Liubech
A town from the chronicle’s first page: the year 882, the congress of princes in 1097 and a citadel excavated by Rybakov.
The chronicle first names Liubech under the year 882 — the same year it dates Oleh the Wise’s march on Kyiv; according to the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine this is the Hypatian codex, and in all the chronicles the town appears thirteen times. The Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus also knows it, in his treatise "On the Governance of the Empire". The main date is 19 October 1097, when six princes gathered here: Sviatopolk Iziaslavych of Kyiv, Volodymyr Monomakh of Pereiaslav, Davyd and Oleh Sviatoslavych of Chernihiv, Davyd Ihorovych of Volhynia and Vasylko Rostyslavych of Terebovlia. They agreed on direct hereditary succession instead of seniority: "let each hold the patrimony of his father". The understanding did not survive a month — straight after the congress Vasylko was blinded on the orders of Sviatopolk and Davyd Ihorovych. In 1135 a second congress met in Liubech. The citadel was dug for a long time: G. Honcharov began in 1948, in 1957–1960 Borys Rybakov uncovered fortifications, towers, a princely palace and a church, and the outer town was surveyed by A. Kozakov in 1989–1990. According to the Kyiv Caves Paterikon, Anthony of the Caves was born in Liubech; the monastery he founded in the upper part of the town was rebuilt by Ivan Mazepa at the end of the 17th century and closed in 1786. Today there is the historical and archaeological museum complex "Ancient Liubech", created in 2008, and monuments to Anthony and to Malusha with Volodymyr. The full-scale war passed the settlement by: in September 2022 the village head Valerii Kostylov said there had been no destruction and no deaths in the community, the museum survived, and the staff set up a shelter in the cellar. In 1016 Yaroslav the Wise defeated Sviatopolk the Accursed near Liubech — and took Kyiv after that victory (ESU).
Border country with belarus: check the security situation before setting out. The castle hill is ramparts and a view of the Dnipro, not a rebuilt castle. The “Ancient Liubech” museum complex is at 26 Preobrazhenska St.