The Tower of Kamyenyets, often called by the misnomer the White Tower ( be, Белая вежа, transliteration: ''Bielaya Vieža'' or ''Belaya Vezha''), is the main landmark of the town of

Kamyenyets Kamyanyets (also spelled as Kamianiec, Kamenets, Kamieniec; be, Ка́менец , russian: Ка́менец, uk, Кам'янець, Kamianets', pl, Kamieniec, yi, קאמעניץ ''Kamenits'' (or ''Kaminetz''), lt, Kamianecas; he, קמניץ ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. The name ''Bielaja Vieža'' (alternative transliteration: ''Belaya Vezha''), which literally means ''White Tower'' or ''White Fortress'' in Belarusian, presumably derives from the tower's proximity to the Belavezhskaya Pushcha Forest, but not from its color, which has been brick-red through the ages, never white. The first record in the chronicles about the foundation of the tower dates from 1276. Erected between 1271 and 1289 by the architect Oleksa as a frontier

stronghold A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...

on the northern border of the

Principality of Volhynia The Principality of Volhynia was a western Kievan Rus' principality founded by the Rurik dynasty in 987 centered in the region of Volhynia, straddling the borders of modern-day Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland. From 1069 to 1118, it belonged to Izya ...

, it is the only such tower remaining to this day in Belarus. (Once similar towers were built in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

, Grodno, Turaw,

Navahradak Novogrudok ( be, Навагрудак, Navahrudak; lt, Naugardukas; pl, Nowogródek; russian: Новогрудок, Novogrudok; yi, נאַוואַראַדאָק, Novhardok, Navaradok) is a town in the Grodno Region, Belarus. In the Middle A ...

, but they were destroyed in the course of wars.) Today it is a national historic site. Standing atop a gentle rise overlooking the Liasnaja river, the tower is the main landmark of Kamyenyets today. Since 1960 the tower houses a branch of the Brest regional museum. On January 30, 2004, the site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, in the Cultural category.

Foundation

The advantageous location on the stony steep bank of the Liasnaja River for the construction of the frontier

, a castle with a keep on the northern border of

Volhynia Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...

principality was found by Oleksa. Vladimir Vasilkovich, the prince of

, liked the place and ordered Oleksa to build the castle.

Layout

The castle was built as an enclosed community. Like many European castles, it had a great round

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

, on the raised

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...

(

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

), enclosed by a moat and the river on the northern side, and an adjoining enclosure ( bailey), that was completely destroyed in 1903. This type of the motte-and-bailey castle appeared in the 10th and 11th centuries between the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

rivers and eventually spread to most of

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and even to the area of the present Belarus. The red-brick tower with service and residential rooms on 5 levels inside was actually a

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

or a keep, that was quite common in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

till the 16th century. It is high, the

redbrick A red brick university (or redbrick university) was originally one of the nine civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England in the 19th century. However, with the 1960s proliferation of plate glass universities and t ...

walls are about thick, with a pitched

roof A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of te ...

at the top.

Brickwork

The tower was entirely built of brick, that makes it unique. The brick construction was rarely used in this part of Europe until the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, because brick production was costly in those days. Till the 16th century mostly rubbleworks prevailed in

fortifications A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

and churches and monasteries, only some parts of exterior were built of brick. The tower traces the influence of Western Europe, where

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...

was used extensively in the late 13th – early 14th century. Unlike the narrow loopholes on lower levels, the pointed big

lancet windows A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet ...

and niches on the upper floor are an excellent example of early

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...

in Belarus. The openings of the windows and niches were plastered and whitewashed. The windows were designed to permit the entry of light into the apartments, where the nobility used to live during sieges. Glass windows was another contribution to Gothic architecture. It is apparent that the residents were eager to make themselves at home in the keep. The upper part of the tower was furnished with

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

s and a pattern of surface modeling of the brickwork, several nice ring dog tooth courses running below the battlements. The brickwork features a peculiar Baltic bond: a course consists of 2 stretchers and 1 header. Some bricks on the exterior were damaged or dismantled by the local peasants, the brickwork was repaired in 1903 while the archeological excavations were going on around the tower. 10,000 bricks were used for the work.

References

External links

Kamenets - Belarus at its BEST!Kamenets Tower

Photos at Radzima.org
{{coord, 52, 24, 17.15, N, 23, 49, 10.28, E, type:landmark_region:BY, display=title Towers in Belarus Museums in Brest Region Buildings and structures completed in 1289 Brick Gothic Gothic architecture in Belarus