Description of the attraction
Kamenets vezha is a monument of the Romanesque style, donjon of the Volyn type, built in 1271-1288. Donjon is a high impregnable tower, the last line of defense of a feudal castle. Such towers were designed for a long siege, therefore, they included living quarters, and food warehouses, and ammunition.
The Kamenets vezha was built on the high bank of the full-flowing Lesnaya River. The design and location of the tower made it practically impregnable. From the tower, a circular attack from bows was conducted at considerable distances, and the enemies could not approach its walls.
For this area, called Beresteiskaya in the XIII century, wars were constantly waged, since greedy neighbors surrounded it from all sides: Russia, Lithuania and Mazovia. Berestye belonged to the Galicia-Volyn princes.
Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich decided to strengthen the borders and built several watchtowers. Only Kamenetskaya has survived to this day. The exact date of the construction of the tower is unknown, but the first mention of the city of Kamenets, which grew up around the tower, is found in the Ipatiev Chronicle: "And loves a place over the bank of the Lysna River and cut it down and then cut down the city on it and, more importantly, his name is Kamenets, which is the land of stone." …
The height of the tower is 29.4 meters. It is built in five tiers. The outer diameter of the tower is 13.5 meters. The thickness of the walls is 2.5 meters.
In 1960, the Kamenets vezha was declared an architectural monument, restored and a branch of the ethnographic museum was organized inside it. Some of the museum exhibits appeared after archaeological excavations in 1970 under the leadership of M. A. Tkacheva. The rest of the exhibits tell about the history of the Kamenets region and the construction of the tower.
Now the Kamenets tower has become not only an interesting sight and museum, but also a center that organizes medieval festivals and reconstructions of historical battles.
