The property is included in the State Register of monuments by the Council of Ministers of USSR №970 on August 24,1963 and was given the general security №401/0. The complex includes: the palace (Number 401/1) and ramparts and bastions with casemates (401/2). The monument has national status and is in the public domain. Registered address: Zamkova Street,1. The defense complex includes the town ramparts which together with the castle constitute a single defense system of the city and should be treated as one.
Бродівський замок XVIII ст. на гравюрі ХІХ ст.
Defense complex of Brody in the middle of the 17th the first half of the18th centuries consisted of a castle- citadel and the town rampart. The last girded the island around, where the castle- citadel was situated from the western side. Due to the plan, the castle- citadel was a regular pentagon with the area of about 8000 square meters. Its fortifications consisted of five bastions and curtains, which had brick and stone scarps (facing). The dungeons were adjacent to the ramparts. All dungeons had 75 door and window openings. Casemates with the size of 6’6 meters were covered with cross vaults. From the yard side their facades formed the construction divided by arched niches and paired pilasters. All architectural details (cornices, portals) were made of white stone. Rooms of casemates were in the form of anphilades. The curtains interconnected by hexagonal rooms. Outside these angular casemates there were added apparels, which helped to pull the guns onto the ramparts. On the edge of the casemates there was a balustrade, which prevented accidental drop of people on the citadel. In some bastions there were dark dungeons, too. At the castle up to the middle of the18th century there was a wooden house of commandants of the fortress. There is also the mention of the castle chapel. In the 1750s at the north curtain there was built a grand two-storey palace and over the entrance gate there was constructed a high rectangular tower with the built-in clock. The entrance inside the castle originally was through a retractable bridge, and then since the middle of the 18th century. inside the ditch there was built a further half moon. Outside the rampart there was a deep ditch, and then the moorland stretched.
Реконструкція Бродівського замку (автор В.Чоп) на фрагменті карти кін. XVIII ст.
Brody town fortifications consisted of bastion fortifications compositionaly associated with the castle. Into the defensive ring there were included ten bastions which connected curtains and possibly the line of the front defense. The scarps of the ramparts and bastions were coated with broken stone and brick. The distance between the bastions reached 150 meters, and the total length of the rampart was over 4000 m. Two gates led to the town: Lviv gate from the southeast (between the 6th and the 7th bastions) and Lutsk gate from the north (between the 2nd and the 3rd ones). Lviv gate, according to the plan in 1816, and the reconstruction of the architecture researcher, T.Trehubova had so called ticks (or otherwise tenal). The total area of the defense system of the town was 85 hectares.
Brody defense system was built about 1630-1635 years and was commissioned by the owner of the town, the great crown hetman Stanislaw Konyetspolski. Its builders were the most likely Fleming Guillaume Le Vasseur de Boplan and Italian Andrea del Aqua.
In 1646 the castle was visited by King Władysław IV. On March 11of that year Stanislaw Koniecpolski died and the town and the fortress passed into the hands of his son Alexander.
In autumn 1648 the castle withstood a siege of Cossacks. The owner of the town Aleksander Koniecpolski ordered to prepare for the arrival of the enemy in advance. To the fortress, which commander at that time was James Iolinskyy, the residents of Brody, Leshniv, Radyvyliv began to bring their possessions. Castle garrison consisted of two hundred people infantry, thirty nobles and about two hundred town residents. They were led by Paul Havlovskyy and Alexander Kaspzhynskyy.
Замкові каземати на поч. ХХ ст.
It’s unknown whether Bohdan Khmelnytsky was there and the Cossacks were intended to capture the fortress. According to the contemporary historian Pastorii, the town devastated all Cossacks. After the castle garrison issued them eighty Tatar prisoners that were there from the time of S.Konyetspolski, B.Khmelnytsky left for the siege of the fortress 20,000 people with numerous artillery led by Colonel Danylo Nechai and Stupa, and he left for Lviv. This unit had been in Brody for eight weeks before Hetman took it back on the way from Zamosc. During the siege of the castle there some epidemic broke out, having caused considerable casualties.
Polish memoirist Stanislav Auschwitz suggests a few other details about these events: “… in the past the fortress stood within twelve weeks of the siege of thirty-six thousand and successfully repulsed them.”
Каземати Бродівського замку
During the battle at Berestechko Tatar prisoners were sent , carts with military weapons were transported here. On July 19, 1651 the town was visited by King Jan Kazimier. On August 21, 1651 Brody again was visited by Auschwitz Stanislav, who left in his “Diary” the description of the castle and the above mentioned information about its siege by Cossacks.
In 1669 Stanislaw Koniecpolski, the son of Alexander Koniecpolski, began to repair the castle and city walls. Soon people in the case of danger again were able to hide behind the castle walls. That was in 1672, when the Turks conquered all Podillia. At that time a large number of residents of Kamyanetz, Buchach, Yazlivets moved to Brody. The number of population grew in 1676, when the Turkish military commander Ibrahim Pasha “Shaitan” attacked Podillia.
On December 17, 1671 Brody was attended by the Swedish explorer Ulrich von Werdum. “… the castle – he wrote in his memoirs –is well-fortified with four regular towers under current requirements, its ramparts and moat lined fortress. It looks like a citadel at the town, which is cleverly fortified with bastions covered with broken stone. “
Каземати східної куртини замку
In 1682 Brody moved to the Sobieski. There is the ‘description of the Fortress made in 1685 by the court servant of King Jan III Sobieski- Francois Paul Daleirak. The description of the castle of October 20, 1689 came to us. Then the castle was several times visited by King Jan III Sobieski.
In 1699 the fight for Brody possession began between Jakub Sobieski, crowned king and warlord Jan Belz-Alexander Koniecpolski. The latter began to carry out raids and plunder the town. He broke up the fortress garrison, took out ammunition, causing damage to total of 200 thousand PLN.
In 1703 Jakub Sobieski for the sum of 30 thousand thalers gave “Brody fortress city with all guns and the village of Old Brody …” into the possession to the Count Gabriel Vyhovsky.
Збережений портал
Soon Brody were owned by the governor and the general of Kyiv lands Jozef Potocki. The contract between him and Ludwig Jakub Sobieski signed on January 8, 1704. On January 30 there was held a “donation act of Brody” (giving estates), and on the 8th of May by paying 13,200 thalers, Jozef Potocki was solemnly proclaimed theDidych of the town. On May 16 Jezhy Vyhovsky gave the arsenal of Brody to the commissioner Potocki, Kyiv waiter Alexander Homentovskyi.
In 1723 Brody was visited by the traveler Vasil Barskyi,who in his notes mentioned stone facing of ramparts. It is known that in 1726 expansion of the town fortifications was planned.
After the death of King Augustus II in 1733 a war for Polish heritage began. Jozef Potocki belonging to supporters of Stanislaw Leszczynski, was forced to go to the defense of Warsaw. Meanwhile, Russian troops advanced on Podillia and Volyn. Prince Ludwig of Hesse- Homburzkyy led thirty thousand Russian troop heading to Zalozhtsi and Ternopil, on June 4, 1734 stopped in Pidkamin. The next day he ordered to start shelling of Brody. In turn, Brody also responded with gun fire. Then the prince sent colonel named Wedel with a small force as a parliamentarian to Brody. He was moved with blindfolded eyes through ditches and walls, and was raised up the ladder and led to Brody castle, where he held talks with the commander Hauzen regarding delivery of fortress, then he returned to Pidkamin. On June 8, Prince of Hesse-Homburzkyy went with all troops towards Brody, put the convoy and without a single shot took a fortress. He then freed the Russian prisoners, took the royal garrison under his command and a few weeks later, leaving his own garrison, went to Zbarazh through Pidkamin. As a result of the above mentioned events the fortress has suffered a lot of losses, having lost the most important part of his artillery and other stocks. New commandant of the fortress after hostilities was Earl Sevalda.
В замкових казематах
After the death of Józef Potocki on May 19, 1751 Brody was possessed by his son, Kiev governor Stanislaw Potocki. Around this time, before the gates there was built a half moon, which was the second gate, and another drawbridge in front of it. Above the entry gate of the castle a tower with built-in clock appeared, and along one of the curtains a two-storey palace was constructed. There is a picture, which shows Brody fortress in the second half of the 18th century with these additions.
In 1770 Brody moved to Vintsentim Potocki, and only on August 5, 1772 Austrian troops occupied the city. In the castle the garrison was located what Earl didn’t want to allow. Between him and the Austrian government a long-standing litigation began, which culminated in the withdrawal of troops from the fortress. In 1773 Brody was visited by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II and the Colonel von Shtiuts showed him the fortification.
Somewhere in the second half of the 18th century there were dismantled most of the ramparts. According to the researcher of architectural history S.Kravtsov, this was due to the emergence of new urban areas, due to the growth of the Jewish community. As appears from the memoirs of the famous Polish writer, playwright, born in the village of Old Brody Josef Kozhelovskyi (1797-1863), in 1804 a rampart girded only the northern and north-eastern parts of the town (from Leshniv Street to Lviv Street). Much useful information about the castle can be found from these memories. Incidentally this is the last fortress description before the destruction which will be discussed below.
3D реконструкція Бродівського замку автор В.Чоп
In 1809 the Kingdom of Galicia and Volodymyria, including Brody, were briefly under the troops of Duchy of Warsaw. Due to the possibility of the recurrence of such events in the future, in 1812 it was decided to destroy the castle. Even before the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars Austrian government was planning to leave the fortress in the defense state, having conducted a detailed survey of its degree of preservation and needs, and the results were sent to Vienna. However, being frightened by some possible new Polish military action, and the feeling of Russia pressure, the Austrian government ordered V.Pototskyi to destroy the fortress. The same year the entrance gate to the tower was blown up, while two bastions from the town side and half moon were demolished. The fortress moat that girded it around was filled with heaps of towers. Castle lost its defensive significance. The remaining walls of the casemates were transferred to warehouses for goods and shops.
Замковий палац сер. XVIII ст.
In 1939-1940. Soviet authorities in the castle constructed a concentration camp for war Polish prisoners . After World War II during the Soviet Union times the castle was a military object and used as a factory for the repair of forklifts.
Now the castle is in ruins. 3 and1/2 of curtains with casemates, casemates of one corner bastion and the palace from the castle complex have survived to the present. These unique buildings continue to deteriorate. In the north-eastern part of Brody about 700 meters of the ramparts (two nurseries and two bastions) are well-preserved (Valova Street, Galician Street, Yurydyc Street, Kotsiubynskyi Street), about 2800 meters of the ramparts are clearly read in a number of streets (Ruska Street, Soniachna Street, Mlynska St., Polna st., R.Shushkevich St., Franko St., Friendship st., Energetychna St., B. Khmelnytsky St., Ivan Mazepa St., Zaliznychna St., Pecarska St., Dzherelna St., Shevska St., Honcharska St.).
Алея на залишках міського оборонного валу
So, Brody fortifications belong to the oldest surviving buildings in the Town, and despite their injuries are the unique military monument of architecture of the 17th century, associated with the name of the French engineer Guillaume Le Wasser de Boplan. In addition, many events associated with the castle are important not only for the history of the region, but also to examine the military actions that took place on the territory of the Commonwealth and the Austrian Empire in the middle of the 17th – the early 19th centuries.