Excursion Lutsk Castle, Dubno Castle and Tarakaniv Fort

What are the “Castles of the North”?

Lutsk Castle, Dubno Castle and Tarakaniv Fort taken together being geographically in Western Ukraine’s northern-most oblasts, comprise what we’d like to call our Castles of the North Tour.

Dubno Castle.

Dubno Castle is one of the oldest buildings in Volyn Oblast, dating back to 1492, designed by its founder Konstantin Ostrogski in an Italian Renaissance style that featured a hornwork – an Italian bastion system of fortification, its decorative main gate flanked with a pair of demi-bastions.

During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the vicinity of Dubno Castle was the scene of heavy fighting between the Poles and the Cossacks, some of it described by Nikolai Gogol in the novella Taras Bulba (1835). Today it is a museum.

Lutsk (Lubart’s) Castle.

Lutsk Castle, also called Lubart’s Castle or Upper Castle, was constructed in the mid-14th century as the fortified seat of Gediminas’ son Liubartas (Lubart), the last ruler of united Galicia-Volhynia. The current castle, situated above the Styr River, was built mostly in the 1340s, although some parts of the earlier walls dating from the 11th Century were used. It repelled sieges by numerous potentates, including Casimir the Great (1349), Jogaila (1431), and Sigismund Kęstutaitis (1436).

The walls of the castle formerly enclosed St. John’s Cathedral, a palace of the grand dukes, and an episcopal palace. Of these buildings, only the Neoclassical palace of the bishops still stands.

On 2 July 1941, 1,160 Jews were murdered within the walls of the castle. There is as yet no monument or marker depicting this tragedy on the site.

Tarakaniv Fort.

Tarakaniv Fort, a mysterious and even mystical structure, is located in Western Ukraine’s Rivne region between the city of Dubno and the village of Tarakaniv. Originally designed in the late 19th Century for use by the Russian Empire as a military fortification to defend transit routes in the area, by the turn of the 20th Century it had become a warehouse and shortly before the outbreak of World War I a prison.

Today Tarakaniv is still considered a military installation belonging to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine but has fallen into complete dis-repair, its ruins a mysterious place for you to explore.

For another tour of Historic Medieval Fortresses see our Golden Horseshoe Tour.