KAMENETS PODOLSKIY

kamenets podolskiy, or podolian kamenets (polish kamieniec), a town of s.w. russia, chief town of the government of podolia. it stands in 48 deg. 40' n. and 26 deg. 30' e., on a high, rocky bluff of the river smotrich, a left-hand tributary of the dniester, and near the austrian frontier. pop. (1863), 20,699; (1900) 39,113, of whom 50% were jews and 30% poles. round the town lies a cluster of suburban villages, polish folwark, russian folwark, zinkovtsui, karvasarui, &c.; and on the opposite side of the river, accessible by a wooden bridge, stands the castle which long frowned defiance across the dniester to khotin in bessarabia. kamenets is the see of a roman catholic and a greek orthodox bishop. the roman catholic cathedral of st peter and st paul, built in 1361, is distinguished by a minaret, recalling the time when it was used as a mosque by the turks (1672-1699). the greek cathedral of john the baptist dates from the 16th century, but up to 1798 belonged to the basilian monastery. other buildings are the orthodox greek monastery of the trinity, and the catholic armenian church (founded in 1398), possessing a 14th-century missal and an image of the virgin mary that saw the mongol invasion of 1239-1242. the town contains orthodox greek and roman catholic seminaries, jewish colleges, and an archaeological museum for church antiquities, founded in 1890. kamenets was laid waste by the mongol leader batu in 1240. in 1434 it was made the chief town of the province of podolia. in the 15th and 16th centuries it suffered frequently from the invasions of tatars, moldavians and turks; and in 1672 the hetman of the cossacks, doroshenko, assisted by sultan mahommed iv. of turkey, made himself master of the place. restored to poland by the peace of karlowitz (1699), it passed with podolia to russia in 1795. here the turks were defeated by the poles in 1633, and here twenty years later peace was concluded between the same antagonists. the fortifications were demolished in 1813.