Central Ukraine - Ukraine - page 162

Both the Polish Gate and the Ruska Gate OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP , on the
south side of the isthmus in the old Ruthenian (Ukrainian) Quarter, were built from
the 16th to 17th centuries to guard the two most vulnerable entrances into the Old
Town. Both gates were ingeniously fashioned with dyke mechanisms that could al-
ter the flow of the Smotrych River and flood the entrances - an impressive engin-
eering feat for the time.
Just across the river from the fortress stands the Khrestovozdvyzhenska
Church , K-P's only remaining timber temple dating from 1799.
Polish Quarter
Under the medieval Magdeburg Laws, each of the Old Town's four major ethnic groups
(Poles, Ukrainians, Armenians and Jews) occupied a different quarter. The focus of the
old Polish Quarter is the Polish Market Sq (Polsky Rynok), the Old Town's main piazza
where you'll find the new tourist office and myriad souvenir stalls.
Cathedral of SS Peter & Paul CHURCH
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP
(vul Starobulvarna) Through a small triumphal gate in the northwest corner of Polish Mar-
ket Sq lies this fascinating cathedral, K-P's busiest place of worship. One feature of the
building perfectly illustrates how the Polish and Turkish empires collided in Kamyanets-
Podilsky. Built in 1580 by the Catholic Poles, the cathedral was converted into a mosque
when the Turks took over in the late 17th century; they even built an adjacent 42m-high
minaret. When the town was handed back to the Poles by treaty in 1699, the Turks spe-
cifically stipulated that the minaret could not be dismantled. So the Poles topped it with
its current 3.5m-tall golden statue of the Virgin Mary instead.
Ratusha HISTORIC BUILDING
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP
(Polsky Rynok) Polish Market Sq is lorded over by the tall 14th-century Ratusha (Town
Hall). The renovated peach-hued building now houses three single-room museums that
are of limited interest unless you are into coins, medieval justice or the Magdeburg legal
system, but there is a decent bar on the ground floor. In front of the Ratusha stands the
enclosed Armenian well (1638), which looks more like a baroque chapel than a well.
Dominican Monastery MONASTERY