Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh Belarus

Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh - Belarus

Short Report

The architectural, Residential and cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh is located centrally in White Russia. The Radziwill dynasty, who build and maintain the ensemble from the 16th century to 1939 gave birth to a number of the most important figures in European history and culture. Thanks to their efforts, the city was Nesvizh exercise great influence on the sciences, arts, crafts and architecture. The complex consists of the residential castle and the mausoleum Church Corpus Christi with their surroundings. The castle has ten interconnected buildings, which is as an architectural completely around a six-sided courtyard. The palaces and church were important prototypes mark the development of architecture in all of Central Europe and Russia.

Wide Report

The architectural, residential and cultural complex of the Radziwill family at Nesvizh was the cradle for the inoculation of new concepts on the basis of the synthesis of Western traditions, which resulted in the creation of a new architectural school in Central Europe. It is an important step in the development of typology in the history of the architecture of the countries of Central Europe in the 16th and 17th century, in particular the Corpus Christij Church, typologically with regard to the cross-bubble basilica.

Built and inhabited by the Radziwill family from the 16th to the 20th century, the ensemble is located in the village of Nesvizh, in the Province of Minsk in White Russia central. It consists of the castle-residence and the mausoleum church Corpus Christij with their surroundings. The castle has ten interconnected buildings, including the palace, the gallery, the place of residence and the arsenal, which as an architectural completely around a six-sided courtyard. The buildings are located in the remains of the 16th-century fortifications that consists of four bastions and four curtain walls in a rectangular plan, surrounded by a ditch. Through a dam, the castle is connected with the Corpus Christij Church, which is part of a block of the urban area of Nesvizh. The ensemble is in the middle of a cultural landscape that has several components. The limits of the field an elongated area with the main ax parallel to the Usha riverbed and waterfront.

The castle is addressed from the west to the east. The entrance is located in the west by the gate building, the lower part of which is embedded in the stronghold. It has an octagonal two-storey gate tower, dressed with a helmet. The original structure dates back to the 16th century. The first floor and the tower were in the 18th century. The main building of the complex is the palace is located in the center of the east side of the courtyard. Also dating back to the 16th century and was in the 18th century. This is a three-storey building on a virtually square map.

The corners are reinforced by four octagonal towers with alcoves. The facade is decorated with stucco by Antoni Zaleski. The ground floor that was originally was used as a treasury, has preserved the 16th-century vaults. The main stage is decorated by the 18th-century representation of 'Aurora' Francisezek Smuglewicz. On the first floor the interiors dating from the 18th and 19th century. The south side of the court, the three-storey Residence building, built in the 16th century with a tower. The north side has a corresponding Arsenal building, which is also used for a chapel. These are connected to the palace through gallery structures which the corners of the room. The court is then closed by attachments that connect these buildings to the gate structure. Corpus Christij Church is located in the eastern part of the city Nesvizh, next to the street leading to the castle. The plan of the building is based on a Latin cross with an elongated rectangular body of the two lateral chapels with five sides and a apsidal choir. At the intersection of the nave and the transept is the dome. The chapels are covered with domes without lanterns.

The most valuable links are the grave of Krzysztof Radziwill (1607) and the altar of the Holy Cross (1583) by the Venetian sculptors Girolamo Campagna and Cesare Franco. The vaults of the church are frescoes of Ksawery D. Heski from 1852-53. The two-storey facade is divided by a prominent entablature, slightly offset on the axles of the pilasters and dressed with a triangular gable. The church is a crypt with the coffins of 72 members of the family Radziwill, dating from the 16th to the 20th century. The church is surrounded by a 18th-century boundary wall.

Historical Data

Historically, White-Russia is a cross-border, in the European context. Part of its territory was successively: the Kievan Russia and Russian Medieval principalities (10e - 13e c. ); The Grand Duchy of Lithuania ( 14th c. ); The united polish-Lithuanian border state, Republic Rzeczpopolita (1569-1795); the Russian Empire (1772/1795 - 1917), Poland (for Western White-russia , 1921-1939); USSR as Belarusian Socialist Republic (from 1922); and the Republic White Russia (from 1991). As a result of these circumstances the territory of the Republic of Belarus was on historical, cultural, artistic, political, military and religious (adapt Calvinism and catholicism, orthodoxy, Uniat church and Judaism) crossroads between East and West. The Radziwill dynasty, to whom the Nesvizh residence was one of 1523 to 1939, one of the most remarkable personalities in European history and culture since the 15th century. The Radziwill landlords controlled the territory of the former Rzeczpopolita (now Ukraine) and they were the princes of the Holy Roman Empire since 1518.

The first records of Nesvizh dating back to the 15th century. From 1513, he was part of the Radziwills, who lived here until 1939. For the castle, there was a mansion inhabited by Duke Mikolaj Radziwill, the chancellor of Lithuania and voivoda of Vilnius. The duke was a protestant, which Nesvizh an important center of the Reformation. The first catechism room in Belarusian language was printed in the ducal pressure. The first phase of the castle dating from 1582-1604, when Mikolaj Radziwill began with the construction of a new seat. It is shown with bastioned fortifications in a drawing of 1604 by T. Makowski ( 'Nesvisium' ).  The house has survived almost in its original form until now, while the other parts are amended or added to later. The galleries are built in 1650. In 1706, the Castle was inhabited by Sweden, which destroyed the fortifications. After their departure, the Castle was renovated by Michal Radziwill in 1732-58, which architects from Germany, Italy, Poland and White Russia.

In the 19th century, the castle remained unoccupied until the owner passed to Antoni Radziwill and his French wife Maria of Castellane, who renovated the interiors in 1881-86. They also added a terrace with neo-gothic towers against the palace. They are also designed and built the romantic landscape park around the castle complex (1878- 1911). After 1939 was the first taken over by the Soviet army, and then the Germans used as a military hospital. From 1945 to 2001, was used as sanatorium. Since then, the subject of the restoration and adaptation in the use as a museum and as a cultural and visitor center. In 2002, a fire, the upper part of the house as well as a part of the gallery, which are built in 2003.

Source:whc/unesco