{"id":881815,"date":"2006-08-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/?page_id=881815"},"modified":"2006-08-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-18T00:00:00","slug":"overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/welcome-to-the-archives-of-belarus-website\/subject-guides-to-archival-records\/culture\/the-architecture-of-castles-and-palaces-in-belarus\/overview","title":{"rendered":"Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\nList of archival documents<\/a> <\/div>\r\n

Overview<\/h2>\r\n\r\n

The castle (fortress) architecture of Belarus has undergone a complex development. In\r\nBelarus the word castle had several meanings. It was often used to describe a fortified\r\nplace, which in early times served to protect the town against enemies. This term also\r\nreferred to all types of fortifications as well as the residences of the nobility. When we\r\ntalk about the fortified architecture of Belarus, the term castle is rather restricted in\r\nits meaning, referring mainly to the fortified residences of the feudal lords of the 16th\r\n& 17th centuries, which often were both palace & castle complexes.
\r\nThe fortified architecture of Belarus is divided into stone and wooden architecture,\r\naccording to the type of materials used in their construction. Stone and wood often\r\nsupplemented each other within one structure. The wooden fortifications have not survived.\r\nWe can glean some idea about these structures from property inventories and a small number\r\nof old pictures.
\r\nThe castles are divided into two groups, depending on their location. The first group\r\nincludes those built on hills. These are older fortifications, which had appeared before\r\nthe 15th century. The strength and impregnability of this type of castle was achieved both\r\nby its construction and as a result of the height & steepness of the hill on which it\r\nwas built. The second group includes the castles of a later period dating back from the\r\n16th century. They were the feudal castles located on low-lying land and surrounded by\r\nfortified walls topped with towers. Many castles of the 14th, 15th & 16th centuries\r\nhave Gothic features in their architecture.
\r\nThe oldest stone castles in Belarus are to be found at Lida, Krevo, Novogrudok, and\r\nGrodno. Lida and Krevo have simple castles of the early and mid-14th century, built on an\r\nartificial mound and surrounded by strong walls with few turrets. Novogrudok and Grodno\r\nhave castles dating from the 12th & 13th centuries which were later rebuilt in the\r\n14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They were situated high up and had many strong towers.
\r\nThe Castle at Lida, Grodno Region was founded in 1323 by the Grand Duke Gedimin of\r\nLithuania in order to defend his lands from the Crusaders. During numerous sieges and\r\nassaults the inner wooden structure of the castle was completely destroyed &\u00a0 the\r\nwalls were severely damaged. The two towers at the diagonal corners of the castle were\r\ncompletely destroyed.
\r\nThe Castle at Novogrudok, Grodno Region is the one of the oldest in Belarus. As early as\r\nthe 11th to the mid-13th centuries, the wooden walls of the castle were repeatedly stormed\r\nby enemy troops and were frequently restored. The later stone walls of the polygonal form\r\nhad several towers. In the 16th century, the castle had seven towers and was one of the\r\nstrongest of its\u00a0 time. The castle was badly damaged during the war of Russia with\r\nRzeczpospolita (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) in 1654-1667. At the time of the Northern\r\nwar in 1706, it was burned down by the Swedes.
\r\nThe Old Castle (Fortress) at Grodno was erected on the site of an 11th C. settlement, on\r\nthe high, steep bank of the Neman River, at the confluence with the Gorodnichanka River.\r\nFrom the late 13th century, for the next one hundred years, the wooden castle was beseiged\r\nmany times by the Crusaders. In 1398 the castle was destroyed by fire. A new stone castle\r\nappeared in its place. In the ’80s of the 16th century under the Polish King and Grand\r\nDuke of Lithuania Stefan Batoria, the Old Castle was extensively rebuilt. It was\r\nredesigned as a palace-&-castle complex. The core of the complex was formed by a new\r\nroyal palace designed in Renaissance style by the Italian architect Scotto. Later, the Old\r\nCastle underwent numerous alterations.
\r\nThe combination of a strong fortification system (earth ramparts with bastions, deep\r\nmoats, fortress walls and towers) with an inner palace became typical of the castle\r\narchitecture of Belarus of the 16th & 17th centuries.
\r\nThe palace-&-castle complexes of the 16th & 17th centuries demonstrate a great\r\nvariety of architectural compositions. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The outstanding work of Belarusian architecture is the Castle at Mir, Grodno Region.\r\nThe castle is situated in \"Miropen ground and in a low-lying\r\narea. Iit was surrounded by moats and earth walls, with bastions on three sides; on the\r\nforth (Southern) side it was covered by an artificial lake. The construction was carried\r\nout in several stages. The fortress walls and the towers were built first. Later, in the\r\nearly 17th century, a three-storeyed palace built by Grand Duke Nickolai Radziwill Sirotka\r\nwas added. The castle walls originally were 13 m high and 3 m thick in their foundation.\r\nOf especial interest are the castle\u00a0 towers. They jut out beyond the wall-line and\r\nhave a rich diverse decor in the form of niches and ornamental tile belts. Only the\r\nentrance and SW towers have kept the original Gothic elements. The other towers and the\r\npalace itself assumed their present form and decor in Renaissance style. In the 17th &\r\n18th centuries, Mir Castle was an imposing palace-and-castle complex, which successfully\r\ncombined the elements of a military fortification with the splendour and luxury of a\r\npalace. Despite numerous desasters (the worst being the war of 1812) Mir Castle has\r\nsurvived until the present, and is now being successfully restored. <\/p>\r\n

\"Palace-&-Castle\r\n The masterpiece of Belarusian architecture\r\nis the Palace-and-Castle Complex at Nesvizh, Minsk Region. The castle\u00a0 demonstrates a\r\nmixture of various styles & displays the distinctive features and achievements of the\r\narchitectural and artistic trends of various historical epochs. The stone castle was\r\nerected on the site of a wooden one in 1583 at the orders of Grand Duke Nickolai Radziwill\r\nSirotka. The construction was initially carried out under the supervision of the Italian\r\narchitect Giovanni Maria Bernardoni. The castle was situated on a hill some distance from\r\nthe town. It was only possible to enter it by a wooden drawbridge. The rampart 20 m high,\r\nmoats and other fortifications made the castle an impregnable fortress. Behind the castle\r\nfortifications, three separate stone buildings created an inner court.\r\n\r\nThe Grand Dukes Radziwills lived in the central building opposite\r\nthe entrance gates. This was a 3-storeyed building, which had octahedral turrets at the\r\ncorners. Later, the separate buildings were rebuilt and joined together to form a closed\r\nfront court. In 1706, the castle was blown up by the Swedes. After 1726, the damaged\r\ncastle was restored and rebuilt in Baroque style by the architect Kazimir Zhdanovich.\r\nThroughout the 18th century the castle was frequently rebuilt and extended.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Nesvizh Castle, the residence of the Radziwill family, was an important center of\r\nmedieval art, culture and literature.It housed a valuable\r\nlibrary of 20, 000 volumes, including rare manuscripts, first & early editions, a portrait and picture gallery totalling over a thousand works, a\r\nrich collection of ancient European, Arab, Japanese and Chinese weapons, as well as the\r\nfamous Slutsk belts, Korelichi & Nesvizh wallpaper, a big collection of coins &\r\nmedals, a collection of furniture, etc. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

From 1945, the castle was used as a sanatorium. Attempts are now underway to restore it\r\nto its former splendour. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the early 17th century, the Palace-&-Castle Complex of the Radziwill family was\r\nbuilt on the Neman River at Lubcha, Grodno Region. On three sides it was surrounded by a\r\nmoat, and on the fourth side, by the river. According to 17th C. documents, the Lubcha\r\nPalace-&-Castle Complex had four towers (only two of them have survived) and a palace,\r\nwhich has not survived. In the 4-storeyed entrance tower, only the top floor was adapted\r\nfor defence and had embrasures. The other floors, which had spacious windows, were used as\r\nliving quarters and auxiliary rooms. The inner court could only be reached through the\r\nentrance arch in the tower. The use of a closed spacial composition was typical of many\r\npalace-&-castle complexes of the 16th and 17th centuries. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the 18th century, a new type of palace complex developed in Belarus. It was\r\ncharacterized by an open composition linked to the surrounding landscape. The palace was\r\noften located between a front courtyard and a big park or gardens. The main axis of the\r\ncomplex went from the entrance gates along a road (usually planted with trees) and at the\r\nside of a great park – along a wide alley. In order to create an imposing residence for a\r\nnobleman, the architects of that time used the artistic techniques of the late Baroque or\r\nRococo eras. In the second half of the 18th century, the Baroque style was gradually\r\nreplaced by Classicism & by the end of the century, the Classic style had triumphed. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Ruzhany The massive palace complex at Ruzhany, Brest Region is\r\nof great interest. Its construction took\u00a0 many years. \"mainBegun in the heyday of the\r\nBaroque, the palace was considerably altered during the Classical period. This alteration\r\ntook place in 1788 and is connected with the name of Jan Becker, the court architect for\r\nthe wealthy magnate, Sapiega. The palace was located on a hill above the town. It had a\r\nmain building, two auxiliary buildings, an impressive arcade and monumental entrance gates\r\nused to represent a triumphal arch <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Palace at Sviatsk, near Grodno was built in 1779 by the architect Giuseppe Sacco\r\nfor the magnate Volovich. The castle was built in the Baroque style, but Classical\r\nfeatures are also quite visible here. The palace consists of the central building and two\r\nwings. The interior was originally decorated with numerous paintings. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

A notable phenomenon in Belarusian castle architecture is the Palace at Grodno, built\r\nin Classical style. The castle was built for the famous Russian commander P. Rumiantsev.\r\nThe construction was carried out in several stages. In 1785-1793, the main building was\r\nerected (architects Ia. Alekseev and K. Blank). In 1794-1805, two wings and a colonnade\r\n(architect J. Clark) were added. In 1837-1851, the palace was reconstructed and extended\r\n(architect A. Idzkovski) following its sale to Field Marshal-General I. Paskevich. The\r\nriverside park is impressive. The castle was severely damaged during the Second World War\r\n& only the walls survived. Now it has been completely restored and houses a regional\r\nmuseum. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Palace at Snov, Minsk Region was erected in 1827 by the architect B. Tychetski. The\r\npalace is very impressive in its size and originally had one hundred rooms and halls.\r\n\"SnovLater, the inner design was considerably altered. Picturesequely situated over the small\r\ntwisting river Snovka, the palace-manor is about 140 m long. \r\nThe main entrance has\r\na fine portico supported on four Ionic columns. The palace-manor is remarkable for its\r\nspacial composition, clear and distinctive design, austere architectural forms and simple\r\nconstruction. Classical elements are clearly vivid here. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

A big palace complex with a park and auxiliary buildings was built in the 1830s at\r\nZhilichi (Dobosna) near Bobruisk, Mogilev Region, in the estate belonging to the landlord\r\nE. Bulgak. The core of the complex is the palace designed in the Classical traditions of\r\nthe early 19th century by the architect K. Podchashinski. The total area of the complex,\r\nincluding artificial lakes, fruit gardens and numerous auxiliary buildings, was about 100\r\nhectars. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

By the 18th & the first half of the 19th centuries, Belarusian architecture had\r\nreached a high standard. The palaces and manors of that time & a great number built in\r\nthe second half of the 19th century, exemplify some of the most interesting pages in the\r\narchitectural heritage of Belarus.
\r\n
\r\nThe design documents referring to the restoration and research of the castles, palaces and\r\nmanors located within the territory of Belarus, are being preserved at the \u0412elarusian\r\nState Archives of Scientific and Technical Documentation (BGANTD). These are mainly the\r\ncomplex researches conducted in the 1970s by the employees of the Belarusian Restoration\r\n& Design Instutute. Our site gives a thematic review of the documents created by the\r\ndesign institute “Grodnograzhdanproekt” (fond 39), special research &\r\nrestoration workshops (fond 91), and the architectural & design workshop\r\n“Minskarkhproekt” at the Union of Belarusian Architechts (fond 122). Described\r\nin the summary table are 24 architectural objects of the 11th-20th centuries. The data are\r\ntaken from 219 files (4 archival fonds).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature & Art (BGAMLI) here presents the\r\nsurvey of documentary photographs (attached with many online images) taken from the\r\npersonal collections of Professor M.S. Katser, DA (fond 149, inventory 3), the artist V.N.\r\nTelesh (fond 351) & the art critic and graphic artist P.N. Gerasimovich. Described in\r\nthe summary table are 47 architectural objects of the 9th-20th centuries. The data are\r\ntaken from 255 files (7 archival fonds).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The survey of documents was prepared by the archivists: G.I. Shostak (BGANTD), T.M.\r\nKekeleva and A.L.Rusetskaia (BGAMLI). <\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"List of archival documents Overview The castle (fortress) architecture of Belarus has undergone a complex development. In Belarus the word castle had several meanings. It was often used to describe…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":722128,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-881815","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/881815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/881815\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/722128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.gov.by\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}