One of the district centers of the Vinnitsa region, the city of Bar had in the XIV century another name – Riv. The Tatars conquered the city in 1452, and the chronicler Martin Belskij had described these events: “The Tatar horde that invaded to Podyllja, has laid siege and demolished the fortress in the city Riv that belonged to the polish gentleman Stogniv Rey. The village headman together with his family were taken prisoners, the fortress was demolished. Some citizens had hidden in the nearby city Zinkov, and have later returned to the newly founded city Bar.

In a half century the castle was rebuilt and given to the administration of the voevode Stanislav Odrovong. It was him to sell the land to the wife of king Sigizmund the I, Queen Bona Sforzi. She has built a new castle and named the city Bar after one of her estates in Italy. With the benefit deed from 24 of November 1537 she has freed everyone, who lived in bar, from royal taxes. Thanks to this the city becomes an important trade and culture center, and the castle of Bar, built under the control of Albert Stargehovskij, became a mighty fortress, defending the city from the Tatars invasions. At the same time the city got the Magdeburg right and its own emblem with the initials of the queen.

In 1648 the colonel Maxim Krivonis conquered both the city and the castle.

In 1656 the Turkish traveller Evlija Cheleby wrote down in his diary: "The stone Bar is really a mighty fortress. It is stronger, that the polish castles, it has an arsenal and many canons.”

In 1671 Verdum wrote in his notes: "In the north of the city stands a castle, surrounded with deep ditches, with four mighty towers, among which stands the gate, leading to the city."

In 1672 the Turkish army conquered Bar.

In the second half of the XVII century Bar was in the center of many battles. The king’s hetman Stanislav Konezpolskij has moved his residence to Bar. He ordered to build a new castle instead of the wooden fortress. The construction was carried out under the control of a French engineer G. des Boplanes.

In 1768 the so-called “Barsk” confederation was formed here. Under the command of Krechetnikov the Russian army in July of the same year has conquered the confederates. Since then the castle started going down.

Ruins of the Bar's castle. 2006 year

The new castle, being built after the demolition of the castle of Riv, was built on a new place. Stargehovskij thought the old place, except its high position, not well, because it had no natural protection. The new place, in opposite, was on the other side of the river, separated from the Kuchmanskij road with a lowland, and three sides of the castle were protected by a pond, created with a dam on the river. At the beginning the castle was wooden. The walls and houses were made of oak fallings. There was enough of wood on the area. The walls were double, and the space between the walls was filled with earth. The castle had 5 wooden two-storied towers; the main tower was build above the gate, with a chapel and belfry on the top. On the tower there was a copper shield, where on Latin was written, how Bona Sforza cares about the castle and the city. The other tower had a gate too, but the gate was smaller and lead to the city. In front of the gate there was a wooden bastion with two towers.
In 1552 the city was well armed, with 4 big and 3 small copper canons in the castle and 21 copper canons, 66 muskets, 60 harquebuses and 11357 bullets in the city.
In 1552 the half of the castles construction was wooden, and in XVII century it was completely built of stone. The plan of the castle was squared, with bastions or towers on the corners that stepped forth cornerwise. In the beginning of the XX century there was not much left of the castle. Explorer of Podillya wrote: "On the place of the pond there are fields. On the edge of the city there are ruins of the castle and remains of the walls. The walls were about 6-7 meters high, on the height of 5-6 meters there was a stringcourse, and over it there were embrasures. The towers were not preserved." Today there is a park...
But sometime... well, the lonely figures will tell you. Mix a little imagination to them and you will find a mighty fortress that was not preserved till nowadays. The territory was 190 meters long on the side of the pond, the opposite side was 180 meters long, and the other ones were 160 and 170 meters as well. The whole area was about 2,2 hectares.

Monastery




Catholic church st Anna (1811)






Orthodox church (1757)



photo Sergi Polischuk