A general view of the most famous and highest hill in Lviv (398 m above sea level) from the Red Monastery. Around 1362, after acquiring Lviv, King Casimir III built a stone castle there. The hill and the castle were called Vysokyi (High) and the garrison and a burgrave were quartered there. After being seized by the detachments of Maxym Kryvonis (1648) and King Charles’s XII army (1704), the building was ruined, with the Castle Hill changing its shape. At the end of the 18th century, stones from the former castle were sold as building material, and at the bottom of the hill sand was mined for building purpose – at that time the hill was called Piskova or Sandberg (Sand Hill). Finally, in 1835-1839 the Castle Hill was leveled and its sides, where the Nyzkyi Zamok (Low Castle) used to stand (Castrum Square), raised by landfill, where the Skarbek Theater was then built. After Emperor Franz Josef’s visit to Lviv, the hill was renamed in his honour, but the new name was not generally used. The raising of the Lublin Union Mound (since 1869) finally burried any hope for serious archaeological and historical research into the ancient castle, with the height of the hill increased by up to 413 meters, when the Mound was finished in 1906. At the same time, a panorama platform was placed on the top of the hill.
Tags:
Vyzokyi Zamok, Castle Hill, buildings, building site
