Tower of Kamyanyets

The Tower of Kamianiec, often called by the misnomer the White Tower (Belarusian: Белая вежа, transliteration: Bielaya Vieža or Belaya Vezha), is the main landmark of the town of Kamianiec in Belarus. Erected in 1271-1289 by the architect Oleksa as a frontier stronghold on the northern border of the principality of Volhynia, it is the only such tower remaining to this day in the area. The name Bielaja Vieža (alternative transliteration: Belaya Vezha), which literally means White Tower or White Fortress in Belarusian and in Russian, presumably derives from the tower's proximity to the Belavezhskaya Pushcha Forest, but not from its color, which has been brick-red through the ages, never white.