Tarnopol Castle

Ternopil Castle
Ternopil', Ternopil' Oblast'
Landmark of Ukrainian National Historical Heritage
Coordinates	49°33′11″N 25°35′17″E / 49.553°N 25.588°E / 49.553; 25.588
Site information
Owner	Ukrainian State
Condition	continuous renovations
Site history
Built	1548
Demolished	1575, 1589, 1672, 1917, 1944
Events	Tatar invasions, Russian Revolution, World War II

The Ternopil Castle (Ukrainian: Тернопільський замок, Polish: Zamek w Tarnopolu) is a stronghold which gave birth to the city of Ternopil. It was built in the 16th century to protect the southern border of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The castle originated as the residence of a Polish nobleman, Jan Amor Tarnowski, in 1540. Construction works (1540–1548) on the marshy bank of the Seret River were authorized by King Sigismund the Old. The castle, around which the modern town has developed, was encircled by a wooden fence and a deep moat. The latter was connected in 1548 to the castle pond (see Ternopil Pond).

King Sigismund granted land ownership and rights erecting the castle to dubded Polish Crown Hetman, Jan Tarnowski. Concurrently in the valley of Seret river a levee and dam with a bridge crossing were constructed, resulting in the stream pooling, thus filling a new lake. Out from the north the castle and the city was protected by the Rudka river harboring a boggy holm, while on the southern side would be Bavorovsky pond which vanished in a later time. A narrow, dry strip of land factually being a moat banked by a mound with inside masonry reinforced with an oak stockade would set the castle ground apart. Rectangular-shaped towers housing embrasures stood tall on the outer fringes. The entrance was permitted from the east via stone gatehouse secured with a chain hoist drawbridge.

The principal castle building represented by the residential palace, due to natural fortress placing, possessed varied floor levels: besides three main floors visible from the city outskirts, two underground levels being revealed out of a lake steep bank altogether with the two rows of embrasures.

The first record in Ternopil's annals entered on April 15, 1540 was related to the king's ascent given to Kraków nobleman Jan Tarnowski regarding constructing the castle over the Seret river. This fortification had to seal nomad advancement through the wide plains from Terebovlya (then known as Trembowla) to Busk. At the same time the natural terrain of the environment would permit security provisions for a given locale.