Nesvizh Castle

Card no 390 -  Mish

Neswizh Castle, Bridge and Gate.

Country: Belarus

Place: Minsk

Received: 8^th February 2013

Distance:  1,154 miles

Travelled for:  10 days

 A most welcome addition to my slowly growing number of WHS cards. 

Nesvizh Castle or Niasvizh Castle is a residential castle of the Radziwiłł family in Nesvizh, Belarus.  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 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.

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 a national historical and cultural reserve. Twelve years later, the it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

 This stamp shows the Belarusian Bronze Meal winners at the 2012 Olympics - in tennis, gymnastics, canoeing and weightlifting.