Dominican monastery in Starokonstantynow (Starokostiantyniv)

🇵🇱 Klasztor dominikanów w Starokonstantynowie
🇺🇦 Домініканський монастир у Староконстантинові
Construction period: Late16th century
Founder: Prince, Voivode of Volhyn Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland and Castellan of Krakow Janusz Ostrogski.
Historical note:
Dominican monastery in Starokonstantynow (Starokostiantyniv, currently in Ukraine) was built in 1613 by a prince, Voivode of Volhyn Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland and Castellan of Krakow Janusz Ostrogski. The monastery adjacent to the temple was built before 1617.
This was a centre of monastic life of the Dominicans in 1613-1832. The town is dominated by the tower of the Dominican monastery by the Sluch River. It included seven levels appropriate for the storage of cannons and for residential purposes. It remains the tallest (70 meteres) Renaissance-Gothic structure in Ukraine. In the early 17th century, a legendary cannon duel took place here between brothers Aleksander and Janusz Ostrogski. When Janusz became a Catholic, he decided to hand over the tower together with the Orthodox church dedicated to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross to the friars. In 1612, monks dedicated the church to the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and soon erected a two-level monastery. In the years 1638-1641, friar Szymon Okolski, famous heraldist and chronicler, was the prior of this monastery.
After the November Upprising (1832) against Russian occupation of Poland it was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church. After WW1 and the annexation by the Soviet Russia, the NKVD torture chamber was located in the former monastery complex. From 1945 to 2002, the complex belonged to the district militsiya department. There was a shooting range in the former church, and a billiard room on the ground floor of the tower. Today, the ruins of the church with the tower have remained from the former Dominican complex.
The “PL-UA. History by drone” project consists of 100 short film productions depicting architectural monuments that were created in the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The series of short documentary films were screened in Ukraine. A Polish-Ukrainian team consisting of historians, journalists, writers, non-governmental organisations and youth joined forces to create the films. Project was financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland.
Project implementation:
- Europe-East Integration Association (www.siew.org.pl/en/),
- Polish Institute in Kyiv (www.polinst.kyiv.ua/eng/),
- Ukrainian Communication Group ( / goodresttv .
Media partner of the project is the historical portal historykon.pl (historykon.pl/).
The Facebook profile of the project: / pluazdrona .
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