The heart of the ancient city of Uzhhorod, Uzhgorod Castle is one of the most well-preserved defensive structures of Ukraine, leading its long and glorious military history already from the 10th century. For almost eleven subsequent centuries, the Uzhgorod castle was rebuilt several times, and in our days has undergone a large-scale restoration, thanks to which today is not inferior in appearance to many untwisted European castles. In the Uzhgorod Castle, you can see almost three-meter thick walls that are almost untouched by time, walk around the owners' quarters (which were able to withstand the siege on their own), admire the 10-meter-wide moat and the folding bridge, and also see the museum's exposition. In addition, the castle offers wonderful views of the city and its surroundings, so we recommend to visit it.
The existence of fortification on the site of the Uzhgorod castle is reported by Nestor the Chronicler at the end of the 9th century. The erection of the stone castle proper dates from the end of the 10th - the beginning of the 11th century, and the construction becomes the administrative center of the region. The construction was very useful: soon the nomads attacked the area, but they could not take the Uzhgorod castle. In the 14th century, the castle acquired new owners of the Italians of the Druget dynasty, who carried out a large-scale reconstruction here: the modern view of the castle is almost entirely their merit. In the new history, the castle lost its military significance after the sections of Poland and was taken over by the Greek Catholic diocese, which used it as a seminary. Well, then the castle got "citizenship" of Ukraine.
