Karolin Castle, castle ruin in Karolin, Pinsk, Belarus
Karolin Castle is a ruined rectangular fortification in the Karolin suburb of Pinsk, laid out in the new Italian fortification system with sides of 76, 38, 46 and 76 metres. Two small southern bastions faced the Pripyat, a moat up to 9 m wide with a drawbridge ran in front, and the owner's palace stood in the inner courtyard. A surviving underground passage leads out to the bastions.
Jan Karol Dolski, Grand Marshal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, received land near Pinsk from the Sejm in 1690 and built the castle there. After his death it passed to the Wiśniowiecki princes. Swedish troops under Charles XII destroyed it in 1706; by the early 20th century only ruins remained.
The castle and the suburb of Karolin were named after founder Jan Karol Dolski, who received the land near Pinsk from the Sejm in 1690. Opposite the castle he built the church of St Charles Borromeo, dedicated to his patron saint. The castle served both military and representative functions.
The castle stood in Karolin, a suburb of Pinsk, on the bank of the Pripyat, which the two southern bastions faced. A ditch up to 9 m wide with a drawbridge ran in front of it. The underground passage that survives is the way out to the bastions; the above-ground walls are gone.
The castle was rectangular in plan, measuring 76 m by 38 m and 46 m by 76 m, with two small southern bastions facing the Pripyat. A moat up to 9 m wide with a drawbridge ran in front of it, and the owner's palace stood in the inner courtyard. An underground passage survives to this day and leads out to the bastions.
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