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The Radziwill Dynasty Residence
| Address: | 19, Leninskaya Street, Nesvizh, Minsk Region |
| Telephone: | (+375-1596) 23-0-35, (+375-1596) 23-5-56 |
| Description: | Throughout its history, the castle has been growing and changing its shape and style. Now it is a harmonious ensemble of medieval architectural features, styles of late Renaissance, the Baroque and original stylish research of local masters. |
| Type of object: | castle-architectural complex |
| City: | 143 |
| Arcitectual style: | Gothic , Renaissance , Rococo , Íåîáàðîêêî , Modern , Barocco |
| Age of building / reconstruction: | XVI , XVIII |
The Nesvizh palace of the Radziwills, the uncrowned kings of the Great Duchy of Lithuania, is a unique architectural monument of the 16th―18th century ― the Europe’s only wholly surviving residence of an average tycoon family of the time.
Throughout its history, the castle has been growing and changing its shape and style. Now it is a harmonious ensemble of medieval architectural features, styles of late Renaissance, the Baroque and original stylish research of local masters.
It was Prince Radziwill Tchorny (Radziwil the Black) who laid the foundations of the wooden castle in 1551, when King Sigizmud II bestowed upon him the right to keep state archives of the Great Duchy Lithuania.
In 1583 they started building a stone citadel designed by Italian architect Giovanni Bernardoni, who had lived in Nesvizh for ten years.
The castle was initially designed as a fortification to withstand a long-term siege. However, neither the rectangular earth mound, nor towers and bastions were destined to protect the castle from being destroyed by the Swedish troops in 1706.
The residence had been restored by 1726. Architect Zhdanovich, who was employed to restore the citadel, made it look less militant and more refined.
Since then the castle had remained unchanged until 1809 when they opted to restore and remodel it once again.
The plentiful collections of antiques including cold steel, firearms, tycoon family portraits and the archives have only partially survived until the contemporary time because of the numerous wars that swept across the land of Belarus. In 1945 the Castle of Nesvizh hosts a sanatorium.
Now the castle is being restored after a strong fire that broke on the Xmas night of 2002. In 2005 the Nesvizh Castle and the Radziwill Family Vault were put onto the UNESCO World Heritage List.
By 2010 they are expected to complete major reconstruction operations and allow tourists into the entire castle with the southern and eastern galleries, where one can see 300―year-old frescos.
Simultaneously, they are holding archaeological excavations at the castle site ― now one can see fortifications at the front of the earth mound. Some mistake them for vaults or mysterious dungeons, where the treasures of the Radziwill family lie hidden. The treasure allegedly includes 12 golden apostles.
The green casing of the Nesvizh jewel is the park established in 1879. In fact, it is a succession of parks developed in different styles and ponds.
With all these beauties in sight, Nesvizh is justly called "San Souci upon the River Usha".
Today the park ensemble is being actively restored. For instance, they have reconstructed the sluice system, breathes a new life into the ponds, recreated the bridges and granite poles with chain in the embankments.
The Castle of Nesvizh regularly hosts music concerts and medieval history festivals. This is the time when the now provincial town of Nesvizh remembers its beauty and grandeur ― the way there several centuries ago.
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Other objects from the section «Palaces and estates»
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