Sep/25

Palace of Count Ksido in Khmilnyk

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Architecture, Cities, Travel

Khmilnyk is a resort town (a balneological resort, one of the radon resorts in Ukraine) with a population of about 27 thousand people located in the north-west of Vinnytsia Oblast, about 63 km from Vinnytsia.

The most interesting architectural monument of this town is the Palace of Count Konstantin Ksido (1911-1915), built by the architect Ivan Fomin on the foundations of a 16th-century Lithuanian castle. Khmilnyk on Google Maps. Photos by: Maxim Ritus.

From the Lithuanian times, an octagonal fortress tower (1534) has been preserved, which served as a minaret for a mosque during the Turkish rule, as well as fragments of fortifications, giving the palace a medieval appearance.

The complex also includes an old stone bridge across the Southern Buh River, built in the Venetian style.

The Palace of Count Ksido is very unusual – it has no back side, but two facades: northern and southern. From the river side, the palace resembles a Renaissance castle with towers at the corners. The main facade, designed in neoclassical style and decorated with a colonnade, creates a striking contrast.

At the beginning of the 20th century, an interesting married couple lived and enjoyed life in the Ksido Palace: a young, but poor Count Konstantin Ksido, and an elderly, but rich Countess Ekaterina Levashova.

Unfortunately, they did not enjoy their new home for long, because the construction was completed in 1915, and after the revolution, Konstantin Ksido and his wife, like many other nobles, left the collapsed Russian Empire engulfed in civil war.

From 1920 to 1964, the building housed an agricultural and electrical engineering school, an NKVD administration, granaries, a mill, and various institutions. Since 1964, it has been a hotel. Today, the palace building is in a state of disrepair and requires major repairs.