Ruschany Castle
Ruschany Castle ( Belarusian Ружанскі палац ; Russian Ружанский дворец ) is a former, now largely dilapidated, Sapieha palace in Belarus.
location
The ruins of the palace lie southeast of the village Ruschany in Rajon pruzhany the Brest Region in western Belarus near the border with Poland.
history
The first structures were erected in the years 1598–1605 on behalf of Lev Sapieha . The facility initially served both military and representative purposes and in the following decades developed into an important political center in Poland-Lithuania . Several kings stayed here temporarily and the spacious cellars housed the state treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, weapons and a state archive. After damage and looting in the second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries, the palace lost its defensive function and was temporarily left to decay. In the seventies and eighties of the 18th century, Alexander Saphieha had the buildings converted into a representative palace complex by the Saxon master builder Jan Samuel Becker , which was also known as the "Belarusian Versailles" due to its spaciousness and splendor. In 1786 the work was completed.
After the November uprising of 1831, the Sapieha estates were nationalized. Three years later the castle was sold and used as a textile and weaving factory.
In 1914, factory workers accidentally set the palace on fire. The buildings were partially renovated by 1930; but then destroyed again in the course of the Second World War.
building
Today the ruins of the main building, the theater in the east wing and two arcades still stand. The entrance gate to the park with the two wing buildings was extensively restored in the years 2008–2012.
The two-story main building had a high attic, the gable of which was decorated with a bas-relief and sculptures. The rooms in the main building were mirror-symmetrical. Arcades connected to the left and right of the main building connected the main building with wing buildings. The eastern block was divided into a theater and an arena. The theater building is currently being restored. The western building, which housed an important picture gallery, is no longer preserved.
The restored entrance building houses a museum on the history of the castle and the history of the Sapieha family.
The palace gate before restoration (2001)
The reconstructed gate and entrance building
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Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/ruzhany-palace
- ↑ a b André Böhm, Maryna Rakhlei: Weissrussland , 1st edition 2016, p. 204 f.
Coordinates: 52 ° 51 ′ 36 " N , 24 ° 53 ′ 45.6" E