HISTORICAL AND URBAN RESEARCH OF DEFENSE COMPLEXES OF VINNITSA OF RUS’-LITHUANIAN ERA (14th-16th CENTURIES)

Abstract

In this article for the first time the methods of the complex historical and town-planning analysis of urban defense complexes of the city of Vinnytsia formed during the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is applied. The author compares chronicle and act sources, historical cartography and the results of modern field research to establish the location of ancient castle and urban fortifications. The thesis about the formation of the primary urban structure of Vinnytsia during the Lithuanian era according to the principles of urban planning on Rus’ law is proved. Two stages of town-planning development of defense complexes of the city of Vinnytsia are singled out. The first stage is dated to the late 15th middle 16th century. At this time, a castle appears on the basis of a probable ancient Rus’ settlement on Castle Hill in the Old Town area. Next to it, but at a distance, the city center is being built - a fortified post. Planning relics of the ancient city center could be read now. The topological unity of Vinnytsia city center planning with the cities of the medieval Romanesque and Old Rus’ tradition in the cities of Western Europe and Ukraine has been established by means of comparative analysis. Reconstruction of the view of Vinnytsia Castle on Castle Hill at the beginning of 16th century according to the lustrations of 1545 and 1552. The second period is associated with the construction of a new castle until 1558 on the opposite (right) bank of the Southern Bug and the development of a new middletown near castle. At this time, the Ukrainian lands are still dominated by the same principles of urban planning that existed during the construction of the Old Town. Therefore, the outline of the city fortifications, the market square and the parcelling of the New Vinnytsia city are similar to those in the Old City. Instead, the castle is already merging with the city's fortifications into a single system, which allows us to talk about a holistic urban defense complex.