Zbarazh Castle

In 1626-1631, near the center of Zbarazh, Zbarazh Castle was founded. It was designed by van Peen, a Flemish architect inspired by the Scamozzi fortification project published in Italy.

The construction was carried out by the brothers Christopher and Yuri Zbarazhsky. In 1636, the owners of the castle became princes Vishnevetsky. They fortified the defenses with casematted ramparts with 12-meter escarps, bastions, a one-tiered tower and a moat that surrounds the entire castle.

The width of the castle is 23 meters, it is square in plan. At the four corners there are five-sided bastions. Each bastion had tunnels that connected them to the castle courtyard and casemates.

Zbarazh Castle was one of the most powerful buildings, it was armed with 50 guns. According to the initial project, it was supposed to build 4 corner artillery towers connected by fortress walls. The role of artillery increased, and the top of the towers was demolished to the level of curtains, inside, around the perimeter of the courtyard, one-storey casemates were added to the fortress walls.

In the courtyard there is a two-storey rectangular palace in Renaissance style. Above the main entrance is a balcony on stone consoles. The facades of casemates are also made in the Renaissance style. In 1649, this building played a key role during the uprising of the Cossacks under the leadership of B. Khmelnitsky. After the siege, the Zborov Treaty was signed. Under the walls of the castle Ivan Bogun was seriously injured. All events were reflected in the novel “fire and sword”.