Belarus: Castles and Palaces, History and Legends
Castles of Belarus are defensive structures built on the territory of modern Belarus in the 13th–17th centuries. Most of the castles have not survived to the present day. A castle as a type of structure is a defensive object that represents an enclosed complex of defensive, residential, and other specialized buildings, serving residential as well as administrative and public functions.
Castles were built in locations convenient for defense — on elevations ("mountainous") or in lowlands ("valley"), and had regular or irregular plan compositions. In the territory of Belarus, the construction of wooden castles was widespread (in Svir, Orsha, Radoshkovichi, Pinsk, Gomel, Glusk, Mogilev, and other places) as well as stone castles (Lida, Kreva, Novogrudok, Mir, Bykhov, Smolensk, Lyubcha, Lyakhovichi, and Zaslavl castles).
Krasnoarmeyskaya St. 2, Mir 231000, Belarus
The Mir Castle and Park Complex, located in the Grodno Region of Belarus, is one of the few surviving examples of Eastern European Gothic architecture. Its history and the secrets held by its old walls are like the plot of an unwritten novel. Mir Castle is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In Russia and neighboring countries, Mir Castle is perceived as a kind of national symbol of independent Belarus. The architectural complex has its own unique and distinctive appearance.
FF2G+F9 English Park, Mir, Belarus
Each guest of the castle is told legends about the local ghosts. Among them is the sad legend of the White Lady.
CFXJ+X4 World, Belarus
The palace was built in the forms of neoclassicism: a two-story stone manor house, with agricultural buildings nearby, and between the new palace and the castle — an English-style landscape park. In 1898, a new pond was dug on the site of overgrown water bodies, for which the bastion fortifications on that side were dismantled. At the same time, the apple orchard growing in this place was ruthlessly cut down right during its blooming period.
