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Mir Castle Complex of 16-20th centuries in a small town Mir is a historical and cultural monument of national importance and value of World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.  First it was mentioned in the settlement of the World in 1395 "A Chronicle of Lindenblat".

Mir surroundings on the map of T. Makovskiy; edition of 1613, Amsterdam

The exact date and the reason of the construction are not set. Most researchers consider the 1520s as the most reliable. At this time initiator of the construction of the castle, the magnate of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania Yuri Illinich was already quite rich. Construction of the Mir Castle was begun on the place of the former settlement that existed here in the 15th century and disappeared in fire.

Nikolay Krishtof Radzivill nicknamed the Orphan (“Sirotka”)

The masters of the castle - Iliniches - could not complete the construction and the next owners became Princes Radziwilles. Nicholay Christopher Radziwill "Orphan" is the first of genus of Nesvizh Radziwilles - the owner of Mir Castle, and he was the initiator of the second phase of construction at the end of the 16th century. While rebuilding the Mir Castle, two three-storied buildings were constructed along northern and eastern walls . The structure of the new buildings was rationally designed and distributed. Basements were reserved for pantry, first floor - household premises, the second floor was reserved for workers and administration of the county, and the third front floor was intended for the owners. The same way the interiors decorated rooms on different floors. In the basement floor was made of stone, the walls were not plastered, primitive fireplaces (simple recesses in the walls and chimneys) were made for heating. On the first and second floors they laid the tile, which later was covered with the layer of wood floor. The walls were plastered and whitewashed, stoves were decorated with tiles. On the first floor there were terracotta tiles, on the second - plain glazed (usually green) and on the third floor – polychrome tiles. South-East, North-East and North-West Towers, which adjoined to residential housings, were rebuilt. The sizes of the windows were increased, walls were plastered. The windows and doors were decorated with carved portals of gray sandstone, roofs were covered with roof tiles. Metal was used to decorate windows, doors, drains, wells, weathervanes.

Mir castle. Painting of K. Rysetskiy, the middle of 19th century

The towers and walls of the castle, which weren’t directly joined to the new buildings, were left almost without any changes - South-West and the Entrance Towers, south and west walls.  Peaceful life of the castle was broken by war between the Polish-Lithvaniae Commonwealth and Moscovia and later historical event – The Northern War.  In the beginning of 18th century the past luxury castle was returned by its new owner - Prince Michael Casimir Radziwill nicknamed Rybonka. The rooms on the third floor have been remodeled in another style. Parade, Portrait, and Dance Halls are decorated with oak parquet floors, gilt-painted and carved ceilings, excellent furniture (work of local craftsmen), tapestries, paintings, porcelain and pottery products.  Since the end of 18th century desolation came to the castle. During the whole 19th century owners of Mir Castle often changed. The castle was turning into romantic ruins.

Mir Castle. Napoleon Orda1860-1870s

In 1891 Mir lands and the castle were bought by the ataman of Don Cossack Army, Prince Nikolay Ivanovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky. Apparently he was attracted by the name of the town. Nikolay Ivanovich built on the opposite side of the castle a distillery and a two-storied palace, which became the main compositional center of the palace and park ensemble. In front of the new palace to the castle walls was constructed a pond. This pond has become an integral part of the English landscape park, which also was founded by Nikolay Ivanovich. His eldest son Mikhail in 1922 began restoration of Mir castle. The works lasted for 16 years. During this time a part of East building of the palace and two towers were reconstructed. Prince Mikhail Svyatopolk-Mirsky lived in the castle until his death in 1938.  He was buried in the burial church, built in the early 20th century in the park by order of his mother princess Kleopatra Svyatopolk-Mirskaya.

The view of the Castle from the side of the lake. 1920s

In 1939 the Red Army troops came to Mir. The castle got new owners. In the middle age walls was settled a manufacturing team.  During the Great Patriotic War from May to August of 1942 the Jewish ghetto was arranged in the castle. The Nazis executed Jews on August 13, 1942 in the woods near Mir.

The column of German motor vehicles. 1941

After the liberation of Belarus in July 1944 in the castle lived families whose homes were destroyed during the war. The last family moved out in 1962.  In 1987 the castle became a subsidiary of the State Art Museum of BSSR (National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus since 1993). In 1988 the government adopted Decree of BSSR "On the status of Mir Castle as a historical and cultural value ​​of national significance". In 1989 a new project of the castle’s restoration was adopted which provided creation of permanent museum exposition. In 1991 the project was approved by UNESCO commission of experts.  In October, 1992 the first museum exposition was opened in the South-Western tower. In 1993 the castle complex was awarded by a diploma «Europa Nostra» for restoration of the castle. In December 2000 Mir Castle Complex was inscribed on the UNECSO World Heritage list. Since 2006 the active restoration of Mir Castle has began.

During the restoration

On the 1st of April Mir Castle received the status of the independent museum. Mir Castle was built in the beginning of 16th century. It had experienced a number of historical periods, full of political, economical and cultural events and now it is not only a great example of Belarusian castle architecture of 15-16th  centuries but a symbol of national heritage of the independent Republic of  Belarus.

The modern view of the castle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nesvizh Castle

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UNESCO World Heritage Site
Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List

Nesvizh Castle or Niasvizh Castle (Belarusian: Нясвіжскі замак, Niasvižski zamak, Polish: zamek w Nieświeżu, Russian: Несвижский замок, Nesvizhskiy zamok) is a residential castle of the Radziwiłł family in Nesvizh, Belarus.

Contents 1 History 2 Reconstruction 3 Other Radziwiłł residences 4 External links

History

The estate was owned by the Radziwiłł magnate family from 1533, when it was awarded to Mikołaj Radziwiłł and his brother Jan Radziwiłł after the extinction of the Kiszka family. Since the Radziwills were one of the most important and wealthy clans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it was there that the Lithuanian Archive was moved in 1551. In 1586 the estate was turned into an ordynacja.

In 1582 Mikołaj Krzysztof "Sierotka" Radziwiłł, the Marshal of Lithuania, voivode of Trakai and Vilnius and castellan of Šiauliai, started the construction of an imposing square three-storey chateau. Although the works were based on a pre-existing structure of a mediæval castle, the former fortifications were entirely turned into a renaissance-baroque house. Construction was completed by 1604, and they added several galleries half a century later. The château's corners were fortified with four octagonal towers.

In 1706, during the Great Northern War, Charles XII's army sacked the castle and destroyed its fortifications. Several decades later, the Radziwiłłs invited some German and Italian architects to substantially renovate and enlarge the chateau. Antoni Zaleski decorated its yellow facades with baroque stucco work. The 16th-century castle gates were also reconstructed, and the two-storey gatehouse tower was crowned with a helm. It was at this time that the three separate buildings surrounding the central courtyard were joined into a single structure.

The most important structure in Nesvizh is the Corpus Christi Church (1587 to 1603), connected with the castle by a dam over a ditch and containing coffins of 72 members of the Radziwill family, each interred in a simple coffin made of birch and marked with Trąby Coat of Arms. Designed by the Italian architect Gian Maria Bernardoni (1541 to 1605), the church is considered the first Jesuit temple patterned after Il Gesù in Rome, the first domed basilica with Baroque facade in the world and the first baroque piece of architecture in Eastern Europe.

Apart from elaborate princely sepulchres, its interior features some late baroque frescoes from 1760s and the Holy Cross altar, executed by Venetian sculptors in 1583.

The castle in the 19th century.

In 1770 the castle was seized by Russian forces and the Radziwill family was expelled. Soon afterwards the Lithuanian Archive was transferred to Saint Petersburg (where it remains), while the majority of works of art gathered in the palace were distributed among various Russian nobles. Abandoned both by the original owners and by the Russian army, the palace gradually fell into disrepair. However, it was restored by the Radziwills and between 1881 and 1886 the castle's interiors were renovated by Prince Anton Radizwill and his French wife, Marie de Castellane. They also designed a landscape park in English style. With an area of more than one square kilometre, the park is one of the biggest such facilities in Europe.

In 1939, the Radziwiłł family was expelled from the castle by the invading Red Army. In Soviet times, the chateau was used a sanatorium, while the park gradually fell in neglect.

In 1994, the castle complex was designated the national historical and cultural reserve. Twelve years later, the castle complex was inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Reconstruction

The ongoing reconstruction has drawn sharp criticism for its "unjustified reconstruction" of several long-demolished structures, notably a bell-tower. In 2002, the upper storey of the residence was destroyed by fire. Six years later, the Belarus edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that a substantial section of the castle, dating from the 18th century, had been entirely demolished on account of "rotten brick" (see photo).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk

Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk

The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk (Belarusian: Полацкі Сафійскі сабор; Russian: Собор Святой Софии в Полоцке) was built by Prince Vseslav Briacheslavich (rr.1044–1101) between 1044 (it is first mentioned in the Voskresenskaia Chronicle under the year 1056) and 1066. It stands at the confluence of the Polota and Western Dvina Rivers on the eastern side of the city and is probably the oldest church in Belarus.

The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk as depicted on a 2005 20 ruble silver commemorative coin. Vseslav of Polotsk, the cathedral's patron, is shown on the reverse.

The cathedral is, like the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, named after the Holy Wisdom of God. After building his own cathedral, Vseslav, who was an izgoi prince, tried to seize the Kievan throne. Failing in that attempt, he raided the surrounding principalities; in 1067, he raided Novgorod the Great and looted the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom there, bringing a bell and other loot back to decorate his own Cathedral of Holy Wisdom.^[1] The cathedral is mentioned in The Tale of Igor's Campaign, where it says that Vseslav would make nocturnal trips to Kiev as a werewolf and would hear the bells of Holy Wisdom at Polotsk as they rang for matins.^[2]

The cathedral has been significantly rebuilt and heavily modified between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries. Indeed, only parts of the church date back to the time of Vseslav, although the names of the builders are inscribed in a stone at the base of the cathedral: David, Toma, Mikula, Kopes, Petr, and Vorish. The burial vaults of 16 Polotsk princes dating back to the eleventh century have been uncovered (indeed, Vseslav himself, said to have been a sorcerer as well as a werewolf, was buried in the cathedral he built). According to the Voskresenskaia Letopis (s.a. 1156), the cathedral originally had seven domes,^[3] later reduced to five after it was rebuilt following the fire of 1447. During 1596–1654 and 1668–1839 church was a Greek-Catholic (Uniate) cathedral. It was rebuilt again in 1618–1620 by Greek-Catholic Archbishop St. Josaphat Kuntsevych (rr. 1618–1623) following a fire in 1607, and again after a fire destroyed the cathedral and the city in 1643. In 1705–1710, Peter the Great and Aleksandr Menshikov used the church as a powder magazine; the magazine exploded. Over the next almost three decades (1738–1765), the Uniat archbishop, Florian Hrebnicki, rebuilt the cathedral. The Vilnius' architect Johann Christoph Glaubitz was responsible for the current appearance, which is an example of the "Vilnius Baroque" style. Currently it is a baroque structure with towers and the domes have been removed (or at least not rebuilt). The cathedral housed a library and other important cultural artifacts, but the library was destroyed when King Stephen Báthory of Poland took the city during the Livonian War in the late 16th century. The town was also occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Invasion in 1812 (indeed, two battles were fought at Polotsk in August and October, the second seeing house-to-house fighting) and also during the Nazi Invasion in the 1940s during which a large number of inhabitants were slaughtered.

Another view of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Polotsk

The cathedral has also changed functions several times over the centuries. With the Union of Brest, the cathedral became a uniate or Eastern Rite Catholic Church and remained as such until 1839 where Bishop Joseph Siemaszko terminated the union and restored the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church with the Russian Orthodox Church. During the Soviet period, the cathedral housed the Polotsk Regional State Archive (from 1949 to 1954.) In 1967, restoration work took place as the cathedral was to be turned into a museum of atheism, but the museum was moved to Vitebsk in 1969. The cathedral is now part of the State Museum-Preserve of Polotsk and used as a concert hall with an organ. There is talk of returning the building to the Russian Orthodox Church