According to the legend,
Lutsk, located on the
Styr River, now in northwestern
Ukraine, was founded in the 7th century, but first documentary attestation dates from 1085. In 1321, the
Lithuanians conquered the town, and had kept it for a century.
Liubartas(Lubart), son of
Gediminas the Great, erected the castle which will bear his name. The current castle was built mostly in the 1340s, being fortified to guard against artillery and gunfire during the reign of
Vytautas the Great. The principal entrance, now bricked in, was from the west and adjoined a bridge over outer moat. The castle repelled sieges by numerous potentates, including
Casimir the Great (1349),
Jogaila (1431), and
Sigismund Kęstutaitis (1436). Its walls formerly enclosed St. John's Cathedral, the residence of the
Grand Duke of Lithuania, and an episcopal palace. Of these buildings, only the
Neoclassical palace of the bishops still stands. In castle took place in 1429 a conference of monarchs, having as subject the
Tartar threat. In total more than 15,000 guests came to this congress, while the population of Lutsk itself was only about 5,000 residents.
In 1432
Volhynia became a fief of the
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and Lutsk became the seat of the governors, and later the Marshalls of Volhynia. In the same year, the city was granted
Magdeburg rights, so it continued to prosper for a while, but during the
Khmelnytskyi Uprising was looted and the population was slaughtered or fled. The town never fully recovered after that. Besides, in 1781 and 1845 was struck by devastating fires, and in 1795 was annexed by the Russia. In WWI the town passed through several hands, and during the
Polish-Bolshevik War (1919-1921) was devastated and largely depopulated, finally being gained by Poland. In 1939 was annexed by the Soviet Union, in 1941 by Nazi Germany, and in 1944 again by soviets. During this period, both the Germans and the Soviets exterminated, deported or expelled almost the entire Jewish and Polish population.
At first the castle was an example of romanesque-gothic architecture, but during an early reconstruction in the 16th century it gained
Renaissance features. It has the shape of an irregular triangle, and its towers are square and surprise visitors by their grand size and simple shape. At the western extreme is the Nadbramna tower, or Vjizna (Entrance tower - in the second and third postcard), which formerly was connected with the wooden drawbridge. The powerful buttress emphasizes the castle’s strength and inviolability. At the eastern point is the Styr tower (Svydrygaila), which was the location of the chancery and archives, where a half-million documents were saved in so called grodski books. The third tower is Vladycha (the Dukes’ tower). Under the wall connecting the Dukes’ and the Styr towers, there is a huge cellar, where food products were stored in case of a Castle siege. The unique in Ukraine bell exposition “Volyn Bells. Past and Present” is also situated on the Castle grounds. There are 90 bells (between 17th and 20th centuries) in Vladycha tower from Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Austria and Germany.
