Kamianets-Podilskyi

Kam"ianets'-Podil's'kyi, or Kamyanets-Podilsky (Ukrainian: Кам'янець-Подільський; Polish: Kamieniec Podolski; Yiddish קאַמענעץ, Kamenets; Latin Camenecium) is a city in south-western Ukraine. Historically, it is the ancient capital of Podillya; administratively, a part of Khmel'nyts'ka oblast' and center of the Kamianets-Podilskyi raion within it.

As of 2004, the city had 99,068 inhabitants.

Kamianets-Podilskyi is famous for its ancient fortress, and ballooning activities in the canyon of the Smotrych river.

The fortress

History

The town was first mentioned in 1062 as one of the towns of the Kievan Ruthenia. In 1241 it was sacked and destroyed by the Tatars. In 1352 it was annexed by the Polish king Casimir the Great and became the capital of the Podole Voivodship, the seat of local civil and military administration. The ancient castle was reconstructed and significantly expanded by the Polish kings to defend Poland from the south-east against the Ottoman Empire and Tatar invasions. After the Treaty of Buczacz of 1672 it was briefly a part of Turkey and a capital of a local eyalet. To counter the threat, king Jan III Sobieski built a nearby fortress of [[Okopy Swietej Tr%F3jcy]]. In 1699 the city was again recaptured by Poland. The fortress was constantly expanded and was considered to be the strongest in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Stefan Batory Tower - one of the city gates

The Poles and Ukrainians have always dominated the city's population. However, as a trade city, Kamianets-Podilskyi has been a multiethnic and multireligious settlement with significant Jewish and Armenian minorities.

After the Partitions of Poland, in 1793, the city was annexed by Russia and became the capital of Podol'skaya guberniya. After the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1917, Kamianets-Podilskyi became a part of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, the Hetmanate, the Directoriya and the Russia-ruled Ukrainian SSR, successively. During the Polish-Bolshevik War the city was recaptured by the Polish Army, but later ceded to Bolshevik Russia in the Treaty of Riga (1921). The multi-ethnic town was subject to severe persecutions and eventually most of the Poles living there were forcibly expulsed to Siberia. Initially Kamianets-Podilskyi was the capital of the Ukrainian SSR's Podil'ska oblast' , but soon the administration centre was moved to Proskuriv (now Khmelnytskyi).

Tourist attractions

Since 1998, Kamianets-Podilskyi is a growing tourism center. Annual Kozats'ki zabavy ("Cossack fun") festivals include open ballooning championship of Ukraine, car race, various music, art and drama actions. Festivals attract estimated 140,000 tourists annually and stimulate the development of local infrastructure. More than dozen privately-owned hotels were recently built here—a significant number for a provincial Ukrainian city.

See also

• Subdivisions of Ukraine
• History of Ukraine
• Culture of Ukraine
• History of Poland

External links

• Satellite photo
• Soviet topographic map 1:100,000
• 2004 article in the Ukrainian newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia on the festival and tourist attractions in the city