Town of Zhovkva (Żółkiew) in western Ukraine – an example of urban complex built at the end of the 16th century on the concept of the renaissance “ideal town”

The town of Zhovkva (Żółkiew) belongs to the late Renaissance foundations of private resident cities in Halychyna in the late 16^th century. Urban-spatial structure of the town was designed according to the Renaissance ideal city. The city consisted of two conjugated parts: the owner’s castle and the fortified downtown. The combination of these two parts was of a specific nature – when the central square of the town is combined with the facade of the castle complex.

On the base of the historical and urban studies presented the hypothesis that town of Zhovkva (Żółkiew) is an unique example of late Renaissance urbanism. The start of town build was in 1594 according to a project based on the concept of “ideal town”. We are thinking, that the author of the project and plan of town was Paolo Clamensi – Italian architect, worked in Lviv at the end of 16^th century. The towns have a well-preserved original Renaissance planning structure and a number of architectural monuments that are connected with it. Reconstruction of the original historical town plan allows us to express the hypothesis of its similarity to the projects of cities published in the treatise of the Italian architect of the 16^th century Pietro Cataneo.