Galician Castle, 14th century. Patrimony number 1152. Monument of national value. Located in Halych city, Konovalets Street, no. 46.
The Castle of Halych, or Starasta Castle, originally built of wood, was first mentioned as a fortified citadel in 1114. However, it is not known when the princely castle built of wood was destroyed and who did it.
The renovation of the castle as a fortified fortress began in the 14th century after Galicia and Western Volhynia became part of Poland. The castle was equipped with dozens of small cannons and a large number of firearms.
The castle combines old elements of fortifications, walls and towers, with the new ones namely bastions, forming a rare type of fortress with walls with towers and casemates. Around 1390 the castle became the residence of the Galician seniors. In 1490 it was unsuccessfully besieged by peasant detachments led by Muha, and in 1649 it was stormed by Bogdan Khmelnitsky’s armies. In 1658 the fortress was rebuilt by the Galician abbot Andrzej Potocki.
After the reconstruction, the castle took on a triangular shape, with two terraces, three stone towers at the corners, nine pantries; in it were also the archive of administrative documents, the chancellery, the court. In the castle there is also the chapel of Saint Catherine.
The castle of Halych suffered a new blow during the Turkish-Polish war of 1676. The armies of Ibrahim Shah of Jahar conquered the fortress. The Turks looted and blew up some of the defensive walls and towers. The castle was later rebuilt, but due to the expansion of the new city-fortress Stanislaw, the Galician castle gradually lost its defensive importance and was abandoned.
Nowadays, the Castle of Halych is part of the “Ancient Halych” National Reserve.
