Nesvizh Castle or Nyasvizh Castle (; ; ; ) is a residential castle of the

Radziwiłł family The House of Radziwiłł (; ; ; ) is a Polish princely family of Lithuanian origin, and one of the most powerful magnate families originating from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later also prominent in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. Pa ...

Nyasvizh Nyasvizh or Nesvizh is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Nyasvizh District. Nyasvizh is the site of Nesvizh Castle, a World Heritage Site. In 2009, its population was 14,300. As of 2025, it has a populati ...

(Nesvizh),

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It is above sea level. Built in the 16th and 17th centuries, and maintained by the Radziwiłł family until 1939, the castle and the nearby Corpus Christi Church were instrumental in the development of Central European and Russian architecture. In 2005, the castle, church, and surrounding environment were inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

History

The estate was owned by the Radziwiłł

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

family from 1533, when it was awarded to Mikołaj Radziwiłł and his brother Jan Radziwiłł after the extinction of the

Kiszka family The Kiszka family (plural Kiszkowie, ) was a noble family (szlachta) and one of the most powerful families (magnates) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Originating from Mazovia, the family used the Coat of a ...

. Since the Radziwiłłs were one of the most important and wealthy clans of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

and the

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the Pat ...

, it was there that the

Lithuanian Metrica The Lithuanian Metrica or the Metrica of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (, , or ''Lietuvos didžiosios kunigaikštystės metrika''; , or ''Metryka Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego''; , ) is a collection of the 14–18th-century legal documents of t ...

was moved in 1551. In 1586 the estate was turned into an ''

ordynacja In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust, established by deed or settlement, that restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents that property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alie ...

''. After the

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin (; ) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingd ...

the castle became one of the most important residences in the central part of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. In 1582,

Mikołaj Krzysztof "Sierotka" Radziwiłł Mikołaj is the Polish cognate of given name Nicholas, used both as a given name and a surname. It may refer to people: In Polish (or Polish-Lithuanian) nobility: * Mikołaj Kamieniecki, Polish nobleman and the first Grand Hetman of the Crown * ...

, the Marshal of Lithuania,

Voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

Trakai Trakai (; see Trakai#Names and etymology, names section for alternative and historic names) is a city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania or just from the administrative limits of the Lithuanian capi ...

–

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

, started the construction of an imposing square three-storey "

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

". Although the works were based on a pre-existing structure of a medieval 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 In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

'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 castle.

Antoni Zaleski Antoni is a Catalan, Polish, and Slovene given name and a surname used in the eastern part of Spain, Poland and Slovenia. As a Catalan given name it is a variant of the male names Anton and Antonio. As a Polish given name it is a variant of the f ...

decorated its yellow facades with baroque

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

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. During the

Polish–Russian War of 1792 The Polish–Russian War of 1792 (also, War of the Second Partition, and in Polish sources, War in Defence of the Constitution) was fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on one side, and the Targowica Confederation (conservativ ...

, the castle was seized by Russian forces and the Radziwiłł family was expelled. Soon afterwards the Lithuanian Metrica was transferred to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(where it still remains today), while the majority of works of art gathered in the palace were distributed among various Russian and Polish nobles in support of

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

. Due to the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

in 1793, the castle became part of Russia. Abandoned both by the original owners and by the Russian army, the palace gradually fell into disrepair. However, it was restored by the Radziwiłłs and between 1881 and 1886 the castle's interiors were renovated by Prince

Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł Prince Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł (; 31 March 183316 December 1904) was a member of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility and a General of the Artillery in the Prussian Army. He was the nephew of Princess Elisa Radziwiłł, the first love of their kin ...

and his French wife,

Marie de Castellane Princess Marie Radziwill (born Marie Dorothée Élisabeth de Castellane; 19 February 1840 10 July 1915) was a French noblewoman, a member of the house of Castellane. The famous dandy Boni de Castellane was her nephew. Early life Marie was born ...

. 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. After the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

the castle complex and the surrounding area became part of the newly established

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

in 1920. During that time, the castle was considered one of the most beautiful in the ''

Kresy Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...

'' region. During the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in 1939, the Radziwiłł family was expelled from the castle by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. In

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

times, the castle was used as a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

, while the park gradually fell into neglect. The castle complex is considered to be the most beautiful in Belarus. In 2005 it was listed by

as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The castle complex was extensively restored from 2004–2012.

Other Radziwiłł castles

Olyka Castle The Olyka Castle (; ) is a fortified palace in Olyka, Ukraine. Constructed in 1564, it became the principal seat of the Radziwiłł family in Volhynia, once part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and now Ukraine. The Radziwiłł ...

* Lubcha Castle *

Mir Castle The Mir Castle Complex (; ; ; ) is a historic fortified castle and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Belarus. It is located in the town of Mir, in Karelichy District of Grodno Oblast, north-west of another World Heritage site, Nesvizh Castle. ...

Biržai Castle Biržai Castle (, ) is a 16th century castle in Biržai, northern Lithuania. It is located in Aukštaitija region, Panevėžys County. The castle was the first Italian-style bastion fort in Lithuania and one of the first in North-Eastern Europe. ...

Dubingiai Castle Dubingiai Castle () was a residential castle in Dubingiai, Molėtai district, Lithuania. History The first masonry castle was constructed by Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, in 1412-1413 on an island, now a peninsula, in Lake Asveja in order ...

References

External links

Official website of the Nesvizh Museums
{{Authority control Castles in Belarus Baroque architecture in Belarus Castles and palaces of the Radziwiłł family Castles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania World Heritage Sites in Belarus Nyasvizh

History

Other Radziwiłł castles

See also

References

External links