Tour "The Secrets of Belarusian Castles"

On November 26, 2021, the trade union committee of employees and teachers of the academy organized a tour "The Secrets of Belarusian Castles" including a visit to UNESCO heritage sites - Nesvizh Castle and Mir Castle.

A trip to Nesvizh gave us the opportunity to admire the Nesvizh palace and castle complex - the residence of the magnate princely Radziwill family, an architectural monument of the XVI-XVII centuries, which was built by Duke Nikolai Radziwill Sirotka in 1583 on the site of a wooden castle. In 1993, the Government of the Republic of Belarus adopted a decree on the creation of the Nesvizh Museum-Reserve, and a plan for the reconstruction of the palace was developed and approved. Now we have the opportunity not only to learn the history of the clan, its power and greatness, but also to visit the magnificent halls of the palace: the Golden Hall - a luxurious room with six-meter ceilings, fireplaces made of Carrara marble and parquet made of valuable wood, the Hunting Hall with a unique billiards (one of the first in Eastern Europe), the Ball Room with magnificent stucco, and rich chandeliers. In 2005, the Radziwill's architectural residential and cultural complex was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble that illustrates a significant period in human history."

Then, our route went to Mir Castle, built at the beginning of the XVI century by magnate Yuri Ilyinich - the castle became the first private castle on the lands of Belarus. Mir Castle was a powerful military building for its time, where local traditions of castle architecture were embodied. The castle had several owners; Northern War and two World Wars left their marks in its history. The castle does not have such magnificent halls as Nesvizh Castle has, and yet it's not inferior to it in greatness and power. There are plans to restore the Italian Renaissance garden, the English park and a pond.

In 1989, the restoration of Mir Castle began. In October 1992, the first museum exposition was opened in the Southwest Tower. In 1993, the "Europa Nostra" diploma was received for the restoration of Mir Castle. In 2000, the Mir castle complex was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Our tour "The Secrets of Belarusian" is over. We have discovered new, previously unknown pages of the history of our native Belarus! We have something to be proud of, we have something to show others: the past, present, and future of our country. We thank the rector's office and the Trade Union of the Academy for organizing this educational journey.

Irina Kurbanova, BSAA library named after D. R. Novikov..