Silva Rerum Zolochiv, the Red Russian town on the River Zolochivka (tributary of Bug), noted in the 15th century, was the heritage of Sobieski family. In 1523 Zygmunt I granted it the law of Magdeburg, and its development was associated with Armenian settlement. In the 90s of the 16th century the Zolochiv goods, which included also 60 villages, were bought from Gorks by Marek Sobieski, a court member and a friend of Stefan Batory, who died in 1605. It was a special time for Marek. Not only did he convert to Catolicism, but also received the tittle of the Governor of Lublin. The goods were passed to his son, the Russian governor Jakub, Cracovian Castellan from 1646. The author of diaries written in Latin (The Diary of the Khotin War) published in 1854 translated by W. Syrokomla and travel accounts, strengthened the economic position of the family by marrying Teofila Daniłowicz. He raised a castle of quadrangular line of bastion fortifications originating from the old Dutch school, using the slavish work of Tatar prisoners. Each bastion (ravelin) was embellished with the coats of arms of related families: Gozdawa, Janina, Herburt and Rawicz. On sides, letters J.S.K.K.S.K. were mounted (Jakub Sobieski, Krajczy Koronny, Starosta Krasnostawski) – Jakub Sobieski the Crown Clicker, Krasnostaw District Councellor and the year 1634. The main defensive line was surrounded by a deep ditch, an the rampant contained casemates.
The castle was built in 1634-1636 in the place of an archaic, wooden stronghold. As he was going to a would-be war against the Turks in 1634, Jakub Sobieski wrote in the testament which he made just in case: 'Please brick my Zolochiv castle according to my intention'. Works in the castle were also carried out in 1686 by Jan III Sobieski (who often resided here) and then by Michal Kazimierz Radziwill 'Rybenko' (the owner of one of the biggest fortunes in the Republic), who bought Zolochiv in 1740. In the account from 1670-1672 Ulryk Werdum wrote: Zolochiv has long suburbs of wooden houses between a hill and a lake, lying opposite each other on the north-eastern side. The town itself, consisting of wooden houses is nicely built around quadrangular market square and mainly inhabited by Jews, who live in high numbers in Podolia and Russsia. To the east of the town there is a castle on a high hill, well fortified with bastions made of stone plates and a moat. The town and the castle belong to the Commander-in-Chief Jan III Sobieski' The fortifications, residential building and the 18th century reconstructed round Chinese pavilion survived until now. Some building bear the signs of redecoration carried out in 19th century by Lukasz Komarnicki. The Komarnicki family bought the castle of Zolochiv in 1801 and restored it for a private residence. Having the castle repaired, Komarnicki order to embed a marble plate with the inscription 'Joannes III rexfundavit'. Comes Komarnicki restauravit'. However as early as in 1834 it was rented as Austrian army barracks. In 1872 the government bought the buildings from the second hand and intended it to a prison. It operated until the 20's of the 20th century.
Sadly, the most important building of Zolochiv did not help to successfully stop the invaders and the town was captured by the Turks in 1672. It was luckier in 1675 when Sobieski called the war council in Zolochiv. He decided to move towards Ukraine with the intention of launching an attack on the enemy with all his powers. In April 1675 the Turks and Tatars began sending numerous troops into the field. The king, however, as noted by his doctor Bernard O'Connor: 'with his natural bravery decided not to give in an inch, and at the same time enforced the garrisons in Mogilev, Bratslav, Nemyriv, Khalnik, and Biala Cerkiev, which largely weakened his forces, barely deserving to be called an army. After the defeat in Zolochiv (7th and 23rd August)the Turks and Tatars headed directly towards Lvov'. The beginning of the campaign was also recorded by another chronicler Dupont: 'It was difficult to foresee where the storm will turn. If the great Vizier could, like Koprulu, take advantage of his position, he would not hesitate to hit Russia. If the king were
Kara Mustafa Pasha, he would certainly do it, he hoped the great Vizier would choose this way. Thus he ordered six thousand soldiers to entrench under protection of Zolochiv cannons, under the leadership of Jablonowski, at the time the Russian governor. The fortress was situated in a hard to pass area, at the entrance to Russia, about which the king was most worried. The Tatars approached the camp in Zolochiv, where Jablonowki commanded. They even tried to take the trenches, manned with small troops, by an assault. 'But it withstood the attack efficiently enough so the assault was not repeated. Nureddin preferred to keep all his forces for the attack on the king's camp'.
The following battles took place in 1690, when Tatar troops threatened Jan III resting in Zolochiv: 'in the time of autumn the king Jan was dining, when all of a sudden a great horde of Tatars besieged the castle, and would have inevitably captured it if it had not been for the lucid mind of hetman Jablonowski, who attacked with a bunch of brave soldiers and freed the castle from danger'.
After the death of Jan III Sobieski the castle was inherited by Konstanty, and then Jakub Sobieski. Then (in 1740) it became the property of the Radziwiłł family. The inventory made in 1768 stated that the castle required 'considerable reparation' According to a document quoted by Aleksander Czołowski the ground floor included: two halls, six rooms, two sheds, two pantries, a chapel, vestry and a treasure room. On the first floor there was a big hall, ten rooms, auditorium, and a small hallway. Windows were flagged or in lead frames. All stoves were tiled, green downstairs and white upstairs. The powder magazine was situated near the gate. In the gate and on walls there were 21 cannons and 2 mortars. The arsenal contained, among others, 82 harquebuses and 85 rifles.
Apart from the castle, an old parish church was founded by Sobieski (a trefoil shaped chapel with interesting stuccoes in the dome from 1624-1626, which has been an Eastern Orthodox Church since 19th century. The contemporary parish church is an old Piarist chapel (1730-1746). A three-nave basilica with aisles surrounding semicircular presbytery is unique for its stone façade with rich rococo ornamentation, with an asymmetric tower. A bell funded by Jan III, casted by bell-founders from Gdansk was also brought here. In 1730 Jakub Sobieski founded a Piarist college in Zolochiv. (after 1760 Onufry Kopczyński – the author of the first description of Polish grammar lectured here). After the congregation was abolished in 1788 the monastery went into the hands of the government and the church was adopted into a storage. Other 17th and 18th century buildings are the hospital chapel of the Holy Spirit and almost fully westernised Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas. (18th century) At the end of 19th century Zolochiv was present in almost all parts of the country, thanks to cheap and tacky publications of the local publishing house owned by the Zukerhandl family. They published literary texts, précis, and cribs. In 1918-1919 battles were held around Zolochiv, and so the Sobieski's castle was damaged. In the II Republic of Poland, Zolochiv was a district town. In 1940 a considerable number of inhabitants were deported to Kazakhstan;
In 1941 NKWD performed execution of Jews, Ukrainians and Poles. Zolochiv castle was an NKWD and Gestapo torture chamber. Today it belongs to the Lvov Painting Gallery.