Mir Castle
At 100 km from Minsk and 30 km from Nesvizh in the Grodno oblast of Belarus there is a small village with a magnificent name Mir (known since 1395), which is well-known outside the country thanks to its main architectural attraction - the Mir Castle.
The castle complex was started to build in the early 16 century, and throughout its 500-year history it has been repeatedly destroyed during the war and changed its owners, and with them and its architectural appearance. This is a unique monument of architecture, in design and decoration of which can be found elements of European styles: Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. The castle’s walls impress the imagination, their height is 13 meters and the width reaches up to 3 meters, and they are сonnected by 4 multi-angular towers. The fifth central entrance tower, located in the middle of the western wall, reaches a height of 25 meters and is divided into 6 tiers.
Mir Castle is a monument of history, a living legend, belonged to representatives of noble families from Belarus, Russia and Europe: Ilinich, Radzivill princes (since 1569), Wittgenstein (1813) and Svyatopolk-Mirsky (since 1891). The founder of the castle was the local magnate Yury Ilinich - Lithuanian marshalok and Brest headman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and his grandson Jury Ilinich was also given the earldom, as the owner of the castle - the first stone private residence on the Belarusian land.
The castle is surrounded by a picturesque lake and park, which hides a small chapel-tomb of the princes Svyatopolk-Mirsky. It was built of red brick and decorated with mosaics on the facade in 1904 in Art Nouveau style according to the draft of St Petersburg architect Robert Marfeld. Unfortunately, the names of the first architects and builders of the Mir Castle history did not preserved for posterity.
Presently it is a branch of the National Art Museum of Belarus and in one of its five towers - the south-west - is opened a small exhibition dedicated to the history of the castle and its owners. In the Mir Castle, which was included in 2000 into the list of World Cultural and Natural Heritage of UNESCO, restoration work is still going on.
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