that during his
visits to Medzhibozh, he witnessed the neglect of the monument:
On my way to Kamianets-Podilskyi, I visited the city of Medzhibyzh,
founded in the 12th century. I went to see the castle built in the 14th
century. This is a grandiose building. Bohdan Khmelnytsky took it
several times. The courtyard of this castle is an age-old cemetery... In
most cities there is a strange "tradition" - indifference to old
historical buildings.
— Oleksandr Dovzhenko, "About the documentary"
This is how the castle appeared to the specialists of the
"Ukrproektrestavratsiya" institute in 1967, when they began to research
the local monuments in order to prepare project documentation for their
restoration. In the following decades, anti-accident measures were taken
in dangerous areas, the fortress walls were strengthened. The church,
the pentagonal tower, the eastern, carriage, and administrative
buildings were studied and partially restored. Research and restoration
work in the fortress continues as of 2023.
In 2001, the castle received the status of the State Historical and
Cultural Reserve.
In the wall buildings of the castle there are
museum exhibits: historical, ethnographic, the Museum of Memory of the
Holodomor Victims of 1932-1933 in Podilla, as well as exhibition halls.
From 2004 to 2015 (except for 2014), the All-Ukrainian historical
festival "Ancient Medzhibyzh" was held in the castle, and since 2019,
the festival of medieval culture "Age of Heroes" has been held. On
festival days, the castle is full of tourists, knights, archers,
princesses and mythical heroes. Re-enactors of historical events from
all over Ukraine come here to take part in battles, shooting
tournaments, costume contests and minstrels (medieval singers and
musicians).
In the absence of state funding for restoration
works, December 23, 2014 p. the western wall of the main building of the
palace complex collapsed.
Since 2015, restoration works have been
carried out, which are financed from the budget of the Khmelnytskyi
region.
On May 18, 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Information
Policy announced the ranking of projects that participated in the
selection within the framework of the "Great Restoration" project within
the framework of the "Great Construction" presidential program. The
project submitted for participation in the program "Restoration and
adaptation of the architectural monument of national importance "Castle,
16th century" (ex. No. 764) on the street Zamkova, 1 in the village
Medzhibyzh of the Khmelnytskyi district of the Khmelnytskyi region"
received the 16th place among 109 objects of cultural heritage of
Ukraine, which were admitted to further participation in the program.
However, despite its high position in the rating, the Medzhibiz Castle
was not included by the Ministry of Culture in the list of objects to be
implemented in 2021.
Since 2020, Medzhibiz Castle is an associate
member of the European Cultural Route of Fortification Monuments FORTE
CULTURA e.V. In April 2022, at the annual international conference in
the city of Terezin, the Međibizka Castle was granted the official
status of a full member of the European cultural route FORTE CULTURA.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle was constantly attacked by
Tatars. In 1453, when the Tatars attacked Podillia, the army, which
included the Medzhibiz chieftain Matselen, overtook them as far as
Terebovlea.
During the Polish-Turkish wars, the castle was
occupied by Cossacks, Poles, and Ottomans. Moreover, it was held in the
same hands for no more than one year: in 1648 - in the hands of the
Cossack rebel regiments of Maksym Kryvonos and Danylo Nechay, in 1649 -
in the hands of the Poles, in 1650 the castle was captured by Bohdan
Khmelnytskyi and occupied it again in 1653.
In 1657, the Cossacks
involved the Hungarian prince Rakotsi in the war; he, too, with his
troops stood for some time near Medzhibozh. In 1702, the castle was
again besieged by Cossacks and rebels.
In 2017, the national postal operator "Ukrposhta" issued a "Medzhibiz
Castle" postage stamp with a denomination of UAH 12.80. The stamp, which
was issued under the Europa program, represented Ukraine in the annual
ranking of postage stamps, which is conducted by the association of
state postal operators of Europe, PostEurop.
On November 27, 2018,
the National Bank of Ukraine issued commemorative coins "Medzhibiz
fortress" in denominations of 5 UAH. (made of nickel silver) and 10
hryvnias. (from silver).
In 2021, the national postal operator
"Ukrposhta" issued a marked envelope to the 875th anniversary of the
first written mention of the city of Medzhibyzh, on which the Medzhibyzh
Castle is depicted.