Lviv High Castle stood on Castle Hill, which at 1,355 feet (413 meters) above sea level is the highest point in the city. Leo I of Halych first built wooden defenses there. Mongol forces under Boroldai destroyed them in 1261, and they were rebuilt before 1283. Around 1362, Casimir III of Poland built a new stone and brick castle. It took its name from its hilltop position, in contrast to the Lower Castle in the city proper.
In the fifteenth century it was considered the strongest fortification in Ruthenian lands. It held Teutonic knights captured at the Battle of Grunwald and withstood sieges in 1498 and 1509. Cossack forces under Maksym Kryvonis captured it in October 1648, and Swedish occupation in 1704 caused heavy damage.
Austrians began dismantling it in 1777. A park was laid out on the hill, the Union of Lublin Mound was built in 1869, and the site is now in ruins.
Comments