The unforgotten stories of Zbarazh Castle

Many times I had heard of Zbarazh, an ancient town in the Ternopil region, and seen one of Ukraine's most famous castles in Jerzy Hoffman's film "With Fire and Sword".

And now here I am on this ancient land, getting to know the history of the castle.

Known since the 13th century, Zbarazh became an arena of military action many times throughout its history. Chronicles testify to the town's destruction by the Mongol-Tatar horde in the 16th century. At that same time Prince Janusz Zbarazky began the construction of a new outpost. His sons, schooled in the sciences of fortification, continued the building of the citadel, but they too did not get to see the results of their plans.

In the 1630s the fortress became a full-fledged defensive structure. And in 1649 a momentous event for the town took place here. The Treaty of Zboriv was concluded between Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Polish king Jan Casimir. It is these events that are recounted in Sienkiewicz's novel "With Fire and Sword".

Not even a quarter of a century had passed when the Turks' storming of the fortress in 1675 destroyed it. The castle's restoration was undertaken by Prince Dmytro-Jerzy Vyshnevetsky. It is known that in 1707 Peter I and Mazepa were in the castle. In the course of the Great Northern War, the Swedes once again brought ruin to the town.

At the end of the 19th century, when Zbarazh belonged to Austria-Hungary, the castle was gradually reviving, but during the First World War it turned to ruins again. Just before the start of the Second World War, the Polish authorities carried out a reconstruction of the fortress, but once more events and time took their toll on the state of the building.

The complex's present-day appearance practically repeats its original one, with minor changes.

The fortifications consist of ramparts, pentagonal bastions, an entrance tower and moats that were filled with water and over which a drawbridge was thrown.

Now it is an ordinary concrete bridge.

But the moment you pass through the tower's arch, you find yourself in the atmosphere of the Middle Ages.

Once the fortress was connected to the town's other defensive structures by underground passages, and tunnels were dug through the bastions. And even in Soviet times the casemates served as a prison, where the NKVD cruelly tortured Ukrainians it found undesirable, entombing them alive in concrete in the wells. Later the remains of the victims were reburied by local residents in the cemetery according to Christian custom.

The two-storey castle, square in plan and with some Renaissance-style details, has housed a museum since 1959, whose exhibits are constantly being added to.

In 1994 Zbarazh Castle became an architectural monument of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve of the town of Zbarazh. In January 2005 the reserve was granted national status. Now it is called the "Castles of the Ternopil Region" National Reserve, of which Zbarazh Castle has become the main centre.

The museum's displays are varied, spread across twenty halls; the museum collection numbers 20,000 items. To see it all you need at least 2-3 hours.

I very much liked the picture gallery with its portraits of prominent and lesser-known figures connected with the fortress's history. These are 18th-century canvases from the Lviv Museum of the History of Painting.

The furniture and interior pieces astonish with the mastery of their making. They were provided for viewing by the Lviv Ethnographic Museum.

In each hall there are exclusive chandeliers and lamps.

Under a glass dome is a model of Zbarazh Castle.

In the hall of sacred sculpture are very rare exhibits — figures of saints carved in wood by unknown masters of the school of Pinzel, an 18th-century Galician sculptor.

On display are wooden works by Volodymyr Lipiychuk with subjects from folk lore, from the works of T. H. Shevchenko, and equestrian statues. He did not seek to sell his works, but left them for museums.

Busts have been set up of Cossack leaders and hetmans: Ivan Bohun, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ivan Mazepa, Nestor Morozenko, Maksym Kryvonis.

For those interested in numismatics there is a display too.

The models of wooden churches that have been declared architectural monuments in the Ternopil region impressed me greatly. After all, I travel especially to towns and villages where shrines built without a single nail have survived.

In the armoury hall you can see not only copies but also originals of ancient armour and weaponry. Bladed and firearm weapons are on display: Polish, Cossack, Tatar-Mongol.

A collection of clocks which, sadly, have already stopped showing the correct time.

Contemporary art is represented in a hall with an exhibition of ceramics. The author is Taras Levkiv.

Floral compositions of incredible beauty by the artist Tamara Udina.

Works by Yevhen Udin.

Evenings of organ music are planned here, and it will be possible to enjoy the unusual sound of this rare wind instrument.

But this museum has other exhibitions too. In a casemate, instruments of torture and execution are presented for your attention, with a description of how they worked. You can step into a real torture chamber. Yes, I stepped in. And a joker latched the door shut from the outside. Anyone who wishes may try it out on themselves. I will not post photographs of this object.

There are always many visitors in this castle-museum, for the collections are unique and gathered in one place. The entrance fee is very modest compared with other museums, despite the rise in utility tariffs.

Besides the fortress and the castle, in Zbarazh you can see several places of worship that are also several centuries old: the Roman Catholic church (1627), the Church of the Transfiguration (1600), the Church of the Dormition (1755), and the Church of the Resurrection (1764).

I greatly enjoyed my trip to Zbarazh; I thank the organisers and the professional guide. I share my wonderful impressions and wish you a good trip to this splendid castle.

Castle Day is 8 May.

Sites of tourist infrastructure:

the "Edelweiss" restaurant, whose interior is in the half-timbered style, 7 Prosvity Street.
Tel. +380 98 752 32 32;
the "Vytrebenky" restaurant, Ivan Franko Square, 38a. Tel. +380 67 208 15 41.
the "Hetman" hotel, 4 Morozenka Street. Tel: +380 3550 2 46 36

You can get there from Ternopil by bus, a distance of 22 km. By the Ternopil — Lanivtsi commuter train, departing Ternopil at 09:15, and in an hour you are in Zbarazh.
At 18:00 there is a return commuter train, Lanivtsi — Ternopil.

Details about the museums on the website:
http://nzzt.com.ua/news.php
Telephone: +380 3550 2 42 47
Fax 2 23 12
Address: the town of Zbarazh, Ternopil region,
6 Khmelnytskoho Street

Coordinates: 49°39’48"N 25°47’7"E

Tourism department of the Ternopil Regional Administration:
tel. +380 352 43 42 31; +380 67 688 50 13.
Ternopil, Hrushevskoho Street, 8