Kamyenyets

Kamyanyets Камяне́ц
Seal
Country	Belarus
Voblast	Brest Voblast
Raion	Kamenets Raion
Mentioned	1276
Population  (2002)
• Total	9,000
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	225050, 225051
Area code	+375 1631
License plate	1

Kamyanyets (also spelled as Kamenets and Kamjanec) (Template:Lang-be [kamʲaˈnʲets], Template:Lang-ru, Template:Lang-pl) is a town in the Brest Voblast of Belarus and the center of the Kamyanetski Rajon. The town is located in the northwestern corner of Brest voblast on the Liasnaja river, about 40 km north from Brest. In 2002, the population was about 9,000 people. Through Kamyanyets flows the river of Leśna Prawa.

History

A street in Kamyanyets.

It was first mentioned in the Halych-Volhynian Chronicle in 1276, when a castle with a keep, the tower of Kamyanyets, was being constructed on this spot, to protect the northern boundary of Volhynia from the raids of invaders. This site on the stony steep bank of the Liasnaja (Lysna or Leśna) River had attracted Oleksa, the prominent builder and architect of Volhynia. He showed the site to Vladimir Vasilkovich, the prince of Volhynia, who appreciated the place and ordered Oleksa to build a castle with a keep on the spot. Later a town appeared around the fortification. The tower is often called Bielaja Vieža (alternative transliteration: Belaya Vezha), which means White Tower or White Fortress in Belarusian, because after its foundation it was tiled in white. The neigboring relict forest of Belavezhskaya Pushcha received its name of White Tower. However, at our time the color of the castle is brick-red through the ages, not white.

The original name of the town comes from the Slavic word kamennyj what means stony in English, as it was founded atop a stony rise.

In 1366, it was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in 1376 it was burnt by Teutonic Crusaders but rapidly rebuilt. In 1503, local townsfolk received a limited selfadministration right (probably the Maghdeburg right) that was used by 1795, when it was annexed by Russia. In 1588 and 1659, the town was devastated with plague.

Attractions

The main historical attraction is the tower that accommodates a museum. St Simeon Orthodox Christian Church of 1914. Sts Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church (1925) and Catholic cemetary of the 18 - early 20th centuries. The building of a synagogue (used by 1941). Since 2009, local people organize an annual historical Belaja Vezha Festival.

External links

• Kamenets - Belarus at its BEST!
• Photos on Radzima.org
• Travel guide to Kamyanyets and Belavezhskaja Pushcha
• personal webpage