Gródek Castle

Horodok Castle, also known as Gródek Castle (Ukrainian: Городоцький замок, Polish: Zamek w Gródku) was a fortress situated by the river Smotrych.

History

The castle was built in Gródek due to the necessity of fortification. The king of Poland, Sigismund I the Old, wrote a letter to his brothers - Mikołaj Herbut and Jan Swiercz giving them a privilege to collect customs. The castle had to be firmly reinforced, because the King named it as fortress.

In 1653 the castle was taken over by the Khmelnytsky's Cossacks. They had no mercy for the gentry nor the burgesses. Anyway, their plunders stopped the horde which decided to rebel against Khmelnytsky and leave Podolia. It is speculated^{[according to whom?]} that their decision prevented Khmelnytsky from creating a Ukrainian nation-state.

The castle is almost completely ruined, with only a small part of the wall surviving.^[1]

Manor house

In the 19th century ruins of the old castle were rebuilt by the Russian general - baron Geismar who changed the castle into a comfortable, double-decker, classicistic manor house that existed until the Interwar period.^[2]

References

^ Sivachenko, Yevhen (2022-11-20). ""ГОРОДОЦЬКА ТРОЯ". Що відомо городоччанам про пагорб із назвою Замкова гора?". Городок.City (in Ukrainian).
^ Sulimierski, Filip; Chlebowski, Bronisław; Walewski, Władysław (1880–1902). Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (in Polish). Vol. II. Warsaw. pp. 818–819.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)