Lutsk

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Shortened history of the castle:

According to historical chronicles, there were two castles in medieval Lutsk. Unfortunately, the second one, the Okolnyi Castle, was completely destroyed in the 14th century.

The 28 meter-high Entrance Tower of Lutsk Castle was where the idea of a united Europe was voiced for the first time, as incredible as it may seem. And it happened in 1429: European monarchs from 15 states were invited to Lutsk. The Holy Roman (and German) Emperor Sigismund, Danish King Eric IV, Polish monarch Władysław II Jagiełło, the Grand Masters of the Teutonic and Livonian orders, a legate of Pope Martin V, Vasili II, Grand Prince of Moscow, an ambassador of the Byzantine Emperor Palaeologus and other high and mighty leaders responded to this invitation. In total more than 15,000 guests came, while the population of Lutsk itself was only about 5,000 residents! A series of very important questions were raised at this “summit”, such as forming a coalition against the growing power of the Ottoman Empire (groundwork of the modern European Union!) or even equal rights for Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Imagine the cost to organize such a summit: records show that seven hundred barrels of beer and honey drinks were consumed daily! It seems that in the Middle Ages the term ‘diet’ was completely unknown.

And a last anecdote: it is the only castle in Ukraine seen by nearly every Ukrainian, thanks to the fact that they hold its picture in their hand with every 200 hryvnas bill.

Opening times and additionnal information:

The castle is open daily from 10am to 7pm.

Entrance ticket:
- adults 4 hryvnas
- children and students 2 hryvnas

Akkerman

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Shortened history of the castle :

The Byzantine fortress was first noted as Asperon, a name deriving from the local Turkish dialect which meant "white". The word "white" as a basis for the name of the city has persisted ever since.

From 1503 to 1918, the city was known as Akkerman, a Turkish word for "white fortress". From 1918 to 1944, the city was known by its Romanian name of Cetatea Albă, literally "white citadel".

In 1420, the citadel was attacked for the first time by the Ottomans, but defended successfully by Moldavian Prince Alexander the Kind. And in 1484, it was the last of the Black Sea ports to be conquered by the Ottomans. The Moldavian prince Stephen the Great was unable to aid in its defence, being under threat of a Polish invasion. The citadel surrendered when the Ottomans claimed to have reached an agreement with Prince Stephen, and promised safe passage to the inhabitants and their belongings; however, most of the city-dwellers were slaughtered.

Major battles between the Ottomans and the Russians were fought near Akkerman in 1770 and 1789. Russia conquered the town in 1770 and in 1806, but returned it after the conclusion of hostilities. It was not incorporated into Russia until 1812, along with the rest of Bessarabia.

In 1918 the city, along with the rest of Bessarabia, became part of Romania. In 1945, the Soviets divided Bessarabia and its southern sides (including Bilhorod) became part of the Ukrainian SSR, and after 1991, of nowadays Ukraine.

Opening times and additionnal information :

Sudak

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Shortened history of the castle:

The Fortress was built by the Genoese after their troops seized the town in 1365. The Genoese and the Venetians competed for a lucrative trade in slaves and spices, taking slaves from eastern europe via Crimea to Egypt and buying spices, silk and linen there brought in by traders from India and Ceylan.

At this time Sudak had a population of over 10,000, consisting of Turks, Russians, Greeks, Armenians, Tatars, Italians and others. The town was under control of the Tatar Khans, who extracted often severe taxes from the town when they were not occupied fighting eachother.

Sudak remained in Genoese hands for just over 100 years, but in 1475 their fortress was not strong enough to withstand the onslaught of the Ottoman Turkish invasion of Crimea. The Genoese lost control of all their towns in the region and never regained them. The focus of trade shifted to Kaffa, Sudak went into decline and the fortress fell into disuse until the mid-eighteenth century, when imperial Russia invaded to take Crimea from the Turks. In 1771 Russian forces took over the fortress, and a garrison was stationed there until 1816.

During the Soviet era the fortress was restored and is open to the public.

Opening times and additional information:

Visiting the fortress is free.
Watch out because this area is quite steep and rocky.

One particular building of the fortress remains in the Dome Tower. When the Genoese seized the town in 1365, it was under construction as a mosque, and the Genoese completed it, but turned it into a Catholic church. A century later the invading Turks turned it back into a mosque. During the time of the Russian garrison it was used as an Orthodox church, and from 1883 it became a chapel of the Armenian Catholic church. After the revolution it was turned into a museum by the Soviet government, which is what it is today.

Khotyn

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Shortened history of the castle:

Khotyn was almost always a frontier town: it was on the border of several Slavonic principalities (Galician Principality from 1140s, Halych-Volhynian Kingdom from 1199, Moldavian Principality from the middle of the 14th century), Ottoman Empire (1712), Russian Empire (from 1812) and Romania (in 1918-1940). Due to its geographical location Khotyn fortress played a great role in Ukrainian and European history.

The fortress over the river Dnister was built in times of Vladimir the Great in order to defend western borders. There is no way to find out how the border outpost looked in those times. However, location of Khotyn fortress was really well chosen: on a natural rock foundation, near a passage across the Dnister River. The castle walls were covered with stone later, in the 13th century.

Khotyn fortress is famous for the battle of 1621 which decided the fate of Europe. In April 1621, sultan Osman II started military campaign against Poland which was defenseless after the battle of 1620 with Turkish troops. Europe was too week at those times to stand the pressure of the numerous sultan’s army. Poland could have capitulated, and half of Europe would have been conquered by the Turks, but Polish wanted to have the last word...

The whole horde went against Khotyn with 300 thousand Turks and 100 thousand Tartars. Against this numerous and well organized army struggled 35 thousand Poles and 40 thousand Cossacks. Osaman II expected to win this battle in a few hours and the Khan predicted self-confidently that he would have breakfast under the walls of Khotyn among the Cossacks troops and dinner in the fortress with the Polish troops. But the Khotyn battle lasted five weeks and the peace treaty was only concluded in october 1621.

Half a century later, on November 11, 1673, Khotyn is the theatre of a new victory over the Turkish army. This time, the triumph is celebrated by Polish, Lithuanian and Cossack troops headed by Jan Sobeskiy.

In 1856 Khotyn fortress was delivered from its military status and became a touristic object.

Opening times and additional information:

It is open daily for visitors from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Entrance ticket for adults costs 4 hrn, children – 2 hrn.

For permission to take photos you will have to pay an additional 1 hrn.

Kamianets-Podilskyi

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Shortened history of the castle:

Kamianets-Podilskyi is a massive medieval fortress which is located in the town in western Ukraine located between the towns Khmelnitsky and northwest Chernivtsi, which are only 25 km away. Kamianets-Podilskyi is built like a peninsula surrounded by the river Smotrich.

The first part of the name of the fortress and the city comes from the Slavic word "kaminy", which literally means stone. The second word in the composition of the name of the medieval castle comes from the name of the local historic area Podillia.

During the reign of King Peter the Great he decided to visit the monarch Kamianets-Podilskyi twice and was impressed by its massive and strong fortifications.

One of the towers was used as a prison cell for Ustym Karmeliuk, who was a prominent peasant rebel leader from the beginning of the 19th century. He escaped three times from the tower of Kamianets-Podilskyi.

One of the first and most mass killings during the Holocaust began 27th-28th August, 1941 near Kamianets-Podilskyi. In these two days 23, 600 Jews were targeted and killed, most of them Hungarian Jews (14, 000-16, 000) and the rest were local Polish Jews.

Opening times and additional information: