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KHOTYN FORTRESS
One of the seven wonders of Ukraine
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On one of the warm weekends, we responded to the offer of our friends from " Selena-tour " ( friendly advertisement ;-) and went to discover the attraction, which had been seen many dozen times before, but, alas, only in the movies. We decided to fix it and went to the Chernivtsi region, where on the banks of the Dniester are located: the Huguenot fortress La Rochelle from The Three Musketeers , Torkilston Castle from The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe , Dubensky Castle, which was besieged by Taras Bulba in the film of the same name, and even Danish medieval town from Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Mermaid ". All these and many other films were adorned with the presence of the Ukrainian pearl of castle architecture - the Khotyn fortress.
The first surprise was the location of the fortress. It is practically invisible from the side of the entrance. We are accustomed to the fact that fortresses should be on hills and rocks. This is not the case here. The Khotyn fortress is located in a depression near the hills.
While walking from the tourist bus stop to the fortress, you come across fragments of atmospheric ruins of "deep antiquity". And this greatly enhances the anticipation of a future meeting with the fortress.
And so, over the hills, "pyramids" of domes gradually grow against the background of the beautiful Dniester.
Well, hello, our long-awaited beauty - the Khotyn fortress!
At the entrance to the fortress, everything is very strict: massive gates, suspension bridge, battlements.
But the external severity does not negate the romantic photos on the bridge while looking at the surrounding landscapes. And behind the entrance gates, which are visible in the distance, you need an "eye and eye".
After we entered the inside of the fortress, they took us into a round tower and began to frighten us with all sorts of horrors. The tower houses a torture museum and contains a large collection of items that have tortured people for several centuries in a row. Most of the exhibits evoke disgusting feelings and we did not photograph them for our report.
After the "terrible" museum, we went out to calm down in the courtyard, which, thanks to the cinema, was very familiar to us. But we didn't stay here for a long time, because the dark dungeons of the fortress were waiting for us.
The dungeons of the Khotyn fortress are packed to capacity with weapons, there are all kinds of ballistae and mortars with cannonballs and a lot of all kinds of throwing and shooting devices.
In the halls of the fortress itself, you can study in detail the history of the Battle of Khotyn in 1621, when this fortress defended the whole of Europe from the Ottoman invasion. There was such a thing !!! Peter Sagaidachny with the Zaporozhian Army, winged Polish knights and even armored elephants !!! We will not retell the details, historians told about this event in great detail.
When the excursion was over, we hastened to try out the wooden stairs and rushed upstairs to walk along the medieval balconies of the fortress. Say what you like, but these balconies are more spacious than those that Juliet of Verona had .
Leaving the famous fortress, we listened with pleasure to the performance of two little girls. Small, but already very enterprising (judging by the case full of money) ;-)
If you have not been to the Khotyn fortress, then be sure to plan a visit to it. The breath of antiquity, the heroism of the Cossacks and knights, the smooth Dniester - you will remember all this for a lifetime, and your subconscious mind will constantly throw up the feeling of deja vu, that you have already seen it once. After all, we all watched both "D'Artanyan" and "Ivanhoe".
PS To be fair, it should be said that in "Ivanhoe" the authors of the film mixed the Khotyn fortress with the fortress from Kamyanets-Podilsky , we also went there and wrote a report.
We would be glad to receive your comments on this article. If you have been to the Khotyn fortress or are going to visit it - share your impressions in the comments. Reposts and likes will be greatly appreciated.
Vitaly & Nataly
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