The text recalls the prehistory of Lviv's fortifications, built back in the time of Casimir the Great, who significantly expanded the nascent city and also founded a fortified brick castle, known as the "high castle". Nowadays, all that is left of the high castle are the remains "huddled around the foot of the mound" (Source: "Ziemia. Tygodnik Krajoznawczy Ilustrowany', Warsaw 1911, no. 14, pp. 5-6, after: Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa).

A modernised reading of the text

Lviv High Castle.

Speaking of old castles and chateaus in our region, Lviv cannot be omitted, even though almost nothing remains of the former fortified town. The original wooden fortifications of Lviv, whose foundation dates back to the period between 1250 and 1259, the duke's seat "castle" and the "suburb" lying at its foot, burnt down in the course of the battles which Casimir the Great had to wage with the Tartars and the Lithuanians for possession of these lands after his occupation of Ruthenia in 1340.

The ruler who "found Poland in wood and left it in stone" also left traces of his careful management in Lviv. Instead of wooden palisade fortifications, Lviv was surrounded by mighty walls and towers, which made it the strongest Polish stronghold in the eastern borderlands.

Casimir the Great built a fortified brick castle on top of the mountain that dominates the city, where a wooden fortress of the Ruthenian princes had previously stood. This was named the "High Castle" because of its location, as opposed to the "Low Castle" which was built at the same time within the city walls and used to house the aldermen and the municipal court. The history of the High Castle, this most defensive position of Lviv, is closely intertwined with its fate and history; together with the city it has survived victoriously the incursions and harassments of numerous enemies: Wallachians, Tatars, Turks and Cossacks.

It was not until 1648 that the history of the High Castle was marked by a great defeat. Despite heroic defence, it was captured and burnt down by Cossacks besieging Lviv under Khmelnytskyi, while the city itself managed to avoid this fate. The fall of Kamieniec Podolski in 1672 greatly increased Lviv's importance as a stronghold, as it became the easternmost fortress. The border of the Turkish leases ran a dozen or so miles from here. The fortifications of the castle and the city were therefore vigorously reinforced.

But with the recapture of Kamenets in 1699, Lviv's importance as a frontier fortress declined, and at the same time care was lost in keeping the High Castle in a proper state of defence. When the Swedes under Charles XII arrived at the gates of the city in 1704, they easily conquered the castle, and then the city fell into their hands, although it was able to successfully resist the much more numerous enemy. Since then, the High Castle has played no more role as a fortress and has declined more and more.

By the time the present-day Galicia came under Austrian rule in 1773, it was already a complete ruin, as were the town walls and towers, which the government ordered to be removed. The remaining parts of the castle walls were completely destroyed during the construction of the Union of Lublin Mound in 1869 and 1870. Today, all that remains of the old Casimir Castle are small remnants, huddled together at the foot of the mound, which - visible from afar - gives a distinctive stamp to the entire landscape of the area around Lviv. Over the years, the formerly bald slopes of the castle hill have been covered with a beautiful blanket of forest, and over time it has become a popular place for walks for the residents of the city, to which it was connected by an electric tram line last year.

And no trace remains of the "low" castle. Until recently, only the name of the square "Castrum", now occupied by the municipal industrial museum, and Łukasiński and Dzieduszycki Streets reminded posterity of its former existence. Similarly, no trace of the city walls remains; only part of the fortification wall, which surrounded the church and the Bernardine monastery and buttressed the city fortifications, has survived. The High Castle, one of the most valuable reminders of old Lviv, has lived to see a worthy monograph.

A valuable work by Dr. Aleksandr Czolowski, an outstanding expert on Lviv's past and director of the city archives, has just been published in the "Lviv Library" under the title "High Castle". On the basis of meticulously and painstakingly gathered historical material, the author spreads before the reader the history of the High Castle over a period of more than five centuries, and presents it not only in an engaging manner, but also with a great love for Polish Lviv, which is transmitted to the reader.