Cherlenkovsky castle

The castle reached our time in ruins. Partially preserved are two towers, the ruins of the bell tower of the monastery, the foundations of a rectangular building, underground passages.

Bunk towers without a roof, are made of granite and red brick, six-sided in plan, the plaster on the external walls is partially preserved, the corners are rusticated. Window openings of the second tier were hewn at the beginning of the XIX century ^[1] .

In 1362, Prince Olgerd defeated the Tatars and the lands of Podolia became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Olgerd's nephews, the Koriatovichi brothers, laid several wooden fortresses to control the most important roads and crossings on the borders of their possessions. Near such a fortress a village emerged, later called Cherlenkov, also known as Cherlengrad, named after the owners, the Cherlenkovsky family, descendants of the famous boyar family Kmitichi .

In 1448, Cherlenkov received the Magdeburg right and the coat of arms. At the beginning of the 17th century, two monasteries were founded in the city - Catholic and Uniate. At the beginning of the 16th century, the wooden fortress was apparently rebuilt into a stone one.

In 1624, the Tatar horde Cantemir-Murza destroyed Cherlenkovsky castle and burned the city. After this, the castle lost its defense significance. The restored city was named New Cherlenkov.

In 1670, Atanas Cherlenkovsky received monastic tonsure and invited monks from Pochaev to Cherlenkov, presenting them with the village of Rovets. The monks built a monastery near the castle, the ruins of the bell tower of which have survived to this day.

At the time of the Ruins , Dominicans fled to Cherlenkov from the Vinnytsia Dominican monastery destroyed by the Cossacks. The monks of Basilians received the Dominicans in their monastery, giving them the first floor, while they themselves settled on the second.

The castle is also famous for the fact that Charnetskaya (nee Cherlenkovskaya), together with an old servant, sheltered from the Haydamak in it. Locked in the tower Charnetskaya sat out the raid. After Cherlenkovskys the castle belonged to the Shashkevichs, Charnetsky, Kunitsky, Nitoslavsky.

In 1750, as a dowry , the castle became the property of the Trakhtemirovsky elder, Zhytomyr under Stanislav Shchyenevsky. He restored and strengthened the castle, set the gun. Schenyovsky also built a house, using bricks from dismantled old buildings. From the castle were only towers and walls. One tower (above the river) was remade under the tomb of Schenyovski, in 1820 Ignat Scheniowski was buried there, the coffins in the tomb were hung on chains. In the 1930s, the tomb was destroyed, one of the coffins was used as a bridge over the stream, the rest of the coffins were thrown into the river.

The second of the surviving towers in Soviet times, tried to blow up, but its three walls survived.

Currently, the former castle grounds are built up with private houses. A tourist and entertainment complex with a hotel, restaurant and museum is being built near the ruins.

• Zavalniuk K. Ostanniy іz of Vznichny Shchyonovsky . Cherlenkivska minuvshina. (in Ukrainian)
• Czerlenków // Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innyh krajów słowiańskich . - Warszawa: Filip Sulimierski i Władysław Walewski, 1880. - T. I (Aa - Dereneczna). - S. 809. (Polish)