A brick wall: Vahylevych’s mistake

At the top, the remains of a 2.5 m wide stone wall on a four-meter foundation can be seen under the covering. There used to be a log wall there. In the wall, stones of various sizes were placed on a lime solution with admixtures of burnt clay, coal, and even bones. It was built with a system of elastic arches to evenly distribute the load of the masonry - and this is what misled the first researchers.

• 

  Вигляд фортеці з першою та другою лініями оборони. Рис.Яблонського

• 

  Перша лінія оборони: дамба, став, вал та дорога

Ivan Vahylevych, a Ukrainian folklorist and public figure, wrote an article full of romantic descriptions of rocks and legends after visiting Urych in 1843. He mistakenly called the half-ruined wall the gate that supposedly led to the courtyard of the fortress. Later studies proved that this is a typical Romanesque construction of the wall, and the middle of it was knocked out by stones during the fall - this is how the arch, visually similar to a passage, was formed.