Zaslavsky Castle for a million: dungeons with a tunnel system, Ragned Motel and nine cottages. Information about Zaslavsky castle

Starting from the 15th century, the importance of artillery during the assaults and captures of cities fortified by walls and towers has increased. Accordingly, it was necessary to come up with new ways to protect against cannon attacks. As a result, at the end of the 15th century, a new type of structure appeared in Italy, which made it possible to withstand destructive artillery power - the bastions.

One of the first bastion fortifications on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is Zaslavsky Castle. It, as its permanent residence, was built by the princes Glebovichi in the middle of the 16th century. The castle was built on a high hill in the north of Zaslavl, it occupied an area of \u200b\u200b200 x 100 meters.

In plan, the Zaslavsky castle was of a quadrangular shape with ramparts, on which were walls adjacent to the main bastion structures located at the corners of the castle. On three sides of the town, the castle was separated by a wide and deep moat with water, and from the north it was protected by the Knyaginka River, which, together with a system of ponds, significantly increased the level of water in the moats, effectively turning the castle into an island.

The bastions and curtains (a direct rampart connecting two bastion structures) of the Zaslavsky castle were bricked with stone and brick. The curtain walls had their own intermediate bastions, also made of stone, brick and earth.

On the inner side of the ramparts, on which the bastions, curtains and walls of the castle were located, a stone retaining wall was built 2.5 meters high and 33 centimeters thick, which prevented the creep of the fortifications.

The entrance to the Zaslavsky castle passed through a two-story entrance gate at the southeast bastion. Brahma was quadrangular, measuring 24.7 x 22.8 meters, and the wall thickness reached two meters. It was closed by double gates at the entrance and exit. Under the brahma was a prison in the form of a long stone tunnel. The entrance to the entrance was provided by a wooden bridge, thrown over the moat, the last flight of it was, of course, lifting.

Additionally, the 35-meter church tower with loopholes strengthened the defense of Zaslavsky Castle. She was added a little later to the Calvinist church, built at the end of the XVI century. On the territory of the castle there was also a well that provided residents with water.

In the second half of the XVII century, Zaslavsky castle passed into the possession of Christina Barbara and Jan Casimir Sapieha, at the same time the church was renamed the Church of St. Michael the Archangel. In the 1840th year, the church was transferred to the Orthodox and again renamed the Transfiguration Church.

Nothing is known about the military merits of the Zaslavsky castle, there is only the assumption that it was destroyed during the war between the Commonwealth and the Moscow kingdom from 1654-1667. After the castle lost its defensive functions, stone and brick from the bastions and curtains were used by local residents for various buildings. Today, the Transfiguration Church, the ruins of the castle brama and part of the ramparts remain from the Zaslavsky castle.

30 kilometers from Minsk, on the road to the north-west, from far away you can see the snow-white towers of two cathedrals on the hills. This is the ancient Zaslavl, or Izyaslavl, founded more than a thousand years ago.

It got its name by the name of Izyaslav, son of the Kiev prince Vladimir and the Polotsk princess Rogneda. According to ancient chronicles, Vladimir built a city for his wife and eldest son around 985. In the X-XII centuries, Izyaslavl was the center of the specific principality and one of the powerful fortresses of Polotsk land. According to legend, Rogneda tonsured her nuns under the name of Anastasia, having founded a monastery on the mountain above the river. No documentary evidence of this has yet been found.

In Zaslavl there are two small rivers, tributaries of the Svisloch, which are called Knyaginka and Chernitsa, which means a nun. Local traditions connect these names with Rogneda-Anastasia.

In 1986, the city was given the status of a state museum reserve.

Ancient settlement "Zamechek"

The ancient settlement "Zamechek" is the most ancient archaeological monument of Zaslavl. It is located on a hill above the Chernitsa River. The people call this place the "Tomb of the Rogneda." The small platform has a round shape and is surrounded by a moat and an earthen rampart. Excavations have shown that in the X century there was a fortified castle city. This was the very chronicle city that Vladimir built for Rogneda and Izyaslav. In the XII century, the princely residence was moved to the shore of Svisloch, and the settlement fell into decay.

The burial mound of the end of the X - beginning of the XII century belongs to the ancient city. This is one of the largest burial grounds of the Old Russian period in Belarus. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were more than 300 mounds. Now you can see about 50.

A wide panorama of Zaslavl with the Chernitsa River opens from the Zamechak hillfort. In 1992, a memorial sign in the form of a stone cross was installed on it.

Location: st. Castle.

Ancient settlement "Val" (Zaslavsky castle)

The ancient settlement “Val”, or Zaslavsky castle, is located on the right bank of the Svisloch River and is surrounded by the Knyaginka, Chernitsa, and Krylovka rivers. In the XII century the princely residence was moved here from the "Little Little Girl".

Since the 16th century, Zaslavl belonged to the magnate family of the Glebovichi. At the end of the XVI century, Jan Yanovich Glebovich built a grand bastion castle in the style of an Italian fortification school on the site of the old fortifications of the ancient settlement. The castle had two entrance gateways - Big and Small. Shafts about 8 meters high were reinforced with stone and bricks. The ditches were filled with water using a complex system of ponds and water mills.

During the Russo-Polish war of 1654-1667, the city and the castle were badly damaged. In the following centuries, the castle was slowly destroyed. Only the remains of bram and high ramparts have survived to our time. From their steep slopes, picturesque views of the city and its surroundings open. This is a favorite place for walks of citizens and tourists.

Transfiguration Cathedral (Calvin collection)

The majestic temple rises in the center of the castle. This is a former Calvinist gathering, built in the 16th century by Jan Glebovich, a supporter of the reform movement. In addition to the cult, the temple performed a defensive function.

The architecture of the cathedral combines the features of Gothic and Renaissance. Its powerful six-story tower with a tent-like finish rises to a height of 35 meters. The austere interior with vaulted ceilings has never been painted. The crypt under the altar of the temple served as the family tomb of the Glebovichi.

The simple and expressive silhouette of the cathedral blends in harmoniously with the surrounding landscape. This is one of the most striking and recognizable monuments of the defensive architecture of Belarus.

Location: Zamkovaya street - 6.

In the XVIII century, the owners of Zaslavl became counts Pshedetsky. In 1778 - 82, a huge palace and park complex was built according to the project of the Italian architect Carlo Spampani. It included a palace, two parklands - the Upper Regular and the Lower Landscape, small forms of park architecture. Separate old trees and the building of the palace Hermitage, which stood in the Upper Park, have been preserved. It housed a library, art gallery and stage for theater performances.

The manor of the Counts Pszhedecki was the economic and industrial center of the county. In Zaslavl you can still see the surviving fragments of numerous outbuildings.

Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary rises in the main square of the city. It was built in the 70s of the XVIII century on the site of a wooden temple. The founder was Anthony Tadeusz Pshedetsky. The fancifully curved facade of the late Baroque church is crowned with a bell tower and small turrets on the sides.

Location: Komsomolskaya street.

Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Zaslavl Museum-Reserve

The museum and exhibition complex is housed in a two-story building on the main square. In one of the halls there is an exhibition of folk musical instruments called “Music of the evenings”. On the ground floor you can see the tapestries of contemporary Belarusian artists dedicated to Zaslavl.

The museum also hosts numerous temporary exhibitions on cultural and historical subjects.

Location: Market Street - 18.

Ethnographic complex "Mill" ("Mlyn")

The ethnographic complex “Mill” includes four buildings: a steam mill (Mlyn), a hut for deliveries, a barn (sviran) and a forge.

The mill is an example of industrial architecture at the beginning of the 20th century. It was built in 1910. The mechanisms are located on three floors of the log building. The first engine of the mill was a locomotive, the boiler of which was heated with wood. In the 30s it was replaced by a diesel engine, and in the 50s - by an electric one. The mill worked until 1989. In the 1990s, it was restored and became part of the museum complex.

Near the mill, theatrical performances are held with the participation of Miller (Mlynar), performances of folklore ensembles, and battleship performances.

Location: Soviet Lane.

In 1932-34, several hundred long-term firing points — pillboxes — were built along the western border of the USSR. Zaslavl was part of the Minsk fortified area. In June 1941, some bunkers managed to hold out for several days, slowing the German offensive on Minsk.

The rich mythology of Belarusians is closely connected with the forest and its inhabitants. The exposition tells about the beliefs and customs of ancient people, about their attitude to nature, with which they tried to live in harmony. A visit to the museum will be interesting not only for children but also for adults.

Location: School Lane - 43.

Zaslavsky castle is one of the first Belarusian fortifications of the bastion type. When wars began to be fought by artillery, the need for towers, which were easy to get from a cannon, disappeared. And they were replaced by bastions - earthen embankments of small height, on which artillery could be installed.

Information about Zaslavsky castle:

Location:Zaslavl (Minsk region)

Year of construction:XVI centuries

Year of destruction:end of the 18th century

Material of construction:   earth and stone

Structure:bastion castle island with earthen fortifications

Current status:not preserved

History of creation

The fortified castle in the place where the castle was located later arose in the 11th century. Perhaps it was at this point in the early years of his exile that Rogneda and Izeslav were.

Initially, the castle was protected only by earthen ramparts, so it could not be called a full-fledged castle. The castle with bastions was built in the second half of the XVI - beginning of the XVII century by the princes Glebovichi. They also built a Calvinist cathedral and a stone palace on the territory of the castle.

Structure

In some sources, you can read that Zaslavsky castle was built in the tradition of the old Italian fortification school and is considered one of the oldest in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In fact, given that the new bastion system was simply superimposed on existing older fortifications, it’s difficult to talk about an architectural school. In addition, in ON there were enough castles much older than Zaslavsky.

Zaslavsky castle had a quadrangular shape with sides 215x100x120x80 meters. A moat surrounded it on three sides, and the Knyaginka River from the north, the waters of which the moat fed.

The earthen castle bastions on the outside were lined with stones and bricks. And to prevent shattering of the shafts, a stone wall 2.5 meters high and 33 centimeters thick was built inside. The height of the shafts in some places reached 9.5 meters.

The entrance to the castle was on the south side through a two-story rampart tower of a quadrangular shape, with sides 24.7 x 22.8 meters. Its walls reached a thickness of two meters. The passage was 7 meters wide. On the ground floor, the brama from 3 sides of the passage housed 3 rooms. Along the western wall, archaeologists have discovered an underground tunnel with a width and height of 80 centimeters. Most likely, it was used as a drainage system or sewage system. Because in the northern part it ended with a blank wall, and with the southern one, where he went into the moat, iron rods blocked the exit from it.

A wooden bridge led to the gate through the moat. All approaches were shot from the bastions. According to various sources - the bridge was collapsible. But in some of them it was indicated that it was built on the shuttles, in others that its last section was lifting.

Of great defensive importance was the Calvinist temple. Its 35-meter tower was an independent fortification, had loopholes and was in fact the last point of defense for the defenders.

The castle housed a well that supplied the defenders with fresh water during the siege.

But about the stone palace, which was in the castle, almost nothing is known. Even the dates of its destruction.

Military significance

It is known that even before the castle appeared, the castle fortified by ramparts was destroyed twice - in 1127 and 1434.

In the future, nothing is known about his military merits. But it is likely that the castle participated in the wars of the "bloody flood" in the middle of the XVII century. Around this period, the castle’s gate was also burnt down, and another one of a smaller size was built in its place.

In the XVIII century the castle finally lost its military significance.

Political significance

In 1676, the western part of Zaslavsky Castle was transferred to the Order of the Dominicans.

Causes of destruction

The castle was probably badly damaged during the "bloody flood". In addition, he quickly lost his defensive properties and already in the XVIII century did not pose a threat to the attackers. And in the 1870s, bricks and stones that still remained on the castle were dismantled by local residents.

Castle today

The Transfiguration Church (the former Calvinist Cathedral), the ruins of the castle brama, as well as the ramparts and partially the moat, have survived to our time.

Excavations at the castle site were carried out in 1921, 1927, 1965, 1967-1968, 1970-1971, 1972, 1980-1983.

Through the haze of centuries, we see the pointed peelings of city towers, impregnable castles, dressed in strong chain mail of fortifications, and brave warriors with weapons in their hands.

There are many such witnesses of antiquity on the land of Belarus. Touch your hand to their stunned old walls - the warmth of life of distant ancestors will quietly pour into your heart and fill it with love, pride in respect for the unknown and famous folk builders, whose skillful hands tossed and worked around the boulders that tumbled down, boundless trees, from which they then got out of reach of enemies of the citadel. These hands defended the city.

The people called their fortifications castles. The word castle is akin to the word castle. And the ancient fortifications were truly real castles, to unlock, pick up the keys to which the enemy most often could not afford.

The architectural and artistic appearance of Belarusian medieval castles is always concrete and individual. Each of the monuments has its own rich history, its own construction biography. But they are united and united by one thing: labor heroism and the military courage of the people, original talent and colossal work of builders - "good virtues", "murals", "doylids", diggers - "diggers", "dolokopes", "warmeister" and "valmeister

Zaslavsky castle

Zaslavsky castle is one of the earliest bastion castles in Belarus, built in the middle of the XVI century by the princes Glebovich near the city of Zaslavl (modern Minsk district of the Minsk region of Belarus).

In the XIV-XVII centuries. Of great importance was the firearm, which began to play a major role during the siege of cities and castles. The use of artillery in battle caused an increase in the thickness of the walls and the diameter of the towers, as well as further significant improvement of the fortification system. At the end of the XV century. fortifiers invented the bastions, which made a real revolution in the defense system. This system first appeared in Italy at the end of the 15th century.

The ruins of the castle gates.
   In the XVI-XVII centuries. The bastion system of fortifications quickly spread throughout Europe, including Belarus and Lithuania. Here, on the basis of local building traditions, she received a new interpretation.

One of the first bastion structures in Belarus should be considered castle of princes Glebovichi in Zaslavl.It was located north of the city and on a high hill covered an area of \u200b\u200b200X100 m. Quadrangular in plan, the castle was once separated from the "place" by a rather wide and deep moat with water. The system of ponds at the Knyaginka River significantly increased the water level and actually turned the castle into an island fortification.

Researchers of the XIX century. K. Tyszkiewicz and R. Ignatiev, who had studied these fortifications in detail at one time, testify that the bastions and curtain walls of the Zaslavsky castle were bricked with stone and brick, the curtain walls had intermediate bastions. This, by the way, is clearly visible on the plan of the castle, shot in 1840 by K. Tyszkiewicz. In the 70s of the XIX century. R. Ignatiev noted that the additional bastions made of stone, brick and earth, the local residents dismantled for construction purposes. On different sections of the rampart, there still existed the remains of stone walls (most likely stone parapet) that adjoined the bastions.

A stone cross on the site of the ancient "Zamechka" - a castle of 10-11 centuries, where Rogneda was exiled with his son Izyaslav.

Near the southeast bastion there was a two-story entrance castle brama, traditional for the lands of Belarus. The thickness of its walls reached 2 m. It was closed by double gates at the entrance and exit, well flanked from the corner bastion.

Tile with coat of arms of Sapeg from Zaslavsky hillfort.
   Under the brahma was a prison in the form of a long stone tunnel. The castle was connected to the place by a wooden bridge, the last passage of which, obviously, was raised by a special gate. Thus, the Zaslavsky castle is an example of the old Italian fortification system of fortifications and can be dated to the middle of the XVI century.

The Transfiguration Church, located inside the castle, in the upper part of the walls had a number of loopholes later laid during the reconstruction. In addition, the six-tier loopholes had a thirty-meter tower of the temple, which additionally served as an observation point of the castle.

It is most likely that it was built during the reign of Ivan Glebovich, who owned Zaslavl and built a reformist church here. In its 35-meter tower, attached later, there were loopholes, which further strengthened the castle's defenses. Today there is a museum of folk crafts.

  Castle ruins
   In the north-west of Belarus, a few kilometers from Lithuania is the village of Golshany, which historians also call the open-air museum. The architectural appearance of Golshan has not changed much since ancient times.

The name of the village came from the first owners - the princes Golshansky, immigrants from the famous and influential kind of Lithuanian principality. The men of the Golshansky clan held the highest state posts, and the women visited the throne of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. So, Ulyana Golshanskaya married the Grand Duke Vytautas Keystutovich, and Sophia Golshanskaya married his cousin, the Polish king Vladislav Jagailo, becoming the ancestor of the whole dynasty of kings - Jagiellon.

However, relations with the royal and grand princely throne were not easy for the princes of Golshansky. In 1481, the Orthodox princes Ivan Golshansky,

   Fedor Belsky and Mikhail Olelkovich, dissatisfied with the oppression, organized a conspiracy against the Polish king Casimir Jagiellonchik, the youngest son of Jagiello and Sophia Golshanskaya. The conspiratorial princes planned to kill the monarch at Belsky’s wedding, and then seize power in the country, transferring the throne to Prince Mikhail Olelkovich. In case of failure, the conspirators planned to separate their possessions from the Principality of Lithuania and annex them to the Principality of Moscow, swear allegiance to the Prince of Moscow Ivan III.


   However, on the eve of the attempt, the conspiracy was uncovered, Golshansky and Olelkovich were executed, and Belsky managed to escape to Moscow. Since then, the Golshansky family has faded away, and the estate was owned by another powerful family - Sapeg.

Until now, on the outskirts of Golshan, the ruins of the residence of the tycoon of the Commonwealth Paul Stefan Sapieha are towering. Once the "Black Castle Olshansky", sung in the novel by Vladimir Korotkevich, was the most beautiful in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. High hexagonal towers with spiers, ceramic tiled floors, tapestry walls - this is what this architectural masterpiece was.

   The personality of Paul Stephen Sapieha himself also attracts researchers. A knight without fear and reproach, a close friend of King Stephen Batory, he participated in many military campaigns of the late XVI - early XVII centuries. Under King Sigismund III Vase, Pavel Stefan made a dizzying political career, taking the post of sub-chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which allowed him to play a prominent role in the public life of the Commonwealth.

What Pavel Stefan Sapieha was not lucky with was his personal life - even there is an opinion that he was a local “blue beard”. However, this version is not true: just the three wives of Pavel Stefan - Khaletskaya, Alzhbet Veselin, Ekaterina Oslavskaya - died early, and the tycoon had no choice but to get married again.

   Knight tournament near the ruins of the castle
   Only the last, fourth wife, Sofya Danilovich, was able to survive her husband by burying him in a previously prepared tomb in the Franciscan Cathedral. By the way, tombstone details are displayed at the Golshan Museum, and the stone figures of Pavel Stefan and his three wives were transported to Minsk - they can still be seen in the Museum of Ancient Belorussian Culture.
   Castle reconstruction
   Fate did not give the heir to Stephen Stefan: from his marriage to Alzhbeta Veselina he had three daughters. Two of them, Eudoxia and Theophilia, became nuns. The youngest, Kristina, married Jan Khodkevich. Fate did not spare either the tribal nest itself - a masterpiece of architecture of the Belarusian Renaissance over time turned into ruins. However, even now ruins overgrown with grass bear the stamp of their former greatness, making an indelible impression on tourists.

Golshany stone castle was erected in the first half of the XVII century. Its composition remotely resembles Mir Castle and is a rectangular building (88.6 x 95.6 m). Residential buildings with towers at the corners form, as in the World, a closed square courtyard. In Golshany, there is no longer a gate tower, and angular hexagonal steels are smaller.

They mainly contained residential and utility rooms. The castle’s defense was based on powerful earthen ramparts and ditches filled with water. Access to the castle was in the center of one of the buildings, the facade of which was monumental in simplicity. The arched portal was framed by an archivolt. Opposite the entrance, on the opposite side of the courtyard was a small chapel built into a residential building.

The composition of the external facade of the Golshany Castle resembles some Dutch castles near Antwerp. This similarity is explained by the fact that Belarus, being part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, felt a rather powerful influence of Dutch-Flemish architecture. This is the result of lively cultural and commercial ties with Western Europe. Since the end of the XVI century. before the beginning of the XVIII century. on the lands of the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth, the magnates' residences were built with enfilade floor plans, arcade galleries and corner towers. According to this principle, in particular, they were built at the end of the XVI - beginning of the XVII century. Polish castles Baranov, Krasiczyn, Suha.

Much of what was in Golypan was destroyed and lost forever. It can only be argued that to the right of the entrance was a large square hall with four columns, on which the cross vaults rested. Once upon a time, these walls were decorated with portraits of representatives of the Sapieha clan, paintings and weapons. The windows overlooking the castle courtyard were stained glass from thick glass. Stone floor slabs were in harmony with luxurious carpets, armchairs, marble tables, bronze candlesticks. The small rooms in the towers were decorated with rich sculpting.

Walls of other halls and residential chambers of the castle, columns and window openings were decorated with murals. Under the castle were huge vaulted cellars. Contemporaries considered the Golshan Castle the most beautiful in Belarus and Lithuania.
   During the Northern War, the castle was destroyed by the Swedes. In 1880, his last owner, Gorbanev, blew up the towers and walls, and used the brick to build the inn. Two towers and the eastern wing of the palace partially survived

   If you visit Belarus, be sure to visit Golshany! Go under the vaults of the Sapieha castle, walk along the echoing monastic corridors, examine the exhibits of the museum, plunge into the mysterious atmosphere of bygone centuries. And leaving, leave a bunch of fresh flowers in front of the monastery wall

   Kossovsky Castle (also known as the Puslowski Palace) - the ruins of the castle, are located in Kossovo (Ivatsevichi district, Brest region, Belarus).




The palace and the park surrounding it were laid in 1838 according to the project of architect F. Jaschold. V. Marconi took part in the construction of the palace. In the palace 132 rooms were arranged. The famous industrial magnate of the 19th century Count Puslowski showed his energy in the construction of the palace residence (1838), which looked more like a magnificent castle in one of its many possessions - Kossovo (Ivanetsky district, Brest region).

However, the fate of the palace is rather sad: after the uprising of 1963, the castle passes into the possession of the Moscow princes Trubetskoy and Oldenburg; during the First World War it was torn apart, then used as an administrative building, and after the Great Patriotic War to this day, it can be said, in ruins ....

   There are several projects for the restoration and reconstruction of the palace, but this event costs a lot of labor and money ... Is it worth it? It may be enough to put in order what has been preserved ... To renovate the facade, to set up the park - the same one that was thought during the construction of the palace, to build a hotel, parking, "tavern".




   The palace was built at his own expense by the governor Kazimir Puslowski, but his grandson lost the palace to cards.

He suffered greatly during the Great Patriotic War - he was burned by partisans.

   In the valley between the high hillocks, in a low meadow, at the confluence of the rivers Krevyanka and Shlyakhtyanka, stood in the 30s of the XIV century. stone castle of the Principality of Krev. Then Gedimin’s son, Olgerd, ruled here (he lived in the castle from 1338 to 1345).

   With its layout, this interesting monument of military architecture of the 14th century, located in the Smorgon district of the Grodno region, resembles Lida Castle. Its shape is an irregular trapezoid facing a large base to the floor. From the east, south and partially from the west and north, the castle was protected by the waters of Krevyanka and Shlyakhtyanka, blocked by a dam.


As in Lida, there were only two towers placed diagonally. However, Krevsky castle has a 30-centimeter base. He lies on a pillow of oak and spruce poles and branches. The bottom of the stone foundation of the northern wall is built on clay. To a height of 4 m, the castle walls are made of stone. Above (and only from the outside) - brickwork 65 cm thick, and the base of the wall is still the same boulder. Inside the western wall, as well as within the walls of the Princely Tower, preserved openings from the beams of the internal wooden connection. They walked parallel to the wall route and were intended to strengthen them, to prevent uneven settlement and other dynamic influences.


   Earlier, the height of the walls of Krevsky castle reached 12–13 m. Now, only some of their fragments (on the north side) have a height of about 10 m. The principle of organizing fire is the same as in Lida Castle. At a height of 10 m around the entire perimeter on wooden beams there was a battle gallery - a platform. The defenders of the castle fired through the loopholes placed by the Cheren every 2.4 m.


   At the junction of the eastern and southern walls, from the inside, there was another tower measuring 11X10.6 m (it was built later), which had at least four floors.


   In the southern wall of Krevsky castle, as in Lida, there is an emergency exit opening. Its width reached 2.8 m, and its height - 4.2 m.


   Another emergency move was in the western wall. At the very bottom, a lancet-shaped opening cuts through it, 2.2 m wide and 2.5 m high. Some researchers consider it to be an “inlet” for water filling a pond (“planting yard”) in the territory of the castle courtyard. But if we take into account the functional feasibility and dimensions of the opening, it becomes clear that this could also be an emergency move.

   During excavations in the castle courtyard, a lot of ceramics of the XIV-XVII centuries, terracotta and irrigation tiles, fragments of glass products, tiles, weapons, the remains of outbuildings were found.

   Krevsky castle was the witness and place of many historical events. Soon after construction, he was attacked. The remains of the burnt battle gallery and stone cores found during excavations under the western wall leave no doubt about this. In 1382, in the dungeon of the central tower, on the orders of Jagailles, he was strangled by his "uncle" - Prince Keistut, the main contender for the Grand Duke's throne.


In 1385, the conditions for the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland under the rule of Jagaila (Union of Krev) were developed in Krevsky Castle. In 1433, rebel prince Svidrigailo seized Krev, who claimed to be a princely table. "And coming to Krev," says the annals, "and standing for 2 days, taking Krevo muvorni and burned, but a lot of people are more attractive and full of behavior." In the years 1503-1506. the castle was besieged more than once and it was significantly damaged by the Perekop Tatars. Almost at this time, the traveler and diplomat passing here Sigismund Herberstein noted in his travel notes: "Krevo is a place with an abandoned fortress."

   Probably, the castle was soon restored after all, since in 1519, during a deep raid into the depths of Belarus, the troops of the Moscow governor "were a warrior and a captive ... Krev."
   In the second half of the XVI century. a fugitive Russian prince Andrei Kurbsky lived here. The castle gradually lost its defense significance, however, in the XVIII century. still was in fair condition. Later, its destruction began, completed during the First World War, when the front line passed through Krevo. For more than three years, positional battles have been waged here. The castle was on the German side of the defense.

   Concrete shelters were built in it (in the Small Tower and at the southern wall), observation posts. During their shelling, the ancient castle was badly damaged, especially the Princely Tower. Brick lining in many places exfoliated and even collapsed. The north wall of the fortification leaned 10 °. In 1929, Polish restorers fortified it with a buttress of 2 meters wide and preserved it. The lining of the main tower was tied with iron puffs, and the cracks were flooded with lime mortar. At the same time, the remnants of the northeast wall were walled up, fortified by a scarp.
  Reconstruction
   Today, the castle conducted a thorough study. The monument is included in the tourist route.

   The construction of castel-type castles was an important step towards the development of local military architecture. Here, the principle of flanking fire from towers spaced outside the perimeter of the walls got its start and developed. The planned composition of the quadrangular defensive structure in the future will become a characteristic feature of Belarusian architecture of the XV and XVI centuries. These castles played an important role in protecting Ponemany from the crusader invasion and made a significant contribution to the final defeat of the Teutonic Order.

. The castle has its own ghosts. Oddly enough, they have nothing to do with the foregoing. Nobody in Krevo remembers either Keistut or Jagiello. But they will tell about the failed churches, underground passages leading already to Vilna, and also about the sworn beauty maiden, whom some call “princess”, others - “queen”.

   They say that after sunset, when the night comes into its own, the castle comes to life. Beats are heard hammer blows on the anvil, at the entrance to the castle is heard the clang of drawbridge chains. If you put your ear to the wall, you can hear the neighing and knocking of horses' hooves and a muffled cough.

   And in the castle courtyard m, where night reigns supreme, you can see how shadows scurry down the walls. It seems that some men are rolling a barrel into the gates, and in the lowlands, near the dried-up backwash, some women are washing and singing, the attire of which is highlighted either green or blue.

   They say that once in the castle lived two princes. Both fell in love with one local girl. In a duel, one prince killed another. The winner confessed to the girl his feeling and offered her a hand and a heart. The girl refused, and the prince, angry, cursed her and ordered the servants to immure her into the castle wall. Along with the girl, her dog was walled up in a rush. For several days, moans and a dog squeal came from the wall. Then everything calmed down.

   But since then they began to notice that at night in the castle courtyard someone walks with a dog. Both leisurely walked around the castle courtyard, and then disappeared. There were daredevils who went to look at the beautiful virgin. The virgin did not remain indifferent to the daredevil and, fixing her eyes on him, called to herself. She spread her arms for hugs and called in a passionate voice. Others succumbed to her calls - and ended badly, in the morning they were found with crushed bones ...

   The legend has a sequel. Only an act contrary to human morality, some kind of higher sacrilege, could free an unhappy girl from a curse. After all, it was necessary to propitiate evil spirits ...

   Once a virgin asked one of her admirers to bring all the gold of the church to the castle. It is all gold, to the last detail! In return, the daredevil received a chest of gold coins, and the maiden - eternal freedom.

Such a daredevil was found. One night he entered the church and collected all the gold there. He did not take only a small cue for extinguishing candles, due to the strong sootiness thereof. But you can’t joke with evil spirits. Opening the door, the thief wanted to go out, but a terrible storm broke out on the street. The thief was forced to stay. During the night he made more than one attempt to get out, but to no avail. He had to appear under the walls of the castle empty-handed. He failed to commit a sin, and the girl received a spell for her advice for another hundred years.

   If you believe the locals, then the maiden still lives in the castle. But time did not spare even a ghost. Now, not a beautiful maiden with a dog is walking around the castle courtyard, but a flabby old woman in tatters, accompanied by a dog’s skeleton

A unique monument of defense architecture of the second half of the 13th century. is a stone tower that has survived to our time in the village of Kamenets in the Brest region. with the Kamenetsk tower (Kamenets pillar) stands on a high sandy hillock on the left bank of the Lesnoy River.

   The history of the tower is closely connected with the city of Kamenets, which emerged as a border stronghold of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich against the Lithuanian Prince Troiden, which had to be fought more than once. In 1276, after another reconciliation with Troyden, Vladimir Vasilkovich decided to lay a “hail” on the Lesnoy River. For this important matter, Alex's famous "town-cutter" was sent here, who cut down a lot of "hailstones" even under the father of Vladimir Vasilkovich. After some time, with the participation of local residents, they built a "pillar of stones with a height of 17 fathoms. It is similar to the surprise of all those who are sighted to see."

   The exact date of the erection of a monument of ancient architecture is unknown. Based on the information of the Ipatiev Chronicle, he was "walled up" somewhere between 1276 and 1288.


   The wall thickness of this 30-meter “pillar” reaches 2.5 m, the outer diameter is 13.5 m. There is a tower on a strong foundation made of cobble-stone covered with clean fine sand. The height of the foundation is about 2.3 m, and its outer diameter is about 16 m.

   The tower is made of block bricks of dark red and yellowish colors, with an extremely good bandage of seams. Kamenetsk tower. Figure N. Horde mid-XIX century. The majestic, monumental tower at the top is somewhat narrower and has neither vertical nor horizontal divisions. Its trunk is complex with a slight tilt to the vertical axis.
The walls of the tower are cut through by loopholes. There are two in the first tier, three in the second and third, and two loopholes and one large lancet aperture in the fourth. (He used to take to a balcony on cantilever beams.)

   The loopholes of the four lower tiers are narrow, slit-like, expanding inward, ending with semicircular arches. The fifth tier has four loopholes. Their shape is lancet, but the arches are rounded and have a slight lifting arrow. The loopholes of the fifth tier, unlike all the others, expand not only inward but also outward.

   Between these loopholes there are 4 flat niches with a semicircular end. Photographs by Caner, besieged the neighboring castle of Velsk, and then, after looting through the impassable Belovezhskaya Pushcha, they invaded Kamenetchina, which was also ravaged. The same Theodore von Elner led the third campaign to the Brest region in early August 1379.

   A large army besieged the castle of Miller, and then devastated the Kamenets land. It should be emphasized that the sources of that time never mentioned the successful siege of the Kamenets castle. Apparently, horse knights, who had difficulty struggling through the impassable surrounding forests, could not take without siege weapons fortifications like Kamenets.

   In 1382, the city was captured by a sudden attack by the troops of the Polish prince Janusz Mazowiecki. Only one year the prince was able to keep Kamenetz in his hands, and then, after a 7-day siege, he was captured by the Lithuanian prince Jagiello.
  During a protracted feud with Vitovt Yagai-lu in 1390, he again had to besiege the city, which he took “with great difficulty” after an energetic siege.

   Standing at the crossroads of trade routes, Kamenets was an important strategic point, its fortifications were in constant readiness for a long time. The reason for this was the crusader’s campaigns, and the proximity to the "Polish border, and later, in the XVI century. - And the threat of attacks of the Crimean Tatars.

   It is known that in 1500 the 15-thousand-strong cavalry of the sons of Khan Mengli-Girey "fought Kamenetz-Litovsky." However, apparently, to no avail, since the Tatars did not know how to besiege the stone fortifications. Passing through the city in 1517, the famous diplomat and historian S. Herberstein noted in his travel notes: "Kamenets - a city with a stone tower in a wooden castle"

During the Russian-Polish war of the middle of the XVII century. the city and its fortifications were destroyed. However, in 1771 the city again consisted of a "place" and a castle. At the beginning of the 19th b. around the Kamenets tower there were remains of medieval castle fortifications with an earthen rampart, surrounded on three sides by the Obomenets tower of the late XIX - early XX centuries, on which these niches with traces of ancient whitewashed plaster are visible, indicate that the niches were first plastered and then whitewashed. This gave the strict and majestic construction the features of modest low-key beauty. Above the fifth tier of the tower, the remains of a brick domed vault, which existed in the middle of the XIX century, have been preserved.

   From the third tier begins a brick staircase, illuminated by two narrow windows. She goes in the thickness of the wall, going to the very top of the tower, on the battlefield, covered with 14 teeth. Each tooth has a through hole, the shape and size of which is equal to the "poke" or "spoon" of the brick. The holes most likely served as defenders of the tower as observation slots during intense enemy shelling.

   The Kamenetsk tower, like most other military structures of that time, has upward-looking forms, laconic and simple, slightly decorated with light strokes of early Gothic architectural forms: lancet apertures and windows with three-bladed completion, archival archway of the doorway arch in the fourth tier, ribbed vaults on weights " They are subtly drawn on the mighty body of the structure along with the semicircular arches of flat niches and loopholes characteristic of Romanesque architecture.

   The completion of the tower - the serrated tape of the Old Slavic curb of four rows of bricks, laid at an angle, echoes the ornamental :! motives of folk art and, as it were, emphasizes the primacy of local building traditions and the origins of their originality, from which a gradual transition from the Romanesque to Gothic style began.

   In the 70s of the XIV century. The Brest Oblast, including Kamenets, becomes the object of attacks by the Crusader knights. They first appeared here in 1373, ravaging the entire Kamenetz land. In June 1375, the knights were led by the Comtur from Balga, Theodor von Elreshetnym Moat, and with the fourth - a protected river.
   In 1903, the late arches constructed between 1827 and 1889 were dismantled over the first and second tiers of the tower. At the same time, a 3-meter layer of the cultural layer was discarded from the tower and a ring-shaped shaft lined with stone was poured around it. Three hidden channels were made in the shaft for drainage.

Now the Kamenetsk Tower is adapted for the branch of the Brest Regional Museum of Local Lore and has become the site of numerous excursions for tourists from Belarus, the Baltic states and remote cities of the country.

   As for the name "Belaya Vezha", which was firmly entrenched in the Kamenetsk tower, it should be emphasized that this is an erroneous name. It arose in the XIX century. It was introduced by local historians who believed that the tower was whitewashed in antiquity. In fact, she was whitened for the first time (and in vain) in the early 50s of our century. Recently, restoration work has been carried out in the tower.

The initial history of Minsk is connected with the Minsk Castle - the place where the castle once stood. The antiquity of this district of the city is indicated by all graphic and written sources in which it appears under various names: "Castle", "Castle", "Old Place", "Old City". (By the way, in the Old Town, in addition to the Castle with the Lower Market, Rakovskoye, Troitskoye and Tatar suburbs were included). The city plans of the 18th-19th centuries have been preserved, on which sections of the defensive rampart are fixed.
   Ancient documents containing a mention of the Minsk Castle have also been preserved. These are notes of the Moscow merchant Trifon Korobeynikov from 1593, the correspondence of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with Moscow governors appointed to Belarusian cities during the Russo-Polish war of 1654-1667.

The place where the ancient castle was located, surrounded by a fortress wall and the rivers Svisloch and Nemiga. 1903

   Back in the 50s of the twentieth century, before the development of the Parkovoy highway (now - Pobediteley Avenue), the old, historically established layout with a system of streets capturing the memories of ancient Minsk, its main core, where the development of the city came from, was preserved here.
   After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, there was no one to restrain the separatist tendencies of the specific principalities. Under these conditions, the Principality of Polotsk needed primarily to strengthen its southern borders. Most likely, it is with the name of Vseslav Bryachislavich (the Sorcerer) that the foundation of the military fortress of Minsk in the middle of the 11th century should be connected. To pursue an active military policy, he needed to ensure his southern borders and protect the routes leading to Polotsk from the south and west. The transformation of Minsk into the center of an independent principality later makes it one of the largest administrative and trade-craft cities of Polotsk land.


A study of the defensive structures of Minsk showed that the city appears immediately as a powerful fortified point. Minsk Castle was the core of the city, part of its fortified area. An analysis of the sections of the rampart, as well as a thorough clearing of the ground under the rampart, specially made over a large area, did not reveal any traces of the settlement that preceded the fortress that arose here. The remains of the defensive structures of ancient Minsk were discovered at various points, and everywhere they coincided with the rampart registered on the historical plans of the city. It turned out to be ancient, its construction dates from the second half of the 11th century. Based on this observation, it became possible to accurately establish the territory of the early childhood feudal Minsk, its fortress.

   Before the start of archaeological research, the castle was a low hill stretched along Svisloch on the right bank of the river near the square named after March 8, measuring 75x45 meters. However, as further studies showed, it represented only a small part of the ancient fortified region of Minsk. The highest point of the Castle, falling on top of an ancient rampart in the northeastern part of the fortification, rose 8 meters above the road and 11 meters above the river.