Medzhybizh (UA)

History

On the banks of the Southern Bug

The archaeological sites in Podolia around Medzhybizh prove, through the discovery of stone and flint tools, that the Acheulean culture was already settled there as early as 900,000 BC. This makes the Palaeolithic settlement at Medzhybizh one of the oldest records of human life in the territory of Ukraine. The first wooden fortification in Medzhybizh is documented in the Hypatian Chronicle of 1146 as a gift to Prince Svantoslav. In 1593, the town was granted Magdeburg rights and developed into a thriving cultural centre during the 17th and 18th centuries. During the Polish–Cossack War of 1648–1657, three major battles took place around Medzhybizh. In 1666, the town was captured by Ottoman troops and held for 27 years.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TOWN.

MEDZHYBIZH – formerly a town, now a municipality, situated at the point where two rivers – the Bug and the Buschok (hence the name – Mezhybish, Mezhybizh) – converge. The first known chronicle mentioning the place dates from the year 1146. „… Yislaw, who had led Vsevolodovich Svyatoslav to Christ, gave him Bozhykiy and Medzhybish (a total of five towns…)“, we read in the „Chronicle of Rus“.

Medzhybizh was part of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia; in the 14th century, it became one of the towns of the Province of Bologna. During the Lithuanian period, when Olgerd drove the Tatars out of the region in 1392, it belonged to the Koryatowicz princes and later became part of Poland. From 1540, it was owned by the Seniavsky magnates and remained in the family’s possession for 200 years. In 1593, the Senyasci family was granted Magdeburg law for Medzhiborz. A town council was established here, craft workshops sprang up, two public auctions were held daily, and several fairs took place each year. The town grew quite populous: at the beginning of the 18th century, it had 12,000 inhabitants.

Significant events took place here during the turbulent period of the Ukrainian people’s War of Independence and National Liberation, led by B. Khmelnytsky between 1648 and 1657. Kryvonos defeated the Polish nobility and captured the town; in June 1649, a famous battle took place at the castle walls between the Polish army and the Cossack regiments of Danylo Nechai; and on several occasions, B. Khmelnytsky was escorted to the castle on several occasions.

At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 18th century, the village of Medzhybizh was closely linked to Lviv and the Lviv community. As they were engaged in trade and manufacturing in Lviv, they brought books to Medzhybizh and supplied goods to Lviv. Medzhybizh also had links with Kyiv. Medzhybizh is mentioned in the 18th-century ‘Chronicle of Lviv’, which covers events from 1493 to 1649.

There were several churches and associations in Medzhybizh, one of which – the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – was built in the 18th century. The Church of the Assumption was an outstanding example of fortified church architecture. The Jewish community in Medzhybizh was quite large. In the mid-18th century, a distinctive religious movement, Hasidism, developed here. It was founded by I. Baal Shem-Tov (Besht), who lived in Medzhybizh for 20 years and was buried there in 1760.

The Czartoryski family, who owned Medzhybizh for 100 years (1730–1831), made the town their seat of power. In 1792, Medzhybizh served as the headquarters of Tadeusz Kościuszko.

In 1831, the Czartoryski estates were confiscated; military settlements were established in the surrounding area, and Medzhybizh became a military post centre, where the so-called „camp“ was set up. It was here that the „Tabor“ gatherings were held. The castle served as the headquarters of the 12th Achthyrski Hussar Regiment, commanded in 1901 by Grand Duchess Olga Olexandrivna Romanova, the full sister of Tsar Nicholas II. Following the revolutionary upheaval of 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in the country. In 1923, Medzhybizh became a district centre and remained so until 1959.

Unfortunately, very few historic monuments have survived, and those that remain are in a state of disrepair. The Troitsky Church, dating from 1632 (registration number 1694), is now in ruins; the historic appearance of the adjacent house (the mansard) has also been lost, and a shopping centre has been built. The town hall and the Dormition Church, with its beautiful 15th-century frescoes, have been destroyed. Two houses and a rotunda chapel have survived in the town.
Medzhybizh’s most significant architectural monument is the 16th–19th-century fortress. It is situated in a river valley formed by two rivers – the Bug and the Buzhok – and blends seamlessly into the surrounding landscape.

Architecture

The history of the building dates back to the 14th–16th and 19th centuries; it held a prominent place amongst medieval fortresses. The existing architectural and archaeological monuments corroborate the accounts in the chronicles. Remains of earthworks – integral features of ancient settlements – and archaeological material from the 12th–13th centuries, discovered by researchers near the fortress alongside the excavated stone fortifications, a 13th-century burial site at the location of these fortifications, which dates back to the Tatar invasion, provides compelling evidence of this period.

Medzhybizh Fortress was a citadel surrounded by earthen ramparts. Its well-preserved core from the Ukrainian-Russian period, which researchers discovered at a depth of 11 metres, was situated on the slope of a high hill, overlooked by a church. On the promontory of the fortress, facing the confluence of two rivers, stood a tower with a gate, from which the fortress walls extended northwards and westwards. The western part of the ancient fortress now lies underground. It divides the fortress’s present-day inner courtyard into two halves. In ancient times, a deep moat was dug in front of it. At the corners of the fortress walls stood round towers in plan, one of which (the southern one) has survived to this day in a modified form. The northern tower is still awaiting researchers, including those conducting architectural and archaeological investigations.

The barbican, situated in front of the gate tower, defended the approaches to the gate. It had its own gate and was rectangular in plan, measuring 10×8 metres and covered by a 10-metre-high round-arched vault. Above the vault there was probably a battlements, surrounded by a crenellated parapet. The entrance gate to the barbican had a hersa – a mechanism for raising and lowering the gates, as evidenced by the 28 cm-wide gaps in the masonry of the gates and the slit in the arch crowning the gate. If the enemy breached the first obstacle – the gate – the interior of the barbican was defended from the surrounding wooden galleries.

This is the structure of the defensive fortifications in Ukraine and Russia – the Golden Gate in Kyiv and Volodymyr. But there, they were cut into the earthworks. In Medzhybizh, the walls of the fortifications were built. Behind the first barrier at the gates of Kyiv and Volodymyr, however, there was a space protected by wooden galleries on either side, just as in Medzhybizh. Unlike in Medzhybizh, a portcullis kept the enemy out of the city. In all these examples, however, the general system for defending the gate was very similar.

Bastion – Five-winged bastion

The five-leaf bastion is a complex, multidisciplinary system of rondels. It consists of two northern and two southern half-towers and a horn in the centre. Thanks to this configuration, it actively flanked the castle’s outer walls, and its embrasures for sector fire enabled a dense crossfire that made a likely attack more difficult. The internal structure of the bastion is on three levels, with wooden floors supported by a system of beams. The vault is arched and rests on the outer walls of the bastion and on the walls of the barbican, around which the bastion is built. The extension of the bastion was concealed behind the castle gate by a barbican dating from the Lithuanian period. In addition to the central openings, the embrasures feature two further openings through which one can fire handguns sideways.
When the castle ceased to serve as a defensive structure, a terrace was built on the roof of the bastion, which was accessible from the castle complex’s banquet hall.