The Park of Fortifications in Miniature

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The Park of Fortifications in Miniature, located in the courtyard of the Potocki Palace is one of the newest sightseeing attractions in Lviv. It was created a few years ago, on the analogy with the outstanding historical miniature parks in Europe. The Lviv Park features mini-models of the most powerful defensive facilities, such as castles, fortresses and churches. They used to stand on the territory of Kyivan Rus and surrounding lands, which are now a part of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, hundreds of years ago.

Current Western Ukraine has been a frontier zone for all periods of its history, no matter to what state it belonged. And this led to a great variety of powerful fortifications on local lands. Many of them were completely destroyed, only ruins remained from others, while yet others survived, but are in need of careful refurbishment. Models of ancient fortifications that are exhibited in Lviv Park of Miniatures are considered to be a kind of reconstruction of ancient monuments in miniature. Officials from the Lviv Art Gallery, who initiated park’s creation, assure that its main goal is to preserve the memory about the unique history of the region.

The items in the Park of Fortifications in Miniature are made of concrete, natural stone and metal in 1:50 scale and include the Lviv High Castle, defense Roman Catholic Church in the village Bishche (Ternopil region), Knights Templar Castle in Zakarpattia region, an old church that is located on the territory of present-day Poland, the Ostroh Castle in the Rivne region, a defense tower in the Belarusian town Kamianets, the Olesko Castle in Lviv outskirts and a fortified church in the village Sutkivtsi (Khmelnitsky region).

An artist from Lviv, Igor Kachor, restored images of the old fortifications and created their miniatures. Having done tremendous research and gleaned descriptions of castles, churches and fortresses, the master created their three-dimensional images. The most difficult object for the artist was a model of the Lviv High Castle, which is now a particular highlight of the entire Park of Fortifications in Miniature. The Castle that gave a start to Lviv’s history was built in the 13th century, but a few centuries later, it was completely destroyed and its ruins were dismantled. Today only one fragment of the stone wall that once protected the High Castle can be found on the namesake hill in the city center. However, the Lviv Park of Fortifications in Miniature gives a chance to see how the most significant building for the medieval city used to look like.

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