Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral

Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral (Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul) is the dominant building in the old town — a large Latin rite Catholic church built between 1580 and 1640 in a mixture of Renaissance and Gothic styles. The most striking feature of the exterior is the Ottoman minaret added in 1672 during the brief Turkish occupation, which still rises beside the church tower and is topped by a later statue of the Virgin Mary.

Inside, the cathedral contains Renaissance and Baroque interior furnishings accumulated over centuries, including altarpieces, frescoes, and episcopal tombs. The building was damaged and partly stripped during the Soviet era but has been substantially restored. The tower, which you can climb, gives the best views of the old town and the canyon. The cathedral is surrounded by a small square that forms the social centre of the old town.

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A story
When the Ottomans captured Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1672, they converted the cathedral to a mosque and added a minaret. The minaret still stands today. When the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth regained the city in 1699, the returned bishop refused to demolish the minaret but had it topped with a golden statue of the Virgin Mary, creating the unusual hybrid structure you can still see — a Catholic church with a 17th-century Ottoman minaret wearing a Marian crown.