Kryvche Castle

Kryvche Castle is a defensive structure built in 1639 by local magnates the Kątskis in the village of Kryvche in the Ternopil region. The castle is located on a high hill, bounded on the south by the rocky banks of the Tsyhanka River and by a deep ravine on the north, which made it impregnable. By its planning configuration, the castle belongs to regular, rectangular fortifications with corner towers and an arsenal. It had an almost square shape and was protected by a developed system of dry defensive moats on three sides, and the corner towers had embrasures, in particular keyhole-shaped ones on the third tier. Built of rubble limestone, the walls and towers of the castle were part of the important fortifications of Podillia. The fortress was of great strategic importance and changed hands multiple times during the War of Liberation, Polish-Turkish conflicts, and Tatar raids; in particular, it was occupied by the Cossack troops of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1648 and the Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV in 1672. After the military threat subsided in the 18th century, the castle lost its defensive function and was restored for residential use, remaining the property of the Holiyovskyi family until the mid-19th century. Massive destruction began in the second half of the 19th century when the new owner, L. Zeidman, dismantled most of the walls and two towers for building materials for a distillery. Despite significant damage, the remains of two corner towers, fragments of the walls, and 17th-century archaeological finds discovered during surveys represent the initial stage of constructing regular fortifications in Podillia.