Vysichka Castle

The Vysichka Castle (Ukrainian: Висічанський замок, romanized: Vysichans'kyi zamok) is located in Vysichka, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. The castle built at the beginning of the 17th century, on a small plateau on a steep and lofty bank at the mouth of the Drapaka River to the Nichlava River, and an architectural monument of national importance.

In 1672 the castle was captured by the Turks, and in 1675 it was garrisoned by the crew of King John III Sobieski of Poland. In 1772, as a result of the First Partition of Poland, Vysichka came under Austrian rule. At the end of the 18th century it belonged to the Polish family of Szymanowski. Around 1800, Tadeusz Czarkowski became the owner.

No descriptions, plans or iconographic accounts of the original castle are known. It was built of stone and brick on an irregular quadrilateral plan, forming a defensive perimeter with walls and four hexagonal towers at the corners. During construction on the steepest eastern side of the hill, the structure was reinforced with a retaining wall of hewn sandstone. The towers varied in size, those on the southeast side were more massive than those on the southwest side. There were rectangular slits in the walls of the towers. It is likely that the lower levels of the towers were topped with semicircular arches, while the upper levels were made of wood.

The entrance to the castle, from the northern flat part of the plateau, separated by a crosscut of a dry moat and a rampart, led through a gate tower to a spacious courtyard. The residential building rose above the steep southern end of the hill.

Before 1831, Cyryl Czarkowski son of Tadeusz tore down the defensive walls with the gate, buried the ditch to the north and began rebuilding the castle into a palace, located between the two towers of the southeast and southwest. The castle was built on foundations and rock-cut castle cellars, possibly using old above-ground walls. His wife, Maria (née Golejewska), in view of the childlessness of their marriage, gave the estate including the castle to an adopted relative, Tadeusz Czarkowski (1850-1940), who conditionally assumed her maiden name. At the turn of 1890/1891, Tadeusz Czarkowski-Golejewski repaired the ruins of Vysichka castle. From then on, the farm there was taken care of by his mother, Wiktoria Czarkowska.

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

Vysichka Castle ranks #7,056 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #115 of the 188 mapped in Ukraine. Founded c. 1625, it is older than 30% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 626 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Kamianets-Podilskyi, 45 km away. See how Ukraine compares in the castle statistics.

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