Olyka Castle

Olyka
Entrance gate from Olyka castle seen from the courtyard
Coordinates50°43′24″N 25°48′31″E / 50.72333°N 25.80861°E / 50.72333; 25.80861
Built1564
Built forMikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł
Olyka Castle is located in Ukraine
Olyka Castle
Location of Olyka in Ukraine
Olyka castle around 1914
Olyka castle in the 19th century
Olyka castle
Olyka castle entrance in winter
Castle courtyard
Olyka castle palace in winter
Olyka castle courtyard in winter
Olyka castle courtyard in summer
Entrance at the side of the clock-tower

Olyka Castle (Ukrainian: Олицький замок or Polish: Pałac Radziwiłłów w Ołyce) is a fortified palace in Olyka, Ukraine. Constructed in 1564, it became the principal seat of the Radziwiłł family in Volhynia, once part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and now Ukraine. The Radziwiłłs hold the castle for almost four hundred years, since the last owner, Janusz Radziwiłł, owned the castle till 1945. After 1945, it was confiscated and changed into a psychiatric hospital. In 2021, it was transferred to the Volyn museum and is now open for the public.[1]

The castle is a so-called 'Palazzo in Fortezza', a structure where a palace or noble residence is incorporated or built within a fortress of fortified complex. It is one of the largest aristocratic residences in Ukraine with over two hundred rooms, and a courtyard larger than the Piazza San Marco in Venice.[2]

  1. ^ "Олицький замок передали на баланс Волинського краєзнавчого музею". Волинь Online (in Ukrainian). 2021-07-01. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. ^ Pratt, Michael; Trumler, Gerhard (1991). The Great Country Houses of Central Europe: Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland. New York: Abbeville Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-0896599420.