The city of Kremenets: myths and reality of Mount Bona

😉 Greetings to the guests of the site, travel lovers and legends! The city of Kremenets cannot boast of its size and population. It has just over 20 thousand inhabitants.

But a rich centuries-old history, a large number of attractions, significant events, historical and architectural monuments – this is about Kremenets. It is located in the Ternopil region of Ukraine.

Mount Bona

The most mysterious of all the sights of the city is Bona Castle Hill and, in fact, the castle of the same name. There are only assumptions about the date of foundation of the castle: approximately VIII-IX century.

The first mention of the castle in ancient chronicles dates back to 1064. The castle was the main obstacle on the way of the Polish conqueror Boleslav II the Bold. Over the next four centuries, the fortress was being completed. Then it was rebuilt, passed from hand to hand, reconstructed and almost completely destroyed.

Bona Sforza

This continued until, in 1536, the mountain and all nearby settlements passed into the possession of Queen Bona Sforza d’Aragon, wife of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Polish King Sigismund I the Old. Years of Bona’s life: 1494 – 1557.

Queen Bona ruled the castle and the entire area for twenty years. According to historical evidence, the owner did a lot for her subjects.

During her reign, all defensive structures were fortified, all premises and outbuildings were repaired. The foundation of the Catholic Church was established, which later sheltered the Franciscan monks.

The prestige of the town has increased many times over. It is the highest honor for a small town to achieve the right to hold fairs twice a year and become a keeper of salt.

But not only thanks to good deeds, the beautiful Bona entered history. The fame of the most cruel tyrant, vampire, monster was firmly entrenched behind her. With an iron character, she subdued many political figures and high-ranking clergy of Europe.

Thanks to its influence, it has strengthened its position in the region. The common people groaned under the burden of exorbitant taxes and taxes. Perhaps this was the reason for the emergence of numerous legends about the atrocities of the bloodthirsty ruler in the full sense of the word.

In some sources, she appears as a vampire drinking the blood of babies. According to others, she gave her soul to the devil for the sake of eternal youth, and for this she took rejuvenating baths from the blood of virgins. Since then, both the mountain and the castle have enjoyed a gloomy reputation and bear the name of such a mysterious person as Bona.

And even if travelers, either out of fear or out of lack of interest, do not visit the ruins of the castle, the number of Christian shrines, historical, cultural, architectural monuments per capita in the city of Kremenets compensates for all the negative impression of this place.

Video

In this video more you can see the city of Kremenets and Mount Bona

It is interesting! Bona Sforza: biography

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