Kamyanyets Ка́менец |
||
---|---|---|
|
||
Location in Belarus | ||
Coordinates: 52°24′N 23°49′E / 52.400°N 23.817°E | ||
Country | Belarus | |
Region | Brest Region | |
District | Kamenets District | |
Mentioned | 1276 | |
Population (2015) | ||
• Total | 8,425 | |
Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | |
• Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | |
Postal code | 225050, 225051 | |
Area code(s) | +375 1631 | |
License plate | 1 |
Kamyanyets (also spelled as Kamenets and Kamieniec) (Belarusian: Ка́менец[kaˈmʲenʲets], Russian: Ка́менец, Polish: Kamieniec, Yiddish: קאמעניץ Kamenits) is a town in the Brest Region of Belarus and the center of the Kamyenyetski Rajon. The town is located in the northwestern corner of Brest Region on the Lyasnaya river, about 40 km north from Brest. In 2002, the population was about 9,000 people. Through Kamyanyets flows the river of Leśna Prawa.
It was first mentioned in the Halych-Volhynian Chronicle in 1276, when a castle with a keep, the tower of Kamyenyets, was being constructed on this spot, to protect the northern boundary of Volhynia from the raids of invaders. This site on the stony steep bank of the Liasnaja (Lysna or Leśna) River had attracted Oleksa, the prominent builder and architect of Volhynia. He showed the site to Vladimir Vasilkovich, the Prince of Volhynia, who appreciated the place and ordered Oleksa to build a castle with a keep on the spot. Later a town appeared around the fortification. The tower is often called Bielaja Vieža (alternative transliteration: Belaya Vezha), which means White Tower or White Fortress in Belarusian, because after its foundation it was tiled in white. The neighboring primeval forest of Belavezhskaya Pushcha received its name, which also means White Tower, through association with the tower. However, today the color of the castle is brick-red, having weathered through the ages, not white.