The Old Town's most prominent church perfectly illustrates how the Polish and Turkish empires collided in Kamyanets-Podilsky. Built in 1580 by the Catholic Poles, the Turks took over in the late 17th century, converted it into a mosque and built a 42m-high minaret. When the town was handed back to the Poles by treaty in 1699, the Turks stipulated that the minaret could not be dismantled. So the Poles topped it with a 3.5m-tall golden statue of the Virgin Mary.
Behind the church is is a statue of Pope John Paul II and, about 50m beyond the pope, an overlook with spectacular views of the K-P fortress.
