When you come to Medzhybizh, it is hard to believe that you are close to Khmelnytsky, the regional centre, with all its noise and fuss. In the village, the provincial silence and quiet is sometimes disturbed by buses with Hasidim pilgrims coming here to worship at the tomb of Besht, the founder of the Hasidic movement. Baal Shem-Tov, alias Besht, came to live in this town in 1740, and here he died 1760. He is buried in the old Jewish cemetery in Medzhybizh.

But Medzhybizh is famous not only for Hasidism. Its bee-buzzing name is key to understanding the historic importance of the settlement. Between the Buh Rivers, there is a strategic area for settling and defense. At the confluence of the Southern Buh River and its Buzhok tributary, a mighty fortress looms. How spectacularly it reflects on the water near the small dam!

The stronghold appeared in the 13th century when it was first built of wood and on a much smaller scale. The stone outpost is first mentioned in chronicles from 1516. Tartar troops then came across Ukraine through Medzhybizh, and it would have been impossible to survive without the castle. As of 1540, the town and the fortress belonged to the Sieniawski magnates for almost two centuries. One of these, Adam Sieniawski, granted Medzhybizh the Magdeburg rights (a set of town laws regulating the degree of its internal autonomy) in 1593 and the town became richer and richer from its fairs and famous for its craftsmen. The magnates restored the castle and built the grand palace in its yard. Their white stone doorways and frames, as well as the Renaissance attics remain today.