Hello Steemint. Welcome to the Belarus.Briefly about the sights of his Native land.

Nesvizh castle. The Residence Radivilov.

A small Belarusian town of Nesvizh is known around the world as the guardian of a magnificent architectural masterpiece, the residence of Radzivil - noble family in the vast Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the pearl of Belarusian architecture - the Nesvizhsky castle of Radzivil, the most famous and most visited of castles of Belarus.
In 2005 the castle complex in Nesvizh has been included in the world heritage list of UNESCO, it is located in the North - Eastern part of the town and is surrounded by picturesque ponds on the Usha river and beautiful parks.
For the first time Nesvizh castle Belarus is mentioned in the Chronicles of the 13th century, it belonged to the jury Niasvizhski was then known to the party battle in 1224, the year with the Tatars on the river Kalka. Until the end of the 15th century Nesvizh princes owned the castle on the rights of military service. Then, in 1492, Nesvizh and the Nesvizh castle passed to the princes of the Intestines. In 1513 g Princess Anna of their kind has engaged with a representative of a noble magnate of sorts - Ian Radziwill. In dowry for his young wife Radziwill received the Nesvizh castle became the residence of several prosperous centuries the great, the richest and noblest family on (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania).

Powerful fortification and perfect structure of the time, Nesvizh castle is considered the ancestor of the fortifications of the Bastion type in Belarus.
The restoration of the castle in Nesvizh began to engage only in 2004, but 7 years later the Nesvizh castle was opened to the public and became a historical and cultural Museum-reserve "Niasvizh".
The castle in Nesvizh the greatest and most beautiful Castles of Belarus.

On the territory of present Belarus were a lot of possessions and lands belonging to Radzivill. Yan Radziwill the Black at the beginning of the 16th century divided his possessions into three of primogeniture and distributed the lands among his three sons, the center was located in Niasvizh, which together with Nesvizh castle and went to mikołaj Radzivil nicknamed the orphan, the eldest son of John.
For puteshestvoval in Europe and inspired by the unsurpassed Italian architectural art of Radziwill the orphan ordered in place of the old, burned, wooden castle to build a brand new, made of stone, impregnable, worthy of the great position of the Radziwill family.
Building began in the spring of 1583, the work was overseen by architect from Italy Giovanni Bernardoni. After seven years on the banks of the river Ears built a mighty and impregnable fortress, the most advanced for that time.
Having the form of a quadrangle with the size of the walls 170 to 120 meters of the castle from all sides surrounded by a wide ditch and rampart. Across the ditch, threw a wooden bridge, which in case of siege could be quickly disassembled and the shaft, a height of 20 metres, reinforced with boulders. At the corners of the shaft arranged protruding bastions. Inside the rampart built stables and secret passages. Four towers at the corners of the bastions came later.
A century Nesvizh castle became the most fortified and complete a defensive castle Belarus, to withstand many enemy attacks. And only in 1706 Charles XII took it by storm. Defensive bastions were blown up, and the Palace looted.
Less than 20 years and as Radziwill was restored and strengthened its nest. The restoration was supervised by local architect, architect Zhdanovich. But work on the redevelopment and expansion of the castle lasted until the end of the 18th century.
In the late 90-ies of the owner of Nesvizh became Stanislaw Radziwill, known by the nickname "Pan kochanku". When it Nesvizh castle has become like a secular Palace, the defensive traits have faded into the background. The formation of the Palace and Park complex was finished laying the landscape Park in 1879.
Nesvizh castle - treasure Radzivilov - uncrowned kings of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Legends of the wealth and luxury of the interiors of the Palace and the treasures of the Radziwill family. According to legend, in the recesses of the castle was stored a treasure trove of family for hundreds of pounds of jewels, replenished for centuries. The owners, according to legend, had no right to take her from Nesvizh or sell under any circumstances, otherwise the end will come the prosperity of the family.
A wonderful collection of paintings, a library of rare and costly books, gold and diamonds, a priceless collection of weapons, and in addition in the recesses of the Palace the famous and priceless collection of the 12 apostles of gold, studded with precious stones. There is a perception that they cast Michael Casimir Radziwill from the Tatar the gold which he found in the beginning of the 16th century (Remember that the castle and town of Nesvizh in the 13th century belonged to the jury Niasvizhski, the glorious warrior of the Tatars, perhaps the legend has a base !). They say that after a devastating and bloody Northern war only due to the Tatar gold managed to rebuild the Nesvizh castle.
After numerous attempts to steal the gold of the apostles Nesvizh castle, the real statue was hidden in a safe hranilischa, and exhibited copies made from wax with fake stones. Then with the apostles exhibited the wax figures of the robbers tried to steal them. This collection is considered the world's first exhibition of wax figures.
Nesvizh castle - the decline of the kind and the castle of Radzivil in Nesvizh.
Before the invasion of Napoleon's army power and nobility kind radzivilov faded for a moment and the wealth of the family nest Nesvizh castle, was consistent with the status and wealth of the family. But after Dominik Radziwill, the last Prince of Nesvizh, in 1812 mistakenly joined the French army, intending with the help of Napoleon to revive the former glory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but everything went wrong.
Radziwill himself escaped after the defeat, was wounded and died from fatal injuries. Began the decline of the kind and Nesvizh castle Radzivil. After that, in the history of the Nesvizh castle began a series of changes of owners, the looting, the removal of the archives and invaluable collections and collections in the Imperial vaults of Saint-Petersburg, military operations and uprisings led to the complete ruin of the Palace.
After the annexation of Western Belarus to the USSR in 1939, the castle was abandoned by its last representatives of a noble family. Came the period of the Soviet ruin and desolation of the castle.
Today, the history of Nesvizh castle collect the crumbs from around the world.