Dubno, Medieval fortress city in Rivne Oblast, Ukraine
Dubno is a city in Rivne Oblast that stretches along the Ikva River with stone defensive walls and ancient towers standing throughout. You can see religious buildings from different periods that show how architecture changed over time.
This city gained official status in 1498 and grew into a major trading hub when a major fair moved here from Lviv between 1774 and 1797. That period of trade activity shaped it into an important commercial center for the region.
The castle here houses a regional museum where you can see traditional crafts and local artifacts from different periods. Walking through the exhibits gives you a sense of how people lived and worked across the centuries.
The city sits at the crossroads of major European routes E40 and E85, making it easy to reach from other parts of western Ukraine. Most sights worth visiting are within walking distance from one another once you are in the center.
The castle here kept its defensive walls and towers fully functional from the early 1400s right through World War I, which means over 400 years of continuous military use. This long stretch of active defense makes it unusual compared to other fortresses in the region that lost their function much earlier.
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