The text describes the castle at Staryi Siole, one of the oldest settlements in Red Ruthenia, founded by Prince David Igorovich. However, the area was not colonised until the reign of Casimir the Great. This is followed by a geographical description of the village, and a description and history of the castle itself, located in Starý Siole (Source: "Ziemia. Tygodnik Krajoznawczy Ilustrowany', Warsaw 1911, no. 2, pp. 8-9, after: Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa).

A modernised reading of the text

Castle in Starý Siole.

One of the oldest settlements in Red Ruthenia is undoubtedly Stare Sioło, a village in the Bobretsky district, twenty kilometres southeast of Lviv. It dates back to the 12th century, and was founded by Prince David Igorovich, just like the neighbouring Davidov, named after its founder, who deposited here, among the then impassable forests and marshes, slaves captured during the expedition against the Polovtsians, in which he and Igor Putywel took part. But the battle between the Igorovichs and the Romanovichs, in which Poles and Hungarians were also involved, completely destroyed these settlements and from then on we know nothing about them for two centuries. It was only after the occupation of Ruthenia by Casimir the Great that the area was re-colonised.

Stare Siolo is located in a beautiful wooded area, at the edge of the Podolsky plateau, which rises to a considerable height ("Choin" above Hryniów 441 m, "Kamula" 477 m) and descends steeply to the north. The village buildings are situated in the valley of the Davidovka stream, along which the Red Railway track goes. Just at the entrance to the railway station, the walls of the old, once defensive castle can be seen. Its construction was started in 1642 by Władysław Dominik, Duke Ostrogski-Zasławski, Voivode of Sandomierz and Starosta of Łuck, to defend against the invasion of Wallachians, Tatars and Cossacks. But before the castle could be completed, it was completely destroyed in 1648 by the Cossacks led by Khmelnytskyi.

The following year, however, construction of the castle was resumed, and was even larger than before, as it could now accommodate several thousand people, and was completed within five years. The new defensive castle proved so strong that when Khmelnytskyi besieged Lviv again in 1656, he was no longer tempted to conquer the Staroselskyi castle, which had sufficient troops, weapons and food. In 1672 and the following years, Staroselsky castle successfully withstood a Turkish invasion and several Tartar attacks.

After the death of Duke Władysław Dominik, who died here in 1656, the Starosielsk estate, and with it the castle, passed to the Radziwiłłs, and then to the Lubomirskis, the Czartoryskis, and finally the Potockis. Nowadays Stare Siólo belongs to the estate of Roman Count Potocki in the Lviv region.

The Starosel Castle is one of the largest in Russia. Its massive walls, 8 metres high and up to 2 metres thick, enclose an area of about four morgens, in the shape of an irregular pentagon, with polygonal towers at the corners. The walls are made of stone and brick, with plaster in places still preserved to this day. The living quarters on the upper storey form a double row of open cloisters, meeting in the middle in a large quadrilateral tower, two storeys high. Its inner frontage still bears the initials of the founder (W. D. X. O. Z. W. S. L. S.), together with the shield bearing the Half-Kozic and Half-Leave coats of arms. The interior is completely destroyed: all that remains are the battered door and window frames and the top decorated with a lofty attic.

The outer side of the walls above the cordon cornice is decorated with sharp imposts connected by arches.
The once magnificent and, even today, impressive, despite its transformation and deterioration, princely residence, which hosted within its walls King John III on his way to Pokuttya in 1673, has been deteriorating more and more with the passing of time, and finally turned into a brewery and warehouses, it is now fast falling into complete ruin, and, unfortunately, no one feels obliged to save this ancient historical monument from final destruction.