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Olesko Castle

The first historical records of the castle are in a document dated 1327, when Pope Boniface IX gave Halych, a Catholic bishop, this castle as a gift. It is located about seventy-five kilometers from Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine.
The castle was restored in the late 16th to the early 17th centuries. Paintings and mosaics were brought in to decorate the different rooms of the castle. The castle was remodeled in the Italian Renaissance style, which was popular at that time.
In 1838, an earthquake rocked the castle, partly destroying some areas. In 1882, the castle, regarded as a Polish national monument was bought by the Committee of Preservation of the Olesko Castle, which led to a restoration in 1892. Both World War I and World War II affected the castle negatively, undoing previous restoration work. In 1956, the castle was struck by lightning.
The castle was restored again, beginning in 1961 and lasting until 1985. Today, it is a museum, displaying the collections of antique furnishings and art dating from the 16th-17th centuries. It also features sculptures, paintings, still lives, applied arts, tapestries, period weapons, and objects used in everyday life at the time. Its collection is regarded as one of the richest treasury of Polish art outside borders of Poland.
The castle is a part of the "Golden Horseshoe", a ring of three castles nearby each other: Olesko, Pidhirtsi, and Zolochiv Castles.
Olesko Castle is open from Tuesday to Friday from 10.00 to 17.00, weekends from 11.00 to 17.00.
Cost: 10 UAH, pupils and students - 5 UAH.
Getting there: Located near the village of Olesko (Bussky district, Lviv region.), 70 km from the city. You can get on the shuttle "Lvov - Brody", which regularly depart from the bus station № 2 Lviv, or by train - the railway station 6 km.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia