Ukraine; Rivne; Ostroh city; Ostroh Castle

Ukraine; Rivne; Ostroh city; Ostroh Castle
Ostroh Castle, located in the city of Ostroh, was the ancestral home of the Ostrog princes, some of the richest magnates of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 14th-16th centuries. The castle flourished under Prince Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrogsky, a famous military leader and philanthropist. Over the centuries of its existence, the castle was repeatedly rebuilt and modernized, preserving key elements of medieval and Renaissance architecture. Today, its ensemble includes the Murovannaya Tower (14th century), the Round Tower (16th century), the Epiphany Cathedral (15th-16th centuries), the gate bell tower (1905) and fragments of the fortress walls.
The Murovannaya Tower, built in the 14th century as a donjon, is fortified with buttresses from the 15th-17th centuries and is now a three-tiered structure housing a local history museum. The 16th-century round tower, located in the southwestern part of the castle, has Renaissance elements in the upper tiers and is reinforced with massive buttresses. Among the castle buildings, the Epiphany Cathedral stands out - a monument of religious architecture, and the Lutsk Gate Tower, part of the city defense, today serves as a book museum associated with the printing of the Ostroh Bible by Ivan Fedorov. The castle and city fortifications, such as the Tatar and Lutsk towers, represent a unique combination of fortification and architectural thought of the Middle Ages. Ostroh Castle is not only an important historical and cultural monument, but also a striking example of how the evolution of styles and eras left a mark on the heritage of this region.