Chortkiv Fortress

Chortkiv castle dates from 1610. It is a stone building and was built as a private possession on the place of an earlier wooden castle (most of the medieval castles in the area were wooden ones). It was erected of local sandstone and is regular in the plan of five corners. At each corner, it was fortified with towers. Nowadays, we have only defensive walls (which surround the yard), two towers and palace ruins preserved. Earlier the interior consisted of stone houses located parenterally. At the same time, the external walls of these houses served as defensives ones. Out of these houses, we have only numerous cellars left. The main entrance to the castle was in the northern wall. Palace occupies western side of the interior yard and is rectangular in plan joined with two towers at the corners of the castle. Chortkiv castle is built in Renaissance style and at the yard facade it had the arch galleries of two floors. The premises of the lower floor were intended for economic purposes and were covered with a cross-like and semi-compass arch. The entrance to the living premises of upper floor was through the open staircase, which led onto the gallery. The halls of the palace were painted with frescos on secular themes. Two preserved towers with their structure come out of the walls line. Southwestern tower is of five facets and has two circles with a cellar. The north-western tower is of four facets and has one circle with a cellar also. Their floorings had been preserved. At the time of reconstruction of the castle, after it lost its defensive meaning (in the first half of 18th century) towers were turned into the risalithes of the palace and at the external facade, a terrace was arranged between the towers. Also cellar premises (coming out as arch from the outside) were built under this terrace. The preservation of castle ruins was made at the beginning of 20 th century (during Austrian rule) by Podolian Tourist and History Society. Chrtkiv was on the main road junction, open to Tatar and Turkish invasions from the southeast. Thus the castle played an important defensive role before the 18th century (when it lost its defensive purpose and was reconstructed after the invasions ceased).

The castle has not an official ticket. We paid only to the guardian with a cash. And castle is in a condition of reconstruction and a bit dangerous for the children. Be attentive and don’t live children without adults.

I am always pleased to get to see old buildings, or archaeology. In fact, for me some of the best places have very limited remains of what was originally there ........often because the place was in use thousands of years ago. In this example we have a 75 percent intact structure of quite some size with a history stretching over mostly a few hundred, perhaps 400 years. Access externally is modestly restricted by housing built in more recent times, internal access appears problematic since the main doors are locked! Overall an interesting place for me and for the curious, but don't expect to bring your family there and have a great day out, you will probably be there 30 minutes, that is all there is to see!

These ruins have a fascinating history and are an essential part of the local landscape. Visitation hours are not posted, so it is difficult to visit outside of officially scheduled events.

Very beautiful