| Liubech, Ripky Region, is a rural settlement (2,400 residents) on the high left bank of the wide Dnipro Valley; it is one of the oldest Slavic settlements. Kyiv Prince Oleg seized Liubech, already a town, in 882. Liubech is the birthplace of Anthony Pechersky famous founder of cave monasteries in Liubech (St. Antony monastery), Kyiv and Chernihiv, and mythical Dobrynia Nykytych, fellow-fighter of Illia Muromets, an old Slavic epic hero. The town flowered due to nearby important waterway "from Varangians to Greeks". In 1097 and 1135 the castle of the prince (now Zamkova Hill) hosted the conventions of princes trying in vain to settle their internal armed conflicts. In the 13thc. the Mongolian invaders devastated the flowering town, so that in the centuries to follow there was no mention of it. At the end of the 17th c. Liubech belonged to Hetman I. Mazepa, who built a castle in the uptown and fortified it with ramparts and ditches. In 1708, Peter I presented the town to future Hetman P. Polubotok. Today there is the stone house of Polubotok on the territory of old fortress. There is also an interesting Resurrection Church, built as a tomb of the Miloradoviches in 1811-1817. Strictly speaking, there is nothing left of the old Slavic town. However, academician B. Rybakov reconstructed the old Liubech castle on the basis of archeological dig of the fortress. |
|
