A large article, accompanied by photographs, relating to the Wisniowiecki castle in Zbarazh. The history of Zbarazh Castle is briefly recalled, as well as a recent initiative by the Reserve Officers' Association. This action is supported by the District Board of the South Eastern Territories, headed by T. Zalewski (Source: "Wschód", Lviv 1939, no. 121, p. 5, after: Jagiellonian Digital Library).

A modernised reading of the text.

Zbaraż Castle - from ruins to reconstruction.

Jeremi Wiśniowiecki's stronghold is rising from the ruins - the Polish land from being flooded by the barbarian savagery of the East.
The history of our castles is the history of our times, so it is no wonder that Zbaraż, surrounded by the charm of memories, is so dear and well known to all of Poland thanks to the wonderful sketch by Ludwik Kubala and the equally wonderful historical novel Ogniem i mieczem.
All the historical storm of the 17th century passed over Zbaraż. After the Pilaverian pogrom (1648), which was sacked to the ground, a year later Zbarazh Castle was the scene of a great epic in the history of Poland, known and famous as the "Defence of Zbarazh". For a month it held back the entire power of Chmielnicki, and itself shone with the power and glory of the heroic deeds of Polish knighthood. In 1675 it became an easy prey for the Turkish army under Ibrahim Shishman, in the 18th century it survived one more siege by the Russian army, after which only a venomous time managed its grandiose chambers, changing them over the years into a hopeless - it seemed - ruin.
For many years, the castle at Zbarazh stood abandoned, but in general outline it survived, although increasingly damaged by the teeth of time. From the middle of the 19th century, it fell into greater and greater ruin with each passing year. The skeletons of its ramparts and bastions were dismantled, and the World War in particular did much to further ruin it. The Russian troops quartered in the castle stripped the roof, together with the ties and ceiling beams, for firewood, and as they sailed eastwards, they blasted part of the castle casemates with ashes. When the sound of guns finally died down, the castle continued to fall into ruin, its deplorable state making a sad impression and inspiring thoughts. Each year left more and more cracks in the walls, with whole sections of them collapsing from time to time.
But national patriotism could not allow this monument, associated with one of the most beautiful deeds of the Polish armed forces, to languish and disappear from the showpiece on which it was written in golden letters.

A noble initiative of the Reserve Officers' Association

It is with real appreciation that we should stress the highly praiseworthy idea put forward and taken up by the Reserve Officers' Association, which, in keeping with the ideological heritage of the legacy of the former Defenders of the Eastern Borderlands, put forward the idea of protecting our historical monuments in the eastern provinces from destruction, and put the project of restoring Prince Wiśniowiecki's castle in Zbaraż in the foreground. The officers of the Reserve, who are the heirs of our ancient knightly tradition, took upon themselves the duty to protect these monuments of a bright past from further destruction, and to rebuild and reconstruct them as far as possible, so that they would stand, as they once did, undoubtedly in an altered form, as guardians of Polishness in the borderland mounds.
This is how the Reserve Officers' Association undertook the arduous and costly task of "rebuilding this Acropolis of the Polish spirit, in order to establish there the Museum of the Defence of the Eastern Borderlands, to create a pilgrimage hostel for those who would visit the places of our past to enrich their hearts and minds, and to provide a seat for cultural and national organisations working on the still endangered borderlands of the Republic".
What were the circumstances in which the noble idea of rebuilding the Zbarazh castle, already marked by such beautiful results, was conceived?
In the autumn of 1932, a group of reserve officers from the Ternopil branch of the Z.O.R. organised an excursion from Ternopil to Zbarazh to visit the historic ruins of Prince Wisniowiecki's castle. After a thorough tour of the castle, the participants found that both the castle and most of the ramparts and walls were still relatively well preserved, but that the lack of proper care was exacerbating the deterioration and decay of the famous borderland stronghold with each passing year. In particular, the lack of a roof over the castle threatened to cause the mighty walls to crumble in the near future.
Influenced by the reflections that came to mind at the time, a spontaneous project emerged among the trip's participants to arouse the interest of the Reserve Officers' Association in the fate of the zbarasy castle and to take steps to protect it from further ruin and ultimate destruction. The initiative to rebuild the Zbarazh castle is associated with the names of: Adolf Galantalant, Lt. Res., Henryk Śląski, M.Sc., Lt. Res., Wojciech Pelczarski, Lt. Res., Wilhelm Otecki, Lt. Res. This noble idea was aided by the declaration of the co-owner of the Zbaraż estate, Emil Jawetz, that the castle, together with the adjacent fortification area, could be donated to the Reserve Officers' Association on condition that its reconstruction was undertaken without delay and that it was properly maintained.
The first moves in this direction were made locally, and further moves were made in the Ternopil area, where at a meeting of the Ternopil Circle of the Union of Reserve Officers, chaired by its then president, Professor Wojciech Pelczarski, it was decided to take ownership of the castle, to begin its reconstruction and maintenance, and to take proper care of it. The simplified engineers of the Directorate of Public Works drew up detailed plans for the reconstruction and a cost estimate, framed at 150,000 zl.
The action of the Ternopil Circle of the Z.O.R. was supported most ardently by the Board of the South-Eastern Territories District of this organisation, headed by Professor Teofil Zalewski.
However, the action to rebuild the zbaras castle was delayed for two years, because the formal takeover of the castle into the ownership of the Z.O.R. encountered difficulties, as the Ternopil Circle did not have legal personality, a problem that was finally solved in February 1935, with the establishment of an independent "Reserve Officers' Association", based on its own statute and creating its own legal personality, which was already able to take ownership of the castle and start rebuilding it.
After the relevant statute had been approved by the administrative authorities, a general organisational meeting of the founding members was convened on 10 February 1935, which elected the Association's Board of Directors, headed by Brigadier-General Dr Roman Górecki as President, and Insp. Władysław Sardecki, Maj. Włodzimierz Krynicki and Maj. Eugeniusz Kopeć as vice-presidents.
The work and activities of the Board of the S.O.R., particularly of its local members, in 1935 were carried out with full vigour in an all-embracing manner, taking into account above all the propaganda and collection campaign. The Polish society of Ternopil and the Ternopil voivodship also took a sympathetic and supportive stance towards the restoration, and an artistic commission under the chairmanship of the Polytechnic Prof. Marian Osinski and the restorer Dr. Zbigniew Hornung provided constant professional support for the project. A Technical Commission was further established, consisting of Eng. Agenor Smoluchowski, Eng. Ryszard Ojak, Eng. Józef Piotrowski and Władysław Sardecki, and the management of the reconstruction of the castle was entrusted to Eng. Alfred Majewski.
Preliminary work on the castle began and in 1936 the left wing of the zbarasa "palazzo in fortezza" was rebuilt. In 1937, new results were achieved. The large-scale action was led by the district governor Wladyslaw Sardecki, supported in Ternopil by the vice-presidents Drs Roman Voit and Henryk Slaski, the secretary Marian Bator and the treasurer Wilhelm Otecki. After Wladyslaw Sardecki stepped down, the leadership of the Association was held by president Henryk Slaski, vice-presidents Kazimierz Jelewski, Roman Voit, Leon Bogorja, Podlewski and Malecki.
In view of the growth of the Association's agendas, a Delegation of the Board was established in Zbarazh with Kazimierz Bujak, and then engineer Jozef Trojnar, who carried out the construction work on site in place of the manager of the castle reconstruction.
Thanks to intensive action on the part of the Zbarazh Section of the Z.O.R. in Lwow, and above all its chairman, procurator Kazimierz Jelewski, and secretary Wilhelm Handel, as well as Board members Ing. Stanisław Skórski and Jan Gruca, the funds of the Association made it possible to continue the reconstruction of the castle in 1938. The substantial funds which made it possible to rebuild the right wing of the Zbarazh castle that year came from the propaganda campaign of Mr Wilhelm Handel, and in particular the "Golden Book of Founders of the Restoration of Prince Wisniowiecki's Castle in Zbarazh", which he initiated.
During the summer and autumn months, the castle gate was partially restored and the right wing of the castle was rebuilt, with the brick vault restored, walls erected, some window frames inserted, cornices reinforced, and finally the roof trusses erected and the roof tiled. Since the initial work began, the reconstruction has been carried out with particular attention to preserving the historical style and faithfully reconstructing significant details such as doorways, vaults and window frames so that the castle's past appears in its faithful second appearance. The coming days will see new stages of work: the internal finishing of the castle's right wing, which will house a museum showing Poland's historical mission on this borderland over the centuries. The renovated castle suites will also house a tourist hostel for visitors, who will undoubtedly flock to the magnificent stronghold of Zbarazh, which has been resurrected from the ruins and which is now returning to its traditional, eternal role, naturally transformed into an educational and cultural stronghold as a result of the changed conditions, and which in its renovated form will become a first-rate attraction as a historical monument so dear to every Polish heart. The Zbaraska stronghold, raised from the ruins, will open its doors for educational and cultural activities, strengthening the Polish element in the furthest frontier of the country. In order to ensure that the restoration of Zbarazh Castle, so gloriously carried out by the Reserve Officers' Association, had the necessary financial basis, there was energetic propaganda in the press over the last few years, postcards with a view of the castle were issued, and a historical and tourist publication by Henryk Slaski appeared: "Zbaraż in the past and present", a popular pamphlet by Rev. Dr. Ludwik Frąś: "Let's save the castle in Zbaraż", and recently a beautifully published commemorative yearbook, dedicated to the reconstruction of the castle of Rev. Wiśniowiecki in Zbaraż: "Zbaraż from ruins to reconstruction". Before the eyes of the whole of Polish society, a magnificent work is being created at the border mounds: the Zbarazh castle is being raised from the ruins. It is being lifted "from ruins to rebuilding" thanks to the initiative and energetic work of the Reserve Officers' Association, and two of its organisations in particular: "The Association of Reserve Officers for the Rebuilding of Prince Wisniowiecki's Castle in Zbarazh" (Ternopil) and the "Zbarazh Section of the District Board of the Z.O.R. of the South-Eastern Territories" (Lviv). Polish society looks on with gratitude and deep appreciation, as thanks to the Z.O.R., the Zbarazh castle is being raised from the ruins, which will once again become a stronghold and refuge of the Polish spirit and culture, and will fulfil, as in the past - albeit in a changed form - its noble historical mission. This laudable action is beyond all recognition, and while there is still much to be done, the noble action of the Z.O.R. should at this time be vigorously supported by the public, which will undoubtedly not fail to donate money for the further work of rebuilding the castle, which, thanks to the extremely generous efforts of the Z.O.R., has been saved from its final destruction. The course of further reconstruction work on the castle and its final restoration depends on the continued generosity of the public, which has so far shown a good understanding of the work carried out by the Z.O.R., creating the renaissance of the stronghold in Zbarasko. A great work of great value is being created in the borderlands of Zbarask, not only as a historical memento of the historic moments captured in "With Fire and Sword", but also as a new educational and cultural centre, which in an outstanding way will strengthen our Polish borderland element on the eastern fringes of the Republic, right on the border of the reborn state. Henryk Zbierzchowski wrote in this regard in his recent propaganda publication "Zbarazh - from ruins to reconstruction" - published by the Zbarazh Section of the Z.O.R. in Lviv, in these words:
. "Poles! or do we need encouragement?
Each of us will take a penny hidden in a chest,
. Each of us will fulfil a sacred duty,
Everyone will contribute to this work
And everyone will make their own contribution,
For it is only through joint effort that a great thing is created.
Let there, where once upon a time
Polish knights fought like beasts
Let the House of Education
stand in the present day. Radiating Polishness to the borderlands -
And let the Polish redoubt rise,
Into the ancient walls for centuries to come.
And as it once was in defence of the homeland
Booze from cannons, not giving up the field,
May Zbaraż today burn with Polish spirit
Among the boundless fields and ravines of Podolia,
Testifying steadfastly and stating everywhere,
That this land is and will be Polish..."