Zhovkva Castle is a four-towered Renaissance fortress built between 1594 and 1606 by Stanisław Żółkiewski, the Polish hetman whose name the town carries to this day. The castle was designed as a defensive residence rather than a purely military fortification — it had elaborate gardens, a chapel consecrated in 1640, and quarters suitable for royal guests.
Its golden age came later, when it passed to the Sobieski family and Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland, made it his preferred residence outside Warsaw. After the Partitions of Poland the castle fell into long decline, stripped of materials and eventually used as a school, but restoration has been underway since Ukrainian independence. The towers and outer walls have been stabilised and the courtyard is accessible — it is an atmospheric ruin-in-progress, more evocative than a fully restored site might be.