The borough that goes by the lovely romantic name of Polonechka boats a small palace — an 18^th century architectural monument.

The Village of Polonechka emerged on the map of Belarus in the 16^th century. In the 17^th century it was owned by the Radziwills, who actually built their residence in the middle of borough.

It was Matvei (Mathew) Radziwill, who received the famous Russian satirist Denis Fonvisin and his spouse in the walls of the palace in the year 1777.

After Mathew’s death in 1800 the palace was inherited by his children Konstantin and Antonina.

In the 19^th century the palace was rebuilt, refurbished and restyled to bear a close resemblance to Trivulziano residence at Lake Choma in Italy’s Bellagio.

The park-and-palace complex used to comprise a two-storied palace with two wings with French windows, a regular landscape park with a system of water ponds, a chapel with vaults, a greenhouse with flowers, an entrance gate, a mill and other buildings.

The palace used to house a collection of coins and a library of over 4,000 books. After Konstantin’s death in 1869, all books and valuables were moved to Warsaw.

It was not until the late 19^th century that a new life was breathed into the palace by Albert Stanislav Radziwill, who stayed in Polonechka till WWI. He slightly altered the wings of the palace.

The Palace of Polonechka was damaged during WWII. In the Soviet times it was used as boarding school for orphans.

Close to the palace there St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral that dominated the skyline.

The organ inside the cathedral was made in Vilnius in 1897. Inside the cathedral there is an 18^th-century carved-wood alter. There used to be the Radziwills’ family vault near the alter — two cast-iron memorial plates with inscriptions testify to that.

Another relic of the temple is the priest’s liturgical gown made from a famous Slutsk-made sash.

Besides the Radziwill palace and the cathedral, Polonechka boasts an old pond and a water mill built in 1819.