Volodymyr Serdyuk's Page

‛With compliments to Istanbul guide Yudzhel who opened some pages of Great Turkish History before me.‛
During several hundred years the visitors of Kamyanets-Podilsky City are amused by the view of Muslim minaret before the entrance to the main city Catholic temple. Many refuse to recognize what they see but to believe that that is true they are told an ancient story…

Story of Minaret.

In the seventeenth century the Turks invaded Podillya and took possession of Kamyanets fortress. In spite of the numerically overwhelming odds, it took the Turks a mighty effort to capture the town. So important was the capture of Kamyanets for the Turks that the Emperor Mahomet IV himself took the trouble to travel all the way from Istanbul to ride into the conquered town.

August 24, 1672 the Turkish sultan Mahomet IV in a solemn procession rode into Kamyanets. Sultan was dressed in green, holding flag in his hand with the written date of taking Kamyanets on it. He entered the former Christian temple of St. Peter and St. Paul which was already built in the 15th century. The temple was converted to mosque. Sultan sent Friday divine service, and the voice of muezzin was first heard there. Later on a minaret was built near the church. The Turks kept Kamyanets for 27 years.

After that time in 1699 a peace treaty signed between Poland and the Ottoman Empire ceded Kamyanets to the Poles who entered the emptied fortress. The Poles prepared themselves to see the ruins of their beloved temple still instead they discovered it in order and more than that – newly painted outward and inward. Plus an extra minaret was built near. They found that the Turks did not destroy even faces of the Christian Saints on the walls inside. The paintings of the faces were just covered with white plaster which was easily washed out with water.

The Poles were pleasantly shocked and amused by generosity and kindness of the Turks.

Polish warriors decided to keep the minaret untouchable as a good answer to Turkish warriors who kept their church safe. They did not destroy the minaret. More than that they stand in argue with their priests who demanded the minaret to be destroyed immediately.

Even many years after the events every Kamyanets City mayor tried to preserve minaret. To reach balance between the warriors’ desire to keep the minaret and the priests’ wish to destroy it they just put a statue of the Virgin Mary on its top. The actual brass sculpture of Virgin Mary was made in Polish city of Gdansk 250 years ago.

Together with its basement and St. Mary’s figure the minaret is 40 meters high now.

Modern Ukrainian citizen living in Kamyanets still tell that interesting story as an example of a peaceful cooperation in such a fine religious sphere with sure nostalgia.