Black lady in Nesvizh. Legends: Black Lady of Nesvizh
Nesvizh is probably the most touristy of all the castles in Belarus and the most famous. There was a feeling that this is now a purely commercial project and the whole city lives off tourists. We arrived at the main residence of the Radzivil princes for just a few hours; this was the final castle on our Belarusian trip. It turned out that normal parking is only paid, and due to the lack of Belarusian rubles in stock, they decided to park anyhow like everyone else. We didn’t go to the Farny Church, I don’t even know why. I hadn’t read much about Nesvizh at the time of our trip, and after Mir Castle we weren’t really expecting anything “wow”. I advise you to see Nesvizh Castle before Mirsky, it will definitely be better for perception.
We were there on Friday and there were already a lot of weddings and processions. The coolest thing is that everyone tried to take pictures with the cadets and other military personnel, who are brought en masse on excursions to the castles.
The castle is surrounded by ponds, it is very picturesque here. It’s a pity there was no sun, otherwise Nesvizh would have shone like a pearl.
Nesvizh Palace is surrounded by a moat and was previously completely surrounded by ramparts and a wall. Now we see a very European castle. Entry through the main gate
Inside is a square surrounded by houses that make up the palace's lodges.
There are no particularly tricky passages here like in Mirskoye, everything here is linear and rather “boring”, especially for those who have seen the palaces of Peterhof, Catherine, Versailles or even any other. The room goes into another, a continuous corridor of rooms, from which secret staircases go, a sea of fireplaces, stoves with tiles. Then you just have to look, it’s difficult for me to comment, we didn’t have a tour. By the way, it’s worth taking, because this way you can learn about the historical Radzivil family, maybe even remember the family tree, learn some of the secrets of this palace and, most importantly, legends.
I really love legends. It seems to me that this is the same magic that attracts everyone to the ruins of castles. Let's start with the most discussed one and the main thing is that it is easy to believe, because between Nesvizh and Mir there are only a little over 30 kilometers.
The legend about the road connecting Mir Castle with Nesvizhik has been around for many years, and the underground tunnels of the castles increasingly confirm this story. Now fortification tunnels have been discovered, about 20 meters long, and one leads to the gunner’s house from where the cannonballs were unnoticed, and the other, about 40 meters long, leads to the courtyard. Needed to drain water and supply water from the moat during a siege. But I think many of the passages over the years of the castle’s existence could have been buried for safety.
The castle has everything for the convenience of tourists. There are excursions, audio guides and many signs on different languages for everyone else. The decoration of the palace is pleasant. It resembles a country hunting lodge of very rich gentlemen.
Everything is in moderation, there is no special pathos, but a lot of wood, a little gold.
Lots of business offices and hunting rooms. It felt like there were only men here.
A serious restoration was carried out, since the castle was plundered, the situation was restored.
I was always attracted to fireplaces and stoves. This is truly the center of the room.
There is no unnecessary pomp here, everything is comfortable and practical, but rich.
Selfie in the mirror.
What a stove! Piece of art.
The halls are all different, but all passable. This one has a stunning coffered or even properly beamed ceiling.
Amazing!
This is mine! Bright, discreet, stylish.
There are vases on the mantelpiece
We move to the main hall.
There is gold and mirrors.
Interesting parquet
Stove with pictures
But the main thing is the mirror corridor. It’s scary to even look into it, let alone photograph it. But what if? Here they talk about another legend of Nesvizh - about the ghost of the Black Panna. Like many stories, this one has real roots.
So in the distant past, Nikolai Radzivil, nicknamed the Black, really wanted to become king and decided to use his cousin Barbara, who lived not far from the Polish king Sigismund Augustus, to do this. They really fell in love with each other and, in order to keep their relationship secret, under pressure from Nicholas, they entered into a secret alliance. But then the Medici intervened. Well, what would we do without them? Sigismund's mother was from this wonderful family, and after the coronation of her son, she did her best to prevent his legitimate wife from ascending to the throne.
This went on for several years and when the gentry accepted the new queen, the mother-in-law ordered her daughter-in-law to be poisoned. Six months after her coronation, Barbara died of a terrible illness. The death was terrible, but her husband remained with her until the last. According to tradition, Polish kings were buried in Krakow, but Augustus insisted on transporting Barbara’s body to her homeland - to Vilna: “They didn’t accept her here during her lifetime, I won’t leave her here even after death.” He walked the entire route from Krakow to Vilna, following a black carriage. Barbara was buried in Cathedral in Vilna, her sarcophagus is still there.
After the death of his beloved, the king was very sad. He often visited the Nesvizh castle to see his beloved’s brothers. Everything here reminded me of my beloved Fable. On one of these visits, the desperately yearning king, with the help black magic and the alchemists Tvardovsky and Mnishek decided to evoke the spirit of Barabara. The ritual had only one condition - not to touch the ghost. When a vision of Barbara appeared, the king could not contain his feelings and rushed to the ghost to hug him, thereby breaking the magical spell. So the soul of the unfortunate woman could not return to her world, and was forced to wander around Nesvizh Castle.
According to one version, she could find peace if her loved one were next to her after death. August promised his beloved that, sensing his approaching death, he would come to die right here, in Nesvizh Castle. However, this time too fate turned out to be too cruel to the lovers. Death came to the king too quickly, and he was never able to fulfill his promise. So the ghost remained on this earth and was forced to wander among the living forever. She was nicknamed the Black Panna because a ghost walks around in black mourning clothes, as a sign of her unhappy love.
It is believed that Black Lady warns residents of Nesvizh Castle about danger. So, she was seen some time before the fire in the castle in 2002.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Germans believed in the legend of the ghost of the Black Lady and were afraid of her. Seeing somewhere unclear shadows or outlines, they furiously fired at that place and quickly hid.
But tourists are told that the Black Lady can be seen in that same mirrored corridor,
after all, he is like a guide to different worlds.
The dance hall has amazing stucco, it is different everywhere.
The hunting hall, I would say for men.
Trophies on the walls...
And on the floor.
The owners were multifaceted personalities and they had their own theater here. And not a simple game one, but a puppet one.
Here's the setup for the wave and storm image. I'd really like to see how it all works. If only such performances were shown now, it would be a masterpiece!
The castle has its own chapel. It is unusually decorated. All these are volumetric paintings.
In one of the oldest cities in Belarus – Nesvizh, there is a mysterious castle. A tragic legend is associated with it about the ghost of the Black Lady, appearing on dark moonless nights and wandering through the corridors of the castle...
Nesvizh Castle is located on the road leading from Minsk to Grodno. Surrounded by a deep moat, it rises majestically above the surrounding area. According to legend, on dark nights, at exactly midnight, the ghost of the Black Lady appears in the castle corridor. Weeping and lamenting, she wanders through the premises of the castle and disappears when the clock shows fifteen minutes to five.
If you believe the legend, Barbara Radziwill and Prince Sigismund, having fallen deeply in love with each other, secretly got married. Secretly because the prince's parents were categorically against this marriage. And only when the prince’s father, the Polish king, died and the throne passed to his son, Sigismund announced that Barbara was his wife.
On April 17, 1548, the king officially presented his wife to the Sejm. Polish gentry did not want to see Barbara as queen, but Sigismund showed unprecedented firmness for him. In 1550, the beautiful wife was crowned. The young king's mother, Bona Sforza, was furious. She moved with her entire court to her homeland in Italy, but left the doctor Ludwig Monti in the palace, who allegedly poisoned Barbara. A few months after the coronation, she died a painful death.
Fulfilling the will of the deceased, the coffin with the body of the deceased was transported to Vilna. The funeral procession walked from Krakow to Vilna for a month. And the inconsolable king walked all the way from Krakow to pick up the coffin. Barbara Radziwill was buried in the Cathedral on Gediminas Square, where her remains still rest.
Suffering after the death of his wife, Sigismund decided to resort to magic to summon her soul. For this purpose, he invited alchemists, among whom was the famous astrologer, magician and warlock Pan Tvardovsky. Tvardovsky set the condition that the king should not leave his place, much less touch the ghost, otherwise Barbara’s spirit would not be able to return to the afterlife. And Sigismund gave his consent.
The hall was lined with mirrors, one of which was engraved with the silhouette of the deceased. The king was seated in a chair and asked to tie his hands to the armrests so that he would not involuntarily touch the ghost. But Sigismund refused to do this, giving his word that he would sit quietly. When the ghost appeared, the king, breaking his promise, rushed to him and wanted to hug him.
There was a flash, a loud explosion shook the walls of the hall, and a stinking, corpse-like smell spread throughout it. The ghost instantly turned black and disappeared into thin air.
After this, Barbara's soul could not find its way back, and was doomed to wander in the world of the living. Since then, she appears at night in the castle premises, dressed in black clothes as a sign of mourning for lost love. She wanders around the castle, screaming, moaning and crying.
According to legend, Barbara’s soul, with its appearance, warns of impending troubles. As if she was seen on the eve of a strong fire that occurred in 2002, when most of the palace burned down.
There is a rumor that since the middle of the 18th century, the ghost of Barbara has become a guardian of strict morals. She began to closely monitor the behavior of young girls and women. If they came to the ball in very revealing outfits, then the ghost appeared in front of them in the dark corridors and scared them half to death.
Documentary evidence has been preserved that even those who occupied Poland feared the ghost of the Black Lady. German soldiers. They were afraid to stay in the vicinity of the castle in the dark, and if circumstances were such that they had to do this, then without warning they would shoot at any moving shadow and run away.
In Soviet times, a collective farm health resort was set up in Nesvizh Castle for the village workers. And visitors to the health resort often complained about strange creaks and rustling noises at night.
Nesvizh Castle is surrounded by an unimaginable number of different mysteries of myths and legends, ranging from the traditional legend of underground passages to romantic love dramas.
Let us present for your consideration some of the most interesting legends of the castle in Nesvizh.
Sasha Mitrakhovich 09.04.2015 19:33
At the entrance to the territory of Nesvizh Park there is the Farny Church, built in the 16th century. If you ask the employees nicely, you can get into its basements, where the Radziwill family crypt is located. There are 72 coffins in the room, the last burial dates back to 1999. The “humpbacked” coffin attracts special attention.
There were many romantic stories and legends in the Radziwill family. One of them is related to the amazing natural phenomenon: intertwined with oak and pine that grow on the road from Nesvizh. This natural monument is associated in popular memory with many legends. Of course, of a romantic nature.
One of these legends says: the daughter of the Radziwill family fell in love with a shepherd. Traveling on horseback through the park allowed the girl, who was kept virtually locked up until marriage, to meet an attractive young man. They fell in love with each other, but the daughter’s father forbade her to even think about marrying a plebeian. At least a rich nobleman, or even a prince, was destined for her husband!
But the girl didn’t even want to hear anything about princes - she already had a prince, and they loved each other! The father tried to lock the obstinate daughter in her chambers, but this did not help. Then he began to actively look for a suitable groom for her in order to get rid of his disobedient child. Meanwhile, the child conspired with her beloved to flee from her native Nesvizh and secretly get married somewhere in a village or small town, start a household and live happily ever after. Of course, as in all fairy tales, it is said to die on the same day. Only the latter was destined to come true.
Of course, the escape could not go unnoticed in the Radziwill castle. The girl's disappearance was quickly noticed, and the fugitives were chased. And just as the father had groomed and cherished his daughter before, so cruelly he dealt with both disobedient ones. The young people were killed a few miles from the castle. Moreover, according to legend, the prince even forbade their burial, which was considered the highest degree of posthumous punishment. So they left the torn bodies in the forest clearing.
And a few years later an oak and pine tree grew in this place. Moreover, they grew up - side by side, and not just side by side, but intertwining their trunks, as if hugging.
These are only the most beautiful of the legends of Nesvizh Castle, but not all. A place full of events on a global scale, a family nest and a tomb greatest people The Belarusian region, the uncrowned kings of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, simply must be surrounded by stories and legends. Many great events took place within the walls of the castle and this was reflected in the epic of the town.
In the photo, the Radziwills' hunting trophies decorated the walls of Nesvizh Castle.
Sasha Mitrakhovich 09.04.2015 19:39
The most beautiful and popular legend about the ghost of Barbara Radziwill.
The legend of Black Panna of Nesvizh or To the Black Lady Nesvizh Castle for more than 400 years. It arose from real historical events, which centered on the passionate romantic relationships of crowned heads who, as we know, cannot marry for love.
During the time of Nicholas Radziwill, nicknamed the Black, the Radziwill family was very powerful, but the title of prince was not enough for Nicholas and he wanted to become the king of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Having decided to become related to the future Polish king Sigismund Augustus through his cousin Barbara Radziwill, who lived next door to Sigismund in Vilna. The beautiful Barbara and Augustus fell in love with each other and began dating secretly.
After the death of the old king, the secret came out. 17 days after the death of his father, Augustus already presided over a meeting of the Lithuanian Seimas, where he announced his marriage and received consent to recognize Babrara as queen. However, the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth went less smoothly. The most influential tycoons categorically refused to recognize this marriage. It was believed that he was a disgrace to the royal title. However, Augustus, previously soft and compliant, firmly stood his ground: “What’s done is done, and no one has the right to demand that I change the oath I gave to my wife, but, on the contrary, you had to keep me from breaking the oath given before By God. I gave my word of honor to be fair to my wife, and I cannot break it in the face of the Almighty, who sees all my actions. A word of honor and an oath before God is dearer to me than all the kingdoms of the world.” The mother did everything to dissolve the marriage, weaved skillful intrigues, and set up the nobility.
The dispute over Barbara's coronation lasted for two years. But nevertheless, Auguts’s persistence bore fruit, the resistance of the gentry gradually weakened, and in December 1550 Barbara put on the Polish crown.
In protest, Bona Sforza returned to Italy. The king's mother belonged to the ancient Medici family, who had extensive knowledge of poisons. She gave the order to her pharmacist to eliminate Barbara. The pharmacist Monty successfully carried out the instructions, slipping poison instead of medicine. Six months after her coronation, Barbara died of a terrible illness. She died in great agony. all covered with ulcers, emitting a fetid odor that was difficult to bear.
However, despite all this, the king remained with his beloved wife until his last breath, cared for and kept her alive.
According to tradition, Polish kings were buried in Krakow. But Augustus insisted on transporting Barbara’s body to her homeland - to Vilna: “They didn’t accept her here during her life, I won’t leave her here even after death.” He walked the entire route from Krakow to Vilna, following a black carriage. Barbara was buried in the Cathedral in Vilna, her sarcophagus is still there.
After the death of his beloved, the king was very sad. He often visited the Nesvizh castle to see his beloved’s brothers. Everything here reminded me of my beloved Fable. On one of these visits, the desperately yearning king, with the help of black magic and the alchemists Twardowski and Mniszek, decided to summon the spirit of Barabara. The ritual had only one condition - not to touch the ghost. When a vision of Barbara appeared, the king could not contain his feelings and rushed to the ghost to hug him, thereby breaking the magical spell. So the soul of the unfortunate woman could not return to her world, and was forced to wander around Nesvizh Castle.
According to one version, she could find peace if her loved one were next to her after death. August promised his beloved that, sensing his approaching death, he would come to die right here, in Nesvizh Castle. However, this time too fate turned out to be too cruel to the lovers. Death came to the king too quickly, and he was never able to fulfill his promise. So the ghost remained on this earth and was forced to wander among the living forever. Black Panna she was nicknamed because a ghost walks around in black mourning clothes, as a sign of her unhappy love.
It is believed that Black Lady warns residents Nesvizh Castle about danger. So, she was seen some time before the fire in the castle in 2002.
It all started in the 16th century, the Radziwill family was noble, but only in 1547 Nicholas the Black achieved a kind of princely title, all his thoughts were connected with becoming an even more powerful family, leaving the influence of the Polish crown and being independent king ON His beautiful cousin Barbara, who lived in Vilna, was very suitable for achieving his goals.
The castle of Barbara, who lost her father and first husband early, was located not far from Sigismund’s castle, the young king became interested in the beauty and soon fell in love. Naturally, relatives soon found out about their relationship, which caused great concern, especially among Nikolai Cherny and Barbara’s brother Nikolai Red. In order not to tarnish their sister’s honor, they went to Vilna to talk with Sigismund, the brothers set a condition: either get married or never visit Barbara again.
Sigismund, knowing about his mother’s hatred of the Radziwill family, promised that he would never be seen with the princess again. The brothers pretended that they had left Vilna, and Sigismund immediately hurried to his beloved, at this time the brothers unexpectedly appeared and demanded marriage because Sigismund had broken his word. It was decided to get married in secret, and to reveal it after Sigismund ascended the throne.
After the old king died, Sigismund's mother began an active search for a bride for her son from noble European families, to strengthen the position of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, she was furious when she learned that the king already had a wife, as a sign of protest, she made every effort not to allow the coronation of Barbara, but still the coronation took place, after which Bona Sforza left the palace and went to Italy, taking the entire palace with her. At the residence of the kings in Krakow, only agents remained who were given the task of poisoning Barbara. They did their job well, the poison brought young Barbara to the grave in 6 months, in 1550 she was crowned, and in May 1551 she died.
Sigismund's despair was immeasurable, he fulfilled the last wish of his beloved by burying her in his native Vilnius, he walked all the way from Krakow to pick up the coffin.
After the death of his beloved, the king was so sad that he decided to summon her soul with the help of alchemists. In the dimly lit hall, everything was prepared so that, with the help of mirrors, on one of which Barbara was engraved in full length in white clothes, beloved by the king, to play out the scene of the meeting of the king and the soul of Barbara. They put Sigismund in a chair and wanted to tie his hands to the headrests so that he would not accidentally touch the ghost, but the king gave his word that he would sit quietly and only ask his beloved from a distance how he should live further.
As soon as the ghost appeared, he forgot his oath out of excitement, jumped out of his chair, rushed to the ghost with the words: “My fable!” - and wanted to hug her. There was an explosion, there was a corpse smell - now Barbara’s soul could not find its way to the grave, it would forever wander the earth.
From that time on, she was often seen in the Krakow castle, and only after the death of the king did she find peace in the family nest - Nesvizh Castle. She always appeared in front of people in a black robe as a sign of mourning for her lost love.
Of course, I don’t really believe in legends, but we saw a girl in a black robe in the old park at Kupala, about three in the morning, when we were returning from the Japanese garden, so when walking around Nesvizh at night, remember this legend))
In 2001, based on ancient legend, the play “Black Panna Nyasvizha” was staged at the Kupala Theater.
Pane Kokhanku:
Karol Stanislaw Radziwill, nicknamed Pane Kohanku one of the most colorful characters, there are many stories about him and it is not at all clear what is true and what is fiction, here are my favorites:
About the road made of salt:
In the heat of the revelry, when there were many guests in the castle, and it was summer, the master promised that in the morning all the guests would go to church service on a sleigh, naturally no one took this seriously, but in the morning everyone began to be invited to go out into the courtyard, and what was it like? The surprise of the high nobility was that the entire passage from the castle gates to the church was strewn with salt (in those days it was even more expensive than seasonings and the amount of it poured onto the road was equivalent to a fortune). The guests went to work, on the way they saw how two nobles were filling their chaise with salt, and then Pane Kokhanku did not make a mistake, he ordered the chaises to be filled to the top and henceforth, instead of the nobles’ horses, if they reach the house, then let them take the salt, and if not, then execute for theft)).
After everyone appreciated his ingenuity, he allowed local residents to take all the poured salt completely free of charge; they said that for at least 5 years, traders could not sell a single gram of salt in Nesvizh and its environs))
About the dynamo:
Pan ordered something like a dynamo from France, it had to be spun up, a discharge would accumulate and someone present would get an electric shock, Pan tested the machine on everyone present, then on a calf, and then after spinning it for a long time, a thunderstorm broke out in the street, this, of course, was in no way interconnected, but the gentleman called himself the lord of the thunderstorm and asked to be called that way and nothing else)) The guests dispersed and that seemed to be the end of it, but one of the guests at that moment in Slutsk had lightning strike his house and almost everything burned down, he naturally, without thinking for a long time, returned, asked whether Karol Stanislav still considered himself the lord of the thunderstorm, having received an affirmative answer, he asked to compensate for the damage caused by the thunderstorm, the master had nowhere to go, by refusing he would have put himself in an uncomfortable position, gritting his teeth he gave everything amount, and ordered the car to be dismantled and hidden in the basements, after that incident he no longer experimented with it))
Humpbacked sarcophagus:
The legend of the humpbacked sarcophagus tells the story of the princess's unhappy love for an ordinary guy. The princess and this guy agreed to run away together, since the father, having learned about his love for the commoner, decided to marry his daughter to a prince from Europe in the near future, the girl ran away in the winter straight from the ball and waited at the appointed place, but the prince became aware of their plan, the commoner was captured and sent to prison. The princess could not believe that her lover had changed his mind and was waiting for him on the bench at the appointed place. So she died sitting, her stiff body could not be placed in an ordinary coffin, so they made a “humpbacked” one to order, and they buried her in it. But this legend was not confirmed, when the sarcophagus was opened, it was discovered that the princess buried there was not at all young and not in a sitting position, I was even lucky enough to be at the opening of the sarcophagus.
There are many amazing stories and simply fantastic legends about Nesvizh Castle and the Radziwill dynastic family, the history of which goes back many generations.
The great dynasty is in one way or another connected with the Belarusian city of Nesvizh, where representatives of this legendary family tree were born, lived and died. Here is just a story about a small part of them.
According to legend, the Radziwill family originates from the distant ancestor Lizdzeika, who advised the powerful Prince Gedymin to build the city of Vilnia on the site where he dreamed of the iron wolf.
For valuable advice, the prince ordered Lizzeyka to measure out as much land as long as the hunting trumpet could be heard. This is how the Radziwill family coat of arms “Pipes” and vast lands - Nesvizh appeared. This is how the biography of the famous dynasty begins.
Over the years, the family, which began with the illegitimate son of a priest and a peasant woman, developed and expanded. The intelligence of the members of the Radziwill clan, insight and education, as well as their untold wealth and connections gave them the opportunity to influence the destinies of people and take an active part in global world events, far from being the last ones.
Bright representatives of the genus
So, Dominik Nikolai Radziwill known for his participation in the War of 1812 on the side of Napoleon.
According to legend, in order to equip his Uhlan regiment, Dominic sold one of the 12 figures of the apostles that were kept in the Radziwill treasury. 10 statues were cast from silver and 2 from gold.
And one more interesting fact from his personal life: already being married, Dominic fell passionately in love with his cousin. She reciprocated his feelings, although she was also married. The lovers secretly left for Vienna.
This whole story about an affair between blood relatives cost a descendant of a famous family a lot of money. But after Dominic divorced his wife and Teofilia divorced her husband, they still got married. The family had two children.
After a severe shell shock during the war, Dominik Radziwill died at the age of 27.
He was a powerful statesman and church figure in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was the son of the governor of the Vilna prince Nicholas Christopher Radziwill “Black”.
Yuri served in the retinue of the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus and in 1854 became the first cardinal of Lithuania. He bore the title of Bishop of Vilnius and Krakow.
He was one of those representatives of the Radziwills, at which the history of the family is interrupted. One of the branches of the dynasty ends with him, since the cardinal, as a spiritual person, did not have his own children.
He died at the age of 43 in Rome, where he was invited to continue his religious activities. The cardinal was buried in Italy, in the Church of Il Gesu.
Among the numerous members of the family were knights, governors, hetmans, marshals, senators and even priests. Many of them were distinguished by their strange, unusual behavior.
Prince Martin Nikolai became interested in Eastern philosophy, changed his faith from Catholicism to Judaism, became interested in alchemy and started a whole harem of his serf peasant women.
Eventually, his relatives put him under house arrest, telling everyone that the prince was mentally ill. This is how he ended his life.
A Prince Ulrich ordered the court artist to paint a portrait of an ideal woman, the most beautiful on earth. When the portrait was ready, the prince accepted it with delight, hung it on the wall and could spend hours playing on the flute to this ideal portrait woman hymns of praise and love, which he himself wrote.
The man who makes legends
But the unsurpassed record holder for stories, tales and rumors about him is, of course, Karl Stanislaw Radziwill, who was also called . They say that until the age of 15, the prince could neither write nor read, and no one could force him to study. But one visiting teacher found a cunning way. He came up with a game for the young prince: he wrote letters on the board with chalk, and he shot them with a gun.
But this story is unlikely to be true, because Karl Stanislav is the son of the most educated woman in Europe - Frantiska Urszula Radziwill. There is even historical information that Prince Karol spoke seven languages.
Once upon a time, the King of Poland Stanislav August Poniatowski himself came to Nesvizh Castle. The prince gave him a luxurious reception and, among other things, used his own flotilla to stage the Battle of Gibraltar on the river.
Winter fun in summer at the court of Pane Kohanku
They said that at another luxurious feast on a hot summer evening, Pane Kokhanku promised the guests that tomorrow they would ride a sleigh on the white snow. The guests, thinking that the owner of the house had drunk too much, only laughed at this promise. Their amazement knew no bounds when in the morning they saw a courtyard strewn with white salt, and a beautiful sleigh stood at the entrance.
But salt was worth its weight in gold back then! The next day, having gathered local peasants, the prince gave the following order: if people do not collect all the salt before sunset, they will be executed. If they manage to do this, they will be able to take all the salt home. Of course, the work was completed on time.
For his uncontrollable imagination and cheerful disposition, Pane Kokhanka was called the Belarusian Baron Munchausen. When he was in a very good mood, the prince could roll a barrel of wine onto the Market Square of Nesvizh. He sat on it in the costume of the god of wine Bacchus and began to treat everyone passing by.
The prince loved to boast that he managed to catch the devil in Nalibokskaya Pushcha. And so that all the evil spirits would leave him, he kept him in holy water for three days. These are the “true” stories.
Pane Kokhanku liked to tell his guests that he could not use dishes made of fragile porcelain, so he was “forced” to buy only gold and silver dishes. There are many legends about the wealth of the Radziwills, which is still considered lost.
Treasures of the Radziwills
Each year, Prince Charles Radziwill received a profit of 20 million zlotys. This was much more than what the treasury of such a state as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth received annually.
There are even documentary materials confirming this story. Sometimes the King of Poland, Augustus, came to the castle on an official visit. One day, after a sumptuous dinner in honor of such a distinguished guest, the king, as a surprise, was invited to the family treasure vault, located in the dungeons of the palace.
Entering the treasury, for some time Augustus could not utter a word from amazement - everything around simply shone with the brilliance of the jewelry. But the most amazing thing was the sculptures of the 12 Radziwill apostles, made in full human height from gold and silver! The owner of the house gave his distinguished guest a luxurious gift - a golden cross studded with diamonds.
These precious sculptures were kept in the strictest confidence in the dungeons of the castle. Only the prince and another trusted servant had access to them. And only the most important and titled guests of the dynasty had the privilege of looking at this man-made miracle.
During the war, the passage to the treasure dungeons was blown up. And the jewelry has not yet been found.
Individual rooms of the palace complex were also richly decorated with precious metals. And they were named according to the quality of the interior: gold, silver, diamond, marble - to match the interior decor.
Treasures from which piglets are fed
They tell another story about countless family treasures. In the last century there lived a collector Unehovsky. He knew a lot about the life and treasures of the Radziwills. He was especially interested in weapons, which, at the request of the Radziwills, were made for them by a Spanish master from Toledo. Some valuable things made by his hands were once kept in the Knights' Hall of the castle.
Now, the connoisseur-collector could not find his talented works in any museum in the world. While searching, Unehovsky came to Nesvizh. Knowing that many things from the palace were simply stolen, Unehovsky decided to look local residents. After living for several days with a poor nobleman, he noticed that the owner was feeding the piglets from an amazing vessel of an unusual shape.
The nobleman's amazement knew no bounds when a rich visitor asked him to sell him this vessel. The collector was not mistaken - after washing the strange contraption from dirt, he saw the sign of a gunsmith from Toledo and gold patterns on it. It was only one piece, the "back" from an ancient weapon kit. Unehovsky managed to exchange it for Mazepa’s golden props, and the “back” became an exhibit in a European museum.
Another adventurer for a long time could not find the missing parts from the kit anywhere with a miraculously found “back”. Then he came to the castle and asked to be allowed to simply help restore order in the castle weapons. He did not ask for any payment, but said that he really liked working on ancient things.
He never found what he had been looking for for so long. Desperate, he prepared to leave home. But one old resident of the village remembered that there was a huge pit in which the Radziwill bears used to live, now all kinds of garbage are dumped there.
No longer hoping for anything, the guy went there and, to his great surprise and joy, found there Nikolai Orphan’s childhood weapon and a cuirass on his “back” with the sign of a Spanish master from Toledo. It was only these strange pieces of iron, as those around him thought, that the guy took with him. He sold these ancient treasures to the museum for a lot of money, and later these things ended up in the New York Museum. Such amazing stories sometimes happen.
Metro Radziwillov
There is also a legend that two famous castles: and Mirsky, which are located at a distance of about 30 km from each other, were connected by a secret underground passage.
The width of this tunnel was quite significant, since according to stories, it was possible to get from one palace to another with three harnessed horses.
And there is also a legend that numerous treasures of the Radziwill family, which are considered missing, may be located precisely in the dungeons of the castle. Including in the long tunnel between the palaces.
However, archaeological research has not yet confirmed the presence of a secret passage.
Femme fatales of the Radzewill clan
The prince received his nickname Pane Kokhanku - beloved sir - not only because he liked to address people so much, but also for his unbridled love for women. Many ladies heard words of love from him. They say that at one of the balls a young womanizer met and became interested in a beautiful girl, Felicia Wierzbut. When she refused him, he forcibly took her away from her parents' house.
The girl was returned home after some time, but she had to go to a monastery. And her father cursed Karl Radziwill, wishing him never to have children. Whether this is true or not, let everyone decide for themselves. But in fact, then Pane Kokhanku was married twice, and there were no children left from him.
The prince's second wife was the beautiful Teresa Caroline Rzhevuskaya. She never felt any special love for her husband, and her character was similar to the beautiful villainess Milady from Dumas’s novel: smart, beautiful and cruel.
When Carol Radziwill fell out of favor with the Tsar due to political differences and was forced to flee abroad, his beautiful wife did not go with him and continued her luxurious life with feasts and balls in her castle.
After some time, Karol Radziwill returned to his homeland in Nesvizh Castle. The legend says that he heard rumors about his wife’s wild life in the Belokamsky castle. The deceived husband sent a messenger to his wife - a young, brave nobleman Chesheiko with an offer to Teresa to go to a monastery and an order to take away from her the family jewels given by her husband for the wedding.
Hearing about the monastery, the enraged Teresa almost threw a decanter of water at the envoy, but unexpectedly easily gave up the jewelry in exchange for a receipt. As soon as Chesheiko left, Teresa Carolina accused him of theft and sent him in pursuit.
The nobleman was captured. They discovered jewelry on him and, without listening to explanations, brought him to the castle, where, on Teresa’s false accusation, they cut off the young man’s head. According to one version, Teresa divorced the prince and ended her life in poverty, and according to another, she lived in her family castle in the village of White Stone until her death.
Black Lady of Nesvizh Castle
The ghost of the Black Panna, according to knowledgeable people, still wanders around the palace. This is the spirit of Barbara Radziwill, who was the wife of Zhigimont Augustus, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This is a story of a beautiful but tragic love that really happened.
- a young and beautiful representative of a famous family - fell in love and even secretly married the future king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Sigismund. No one knew about the secret wedding, and they were looking for a noble bride for the king.
The news of the king's secret engagement came as a surprise to everyone. Mother was especially against it young man- Italian by birth, Queen of Bona Sforza. She did not like this family, considering them ill-mannered upstarts. The queen did her best to prevent the girl's coronation.
The young king was even offered to get a divorce, and the sin of divorce should be divided among all residents of the country. But the king was so much in love with Barbara that he did not want to get a divorce and replied that he would rather become a Protestant, but would not abandon his beloved and would not break the promises he made to her in the face of God.
And the Polish Diet had no choice but to crown the king’s wife, and Bona Sforza left for Italy in a rage, leaving her doctor in the palace, who later poisoned the young queen.
Six months after the coronation ceremony, which took place in December 1550, Barbara died. Sigismund decided to bury his beloved in Vilna, hometown. The loving king walked the entire route, from Krakow to Vilna, following the coffin.
Personal ghost of Nesvizh Castle
Here real story ends. But what begins next: truth or fiction is up to you to decide. Sigismund, who passionately loved his wife, never coming to terms with the loss, decided to use magic to summon the soul of his beloved. He was warned not to touch Barbara's spirit. But when the spirit appeared in the room, the king touched his beloved. Immediately it was as if something exploded in the room.
They say that Barbara's spirit has not found peace since that time. Even after the death of the king, the ghost still lives in Nesvizh Castle, and appears there at the first hour of the night. So Barbara warns of impending danger.
Last refuge
This place deserves special attention. Permission to found a crypto Nikolay Krishtof Radziwill Orphan I specially went to receive it from the Pope. It became the third ancestral tomb in Europe. The first is Louis in France, the second is the Austrian Habsburgs.
The orphan traveled a lot in his life and brought the secret of embalming bodies from Egypt. But then the recipe for such a burial, which was passed down from generation to generation, was unfortunately lost, and the bodies in the coffins were preserved differently.
They were simply sealed in lead or zinc coffins. At a certain pressure inside the coffin, the decomposition processes of the bodies stopped. This was a very unreliable method: after all, with any change, the body could decay in a few hours.
Orphan, as the founder of the crypt, established 2 rules that should never be violated by anyone. First, only the Radziwills should be buried there, the history of whose family should be preserved for centuries. But the Orphan himself violated this rule: next to his coffin stands the sarcophagus of his servant, who always and everywhere accompanied him during his life.
The second rule is that bodies during burial should be in simple clothes, without excessive pomp and without decorations. Probably, compliance with this rule was the reason that the crypt was not looted. Nikolai Sirotka himself was buried in the clothes of a pilgrim. He himself came up with an epitaph for his coffin “In the face of death, everyone is not a knight, but only a traveler”.
There are some rather strange burials in the crypt. One of them is the “humpbacked sarcophagus”. Legend has it that a beautiful princess is buried in it, who supposedly froze in a winter park, waiting for her lover: a simple guy with whom she wanted to run away because her parents had already scheduled her wedding to an Austrian prince. Being numb, they could not place her correctly in the coffin and they had to bury the girl sitting.
But in 1953, researchers discovered an elderly princess, 74 years old, in a coffin. And the hump was created by a vase, which the relatives, for some reason, attached to the lid of the coffin.
A little further away there is an unusual barrel with handles. According to legend, this is all that remains of the prince, who was torn to pieces by a mighty bear. But it turned out to be much more romantic. When the coffin was opened, they saw human organs there - liver, heart, kidneys and lungs. It turns out that at this time they began to do embalming with an autopsy.
And after the death of the wife of one of the Radziwills, he did not allow the heart that loved him to be thrown away. All this was filled with the necessary solution and placed in the family crypt with the following epitaph: “I owe everything except life to you”. This is such a beautiful story.
One is buried in the last room of the crypt big family: there are 2 large coffins and 12 children’s coffins in it. This Katarzyna Radziwill and her 12 deceased young children. They say that on a moonlit night a terrible cry can sometimes be heard here. This is an unhappy mother, turning into an owl, crying into the night over her lost babies.
The first burial in the tomb took place in 1616. During the years of Soviet power there were no new burials. But Antony Radziwill, who died in England in our time, asked in his will to be buried in the family crypt. The government of Belarus allowed this. The last wish of the Radziwill descendant was fulfilled in June 2000.
Thus, members of this noble family created cities and legends that live to this day.
I invite you to experience the luxury and beauty of the palace, which for many years served numerous representatives of the Radziwill family. This is a legend of Belarus and, perhaps, the most popular tourist attraction in the country today.
In Belarus, in any city, there is a huge number of different housing options. It’s very easy to rent an apartment or room on the service, or book a hotel through the service.
The map below shows all the sights of Belarus that I was able to visit. You can see more details about each of them.
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