Kodak Fortress

Ukraine, Ukraine

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Kodak Fortress in Ukraine was a 17th-century Polish stronghold built in 1635 on the Dnieper River near Stari Kodaky by order of King Władysław IV Vasa to control Zaporozhian Cossacks and block peasant escapes to the Sich, designed by French engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan as a bastioned fort with powerful walls, artillery, and a dry moat.

Captured shortly after completion by Cossack leader Ivan Sulyma in a surprise attack, it was rebuilt larger by German engineer Hecht but fell again to Bohdan Khmelnytsky's forces in 1648 after a prolonged siege, later serving Cossack defenses until Russians razed it in 1711 per the Treaty of Pruth.

Soviet quarrying in the 1930s-1990s destroyed most remnants, leaving earthen ramparts and a flooded quarry lake today as a scenic historical site with memorials overlooking the Dnieper, evoking Ukraine's turbulent border struggles.