Tower of Kamyenyets

Kamyanyets, Belarus, Belarus

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The Tower of Kamyenyets, also called the White Tower or Belaya Vezha, is the main landmark of the town of Kamyenyets (Kamenets) in the Brest region of Belarus.

Built between 1271 and 1289 by the architect Oleksa on the orders of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich of the Principality of Volhynia, it was a frontier stronghold on the northern border designed to defend the town and its wooden castle from raids, and it remains the only surviving example of a Volhynian-type tower in Belarus.

The tower is a round, five-storey donjon about 30 metres high, with an outer diameter of 13.6 metres and walls 2.5 metres thick, resting on a massive stone foundation 2.3 metres high and 16 metres in diameter, built of red brick in a “Balтийскi” (two long, one end) pattern with early Gothic details such as lancet niches and battlements at the top.

It was originally part of a motte-and-bailey castle, with the lower levels used for storing provisions and the upper levels for weapons and accommodation for defenders, and since 1960 it has functioned as a museum, housing a branch of the Brest Regional Museum with permanent exhibitions and a viewing platform from which the surrounding landscape can be admired.