The Svirz Castle (, ) is a fortified aristocratic

residence A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside. Residence or The Residence may also refer to: * Domicile (law) In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal l ...

in Svirzh,

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It was originally built by the Świrski noble family in the 15th century. Inside the castle is a small church dating from 1546. The stronghold was completely rebuilt in the 17th century at the behest of its new owner, Count Aleksander Cetner. It is believed that General Paweł Grodzicki was responsible for the modernisation of the castle's fortifications. Though surrounded on all sides by

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s, and

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es, the fort was taken by the rebellious

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

on several occasions. In 1648, the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

set it on fire; they were less successful during the Lwow raid of 1672. The castle stood in ruins for many years. It was restored in 1907, only to be devastated by fire in 1914. Rebuilding and restoration have occurred on several occasions since.

References

* Лильо І. М., Лильо-Откович З. М. Прогулянка Львовом. Путівник — К.: Балтія Друк, 2005. — 224 с.: іл. (укр.) * Памятники градостроительства и архитектуры Украинской ССР. Киев: Будивельник, 1983–1986. Том 3, с. 174. (рус.)

External links

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Photos of Svirzh castle
{{Castles in Ukraine Castles in Ukraine Buildings and structures in Lviv Oblast