Photo: Oleg Zharii
postmarked in 2013 with four Ukraine stamps
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Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle is a former Ruthenian-Lithuanian castle and a later three-part Polish fortress located in the historic city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. Its name is attributed to the root word kamin', from the Slavic word for stone.
Historical accounts date the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle to the early 14th century, although recent archaeological evidence has proved human existence in the area back to the 12th-13th centuries. Initially it was built to protect the bridge connecting the city with the mainland.
From the beginning of the 18th century, it had lost its defensive role, and was used more as a military prison than a military fortification. Numerous people were executed or held captive in the prison, including Cossack starshynas (officers), haidamakas, and even the three-year-old pretender to the Polish throne, Stanisław August Poniatowski.
During the late 1930s, plans were made to turn the castle into a museum, and reconstruction work on the buildings was started in 1937. Visitor numbers for the castle during the 1930s reached 300,000 a year.
Along with the Old Town neighborhood, the complex is a candidate UNESCO World Heritage Site, nominated in 1989 by the Ukrainian representatives, and is also one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
and two of these....
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