Svirzh Castle
Soft green hills, a lake, to reflect blue clouds, a secrecy and inviolable quietness of forests, grain fields and high hillock, where Svirz’kyi Zamok, an architectural sight of the 16th-17th centuries, constructed in an elegant Renaissance style, gleams on the sun with its red tile and white walls. By entering the village one can see the castle to stand against the nature. It is impossible to take the eye off! To get to Svirzh, one can take a bus, taxi, or by its own automobile. Buses and taxes go to Svirzh from L’viv.
A written mentioning as to Svirzh dates back to 1427, a period the village was considered to be a city. Later, they were separated. The owners of the city had been changing in the course of 1453 – the beginning of the 17th century. That was a family of Svirz’ki of the “Szalawa” emblem; Halka, the knight (a friend of the Prince Riuryk) was the 1st owner of theirs. Also, Habriel’ Svirz’kyi, a member of the family was the 1st translator of Verhiliy into the Polish language. In order to defend themselves from Tatar raids, Svirz’ky constructed a castle so that today we have a peculiar bait to attract the tourists.
If one looks attentively, it is possible to see a fortress La Roshel’ from a movie “D’Artan’ian and 3 musketeers”, a construction the castle was turned into. Strong walls of the castle and its solitary tower in the movie served as bastions of Sen-Zhermen, where Artos, Portos and Aramis with D’artan’an lunched in the final scene.
The castle was rounded with ponds, impenetrable bogs, ditches and bridges. But, despite such a great defensive location, the castle had been damaging, standing a siege number of times. The Cossacks of Kmel’nyts’kyi won this position lot of times in the course of liberation war of 1648-1654; in 1672 Turkish people invaded the castle which later successfully stood the Turkish siege.
Up to the 19th century the castle was a family residence of Tsetners graphs. They moderated the castle – a fastened rectangle with angle towers was rebuilt in the park with ponds. Certain elements of the castle converted it into the building of baroque style. Robert Liamezan Selians, the graph, contributed a lot to renew the interior of the palace and the entire palace, equipped it with precious furniture, pictures. In 1914 the castle was burnt within World War First; only the walls escaped destruction. The 20th century was an uneasy period for the castle – two World Wars damaged the construction, castle erections were destructed and burnt up and renewed again and again.
Today, Svirz’kyi Zamok is one of the interesting sights of L’vivs’ka oblast’ (the region), included into the popular touristic route “Zolota pidkova” (excursions to Middle Age defense cloisters and castles).
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Tours and excursions
