Zhovkivskyi Castle was built by architect Pavel Shchaslyv by order of hetman Stanislav Zholkevsky in 1594-1605. At the beginning of its existence, the castle knew the family of hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky, and in the second half of the 17th century it was the residence of King Jan III of Sobesky, remembers ambassadors and crowned persons from all over Europe. The castle is the largest building in Zhovkva. Four three-tiered corner flanking towers and four two-story buildings around the perimeter are connected to each other by enclosed battle galleries. Inside the castle there is a large courtyard, and at the ends of the buildings near the corner towers there are small courtyards. In the depths of the courtyard, opposite the entrance, there is a palace building with a two-story open gallery. Two small courtyards at the palace building are separated from the main courtyard by high walls. The entrance gate with a four-tiered gateway tower is located along the axis of the castle; a bulk dam and a wooden bridge led to it from the Market through a wide walled defensive moat with water. Part of the bridge was from the back and it closed the gate of the castle. Initially, the castle had rather strict external forms. The castle reached its greatest heyday during the reign of Jan III Sobieski, who in 1674 turned the castle into a rich royal residence (architects P. Beber, A. Lozzi). Wonderful park ensembles were laid near the castle by Jan Sobieski. Since 1740, Zhovkva has become the property of the Radziville family of tycoons. The castle was rebuilt and it lost its defensive character. The decline of the building began in Austrian times, when it was sold at auction in 1787. The last owner, Arthur Glodovsky, brought the building to ruin. During the First World War, Russian troops burned the remains of the castle in 1915. During 1923-1931, at the expense of the Polish government, the castle was partially rebuilt and covered with new roofs. After World War II, the premises were adapted for human habitation. In this state, it has reached our days. Currently, the castle building is partially museed.Church of the Holy Trinity.

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The Church of the Holy Trinity was built at the expense of parishioners and Queen Constantine Sobieski in 1720 on the site of a burnt church, known since 1601. The church is wooden, three-frame, with a masonry addition - a monastery. The log houses are covered with three helmet-shaped baths on octagons, completed with signatures and crosses. The proportions of the building are based on Renaissance designs, are very harmonious. Temple of the Galician type. The church is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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Inside the church, the walls of the altar are decorated with polychrome painting of the XVIII century. In 1728, an iconostasis was installed in the temple, which has about 50 icons, arranged in 5 tiers. These are the works of Zhovkov masters of the circle of the most outstanding Ukrainian artist of the late 17th century. Ivan Rutkovich. Decorative openwork carving of the iconostasis, as art historians suggest, was performed by the famous Zhovkov carver Ignatiy Stobensky. Iconostas is a landmark of art of the beginning of the 18th century, which embodied high culture and craftsmanship, the traditions of carvers and painters of the Zhovkov school of masters of painting and carving.The complex of the former Dominican monastery.

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The masonry church of the monastery was built on the site of the cemetery chapel of the Virgin Mary during the years 1653-1655 at the expense of Theophilus of Sobieska as a tomb for her son Mark Sobieski, brother of the Polish king Jan III Sobieski. Subsequently, Sophia Theophilus Danilovich Sobeska herself was buried here. The church is cruciform, Trinitarian in plan. Together with the church was laid the wooden monastery of Oo. Dominicans. The construction of the walled monastery began in 1751. The monastery bordered the defensive walls of the city. Remains of the monastery garden, fragments of the base of the bell tower of 1873, as well as the largest fragments of the former city fortifications of Zhovkva have been preserved on its territory. In 1903-1927, the interior of the church was painted by the painter K. Politinsky. Before the Second World War, the cathedral housed a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, which is now kept in Warsaw. Almost nothing remains of the ancient decoration of the temple. In the interior of the temple, the tombstones of Theophilus and Mark Sobieski have been preserved, which were restored at the expense of Polish colleagues. Today it is the church of the Holy Great Martyr Josaphat (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church), and the monastery contains the Zhovkivsk-Sokal diocesan administration of the UGCC.

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Zverynetska Gate

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It got its name from the menagerie, laid near the castle of the Zholkevskys. This is the only one of the city gates of Zhovkva, which has reached our times in an authentic state. In its upper tier, a guard room was arranged. It was reconstructed several times — first at the end of the 18th century due to the loss of the city's military functions by the defensive structures and at the beginning of the 20th century it finally acquired classicist features. The size of the attraction is 9.5 x 7.5 meters, built of brick, with a central arch passage. The gate is decorated with rusts, tympani, acroteria. Entrance to the gate room by wooden stairs from the gallery at the defensive wall. It is not used today.

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Glinska Gate

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The Glinska Gate is located in the southwestern corner of the city fortifications on the way to Zamość and Krakow. All entrance gates were provided with drawbridges and, in part, turnstiles at the level of the upper tiers above the aisles. In 1964, this gate was dismantled by Soviet troops because it prevented the passage of military equipment. The building was restored in 1990 by the efforts of the Society of Cultural Monuments. The gate is completed with pediments, which depict from the west the coat of arms of Stanislav Zholkiewski - “Lyubich”, from the east the coat of arms of King Jan III Sobieski - “Janina” and acroteria in the form of stone chests of knights in helmets.

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Synagogue

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The history of the Zhovkov synagogue began in 1600. On the site of the present synagogue was built the first wooden one. In the following decades, the new owners of Zhovkva repeatedly gave permission for the construction of a masonry synagogue, but it was not until its construction in 1687, when the wooden one burned down in another fire in the city. Then King Jan III of Sobieski presented the Jewish community with a stone from the royal quarries and borrowed 800 zlotys. The synagogue was built during 1692-1700 years. The royal architect Peter Beber took part in the construction of the synagogue. The location of the synagogue near the defensive wall and the city gate determined its defensive character (thick walls, high windows, defensive galleries and vaults under the roof). The interior of the prayer hall is decorated with an arcaded frieze of 12 small arches on each wall, with original polychrome paintings and inscriptions from the Holy Scriptures (partially preserved). The rich stucco decoration of the altar niche has been preserved on the eastern wall. On each side of the facade there are three window openings at the height of the second floor, a high parapet decorated with a blind arcaded belt with loopholes, which closes the roof structure and the defensive gallery, the parapet ends with an attic with turrets at the corners, which is preserved only on the west side. On the west side, the white stone portal of the entrance to the prayer hall has been preserved. In the 18th century. to the synagogue were completed a western two-storey and a southern one-storey annex and counterforces. During World War II in June 1941, German troops blew up the synagogue, as a result of which the floors and the interior of the temple were destroyed. In 1955-56 the synagogue was partially restored.

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The synagogue belongs to one of the largest synagogues in Europe, is considered one of the most beautiful Jewish Renaissance temples, is an outstanding monument of defense construction of the 17th century. In 1999, the Zhovkov synagogue was included in the list of 100 world monuments that are in a threatened state (program of the World Monuments Fund, New York).

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