Tower of Kamyanyets

The Tower of Kamyenyets, often called by the misnomer the White Tower (Belarusian: Белая вежа, transliteration: Bielaya Vieža or Belaya Vezha), is the main landmark of the town of Kamyenyets in Belarus. Erected in 1271–1289 by the architect Oleksa as a frontier stronghold on the northern border of the principality of Volhynia, it is the only such tower remaining to this day in the area. The name Bielaja Vieža (alternative transliteration: Belaya Vezha), which literally means White Tower or White Fortress in Belarusian, presumably derives from the tower's proximity to the Belavezhskaya Pushcha Forest, but not from its color, which has been brick-red through the ages, never white.

Standing atop a gentle rise overlooking the Liasnaja river, the tower is the main landmark of Kamyenyets today. The first record in the chronicles about the foundation of the tower dates from 1276. It was erected in the 1270s. Today it is a national historic site. Since 1960 the tower houses a branch of the Brest regional museum. Once similar towers were built in Brest (Byerastsye), Grodno, Turaw, Navahradak, but they were destroyed in the course of wars. The tower of Kamieniec is the only one that survived in Belarus until the present.

The advantageous location on the stony steep bank of the Liasnaja River for the construction of the frontier stronghold, a castle with a keep on the northern border of Volhynia principality was found by Oleksa. Vladimir Vasilkovich, the prince of Volhynia, liked the place and ordered Oleksa to build the castle.

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