The
stronghold and the neighbouring town were built in 1692, by
Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski, Grand Hetman of the Crown. The site was chosen by King
Jan III Sobieski of Poland, as a measure to stop a possible attack from the nearby
Turkish-seized fortresses of
Kamieniec Podolski, twenty kilometers away, and
Chocim, eight kilometers away. The fortress was expanded by
Tylman of Gameren, one of the most notable Polish architects of the time. The site is a natural fortress: a small strip of high rocks linking the
Zbruch and
Dnister rivers. Tylman of Gameren decided to build a double line of fortifications (two
rampart lines of
bastion system) with two gates leading east- (
Kamieniec Gate) and westwards (
Lwów Gate). Other directions were defended by towered walls and natural
escarpments over the river banks, with walls stretching along both sides of
isthmus on the edge of steep slope to the river. The construction was started under the command of the General of Horse Artillery,
Marcin Katski, and the works were finished in the same year. The nearby village was also fortified. In 1693
Jan III Sobieski built a votive church in the compound.
Israel ben Eliezer, a
Jewish
mystical rabbi and the founder of the
Hasidic Jewish movement, was born in Okopy in 1698 (although he later lived in nearby
Tluste). and
Lithuania. Decoration made in
polychromy.The stronghold was abandoned in 1699, when the rest of
Podolia was returned to
Poland, and the fortress lost its importance as a counterbalance to Kamieniec Podolski. In 1769, the
Bar Confederacy, defended the stronghold against the besieging forces of
Russia. The defence was commanded by the future Hero of the
American Revolutionary War,
Kazimierz Pułaski. After the
Partitions of Poland in 1772, the village and the ruins of the stronghold became the easternmost point of
Austrian
Galicia. The nearby town was abandoned, and the inhabitants of the village moved inside the fortress walls. Most of the houses that were built were made from the stones that had been used to construct the earlier defensive walls. The remaining parts of the stronghold (both gates, one of the forts, the ruins of the Holy Trinity church and parts of the walls) were partially restored in 1905 by count
Mieczysław Dunin-Borkowski. After the
Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920, the site was made part of
Poland, in the
Tarnopol Voivodship, near the Polish border with the
Soviet Union and
Romania. The 14th battalion of the
Border Defence Corps were stationed there. In the
interbellum, the village was known for its wineries and peach orchards. It became a holidays center for the inhabitants of the nearby cities of
Ternopil, and
Lviv. After the
World War II, the site was annexed by the
Soviet Union. The village was renamed "Okopy" and was turned into a
Kolkhoz, and soon totally depopulated, as a result of the
forced migration of Poles to Siberia. The ruins of the stronghold can be found in the western part of the village. The name of the fortress was popularized in Poland by
Zygmunt Krasiński's usage of it in his drama
Nie-Boska komedia (
The Un-divine Comedy,1835). Until 18 July 2020, Okopy belonged to
Borshchiv Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three. The area of Borshchiv Raion was merged into Chortkiv Raion. ==Notable people==