Zbarazh Castle, Renaissance castle in Zbarazh, Ukraine

Zbarazh Castle is a square fortress of light grey stone blocks, 88 metres on each side, with four pentagonal bastions at the corners and a 20-metre moat. A two-storey Renaissance palace with a balcony on stone consoles stands inside the walls, and a single arched gateway with a dark wooden door opens through the wall.

The first castle, built in 1393 at Stary Zbarazh, was destroyed by Tatars in 1474 and 1598. The present fortress was begun in 1620 on the order of Jerzy and Krzysztof Zbaraski, designed by Henryk van Peene of Flanders. In 1649 it withstood a Cossack siege described by Henryk Sienkiewicz in With Fire and Sword. In 1675 its Polish garrison repelled two Turkish assaults with 30 cannons before peasants inside surrendered the castle; the Turks then killed them.

The fortress houses a regional museum displaying archaeological objects, folk art, and religious pieces from the area. Visitors get a sense of daily life from earlier times as they move through the rooms.

The site is open daily and visitors should wear comfortable shoes since paths across the grounds and through bastions can be uneven. Guided tours can be arranged beforehand to learn more about individual rooms and structures.

The castle's cellars once served as NKVD prisons after World War II, where dozens of people were killed and their bodies thrown into a well in the courtyard and covered with concrete. In the early 1990s local residents reburied the remains in the town cemetery.