Sataniv Castle

Sataniv Castle (Ukrainian: Сатанівський замок) is a fortress in the rural settlement of Sataniv, Khmelnytskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine. It is an architectural monument of national significance.

Sataniv Castle is located in the northern part of Sataniv, on a high hill near the Zbruch River. According to the plan, it is pentagonal, but irregular in shape: three sides are approximately 105 m long, the fourth is 85 m, and the fifth (southern) is 65 m. The entire area of the castle occupied approximately 1.5 ha. There were towers at all corners of the pentagon, and there were walls between the towers. Today, the eastern tower and the remains of two towers located directly above Zbruch have been preserved. The two towers on the side of the town have been destroyed.

The walls connecting the towers were double: in addition to the outer ones, there were inner ones that ran parallel to the former. The inner walls stood on a rampart, so they were higher than the outer ones. The ramparts on which the inner walls stood were separated from the outer ones by a moat. There were also moats outside (behind the walls). The inner walls have not survived; only in some places their traces are visible on the ramparts. From the side of the castle overlooking Zbruch, the walls were single, because here, thanks to the steep mountain, the approach to the castle was protected by nature itself. In some places, the height of the walls reached 10.5 m.

The towers standing outside at the corners of the castle were quadrangular and extended far beyond the line of the walls, and only one of their corners was attached to the corner of the castle. The width of the faces of the towers was about 8.5 m. The towers are three-story; the lower floor is much wider than the other two. The lower floor has occasional embrasures (4 on average on each outer side), and on the third floor there were two small windows on each side.

In the castle, the blocks are so regular in shape and uniform in size that from a distance they resemble brickwork.

In the southeastern corner of the castle, on the line of the inner walls, a round tower has been preserved, built long before the known documentary mentions of the settlement. This tower is a unique architectural monument, a rather rare example of masonry construction from the times of Kievan Rus'.

Text adapted from “Sataniv Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sataniv Castle ranks #6,552 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #98 of the 188 mapped in Ukraine. Founded c. 1450, it is older than 49% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 455 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Kamianets-Podilskyi, 68 km away. See how Ukraine compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗