Kreva - is a village of Smarhon district, Grodno region of Belarus. The main attraction of the village Kreva are ancient ruins of the castle, which was built here, according to the official version, in 1330-es. By 1338 it includes the first written mention of the castle in the historical documents. However, there is reason to believe that the construction of the castle was begun in the 13th century. Already in itself the age of this architectural monument, and the fact that our time in Belarus remained not so many medieval castles, makes a castle in the village Kreva very valuable cultural, historical and tourist attraction.

However, there are several reasons that make the castle in the village Kreva famous. The fact that the walls of the castle in the 14th century took place the most important historical events. So, in 1382, in the dungeon of the castle by order of the Grand Duke Jagiełło was strangled his uncle Kęstutis - contender for the grand throne. At the same time Kęstutis son - Vytautas managed to escape thanks to the cunning of his wife. Disguised as a woman, under the cover of night, he disguised as a maid was able to escape from pursuing his murderers.

Also, here in Kreva castle in 1385 were elaborated conditions and Kreva union signed an agreement on the alliance between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, which is largely determined the historical fate of the future of these countries and the all of Eastern Europe as a whole.

Later the castle became the scene of fighting in many conflicts, many times it was damaged and restored again, many times changed owners. But by the end of the 18th - early 19th centuries, the castle in the village Kreva finally lost its strategic importance, was abandoned and began to deteriorate. Some sources indicate that the stones and bricks from which the castle in the 19th century was built by local residents actively used as an accessible building material. There is evidence that such incidents sometimes occur and still.

By the beginning of the First World War the castle in the village Kreva already represented the ruins. During the war he suffered even more, and in fact took its modern form. The fact is that during World War I, a long time through the village Kreva the front line, and the castle was used extensively in the positional battles.

Preservation of the castle in the village Kreva carried out twice, in 1929 and in 2004. Plans for full recovery and restoration of the castle is apparently not available. Traces of past conservation also is not too discernible, and, apparently, the castle continues to deteriorate slowly.

The castle was built at the confluence of the rivers Kraulyanka and Shlyahtyanka middle of the marshes on a man made small sandy elevation. The walls of the castle in the village Kreva were made of natural stone and brick. In some places they reach nearly three meters in thickness, and a height of almost their entire length they were about 13 meters. In terms of the castle in the village of Kreva - this is the wrong quadrangle with sides of about 80 to 105 meters.

A large tower in the northern corner of the castle ramparts advocated cumbersome array and reached 25 meters in height. It included the three above-ground floors and a basement with a prison. This tower also called Princely. The prince's chambers were located on the second floor of the tower, which was actually the only place of the castle where there were at least some elements of the interior decoration, there were tall and wide windows and on the walls were murals. The rest of the tower was used for defensive purposes.

Another smaller tower was located in the opposite corner of the castle in its internal space, its height was approximately 16 meters. The remains of the towers at the moment, unfortunately, is not too reminiscent of the tower, because of them survived mostly just foundations. Today, these towers are more like just the continuation of the walls themselves. Inside the castle there was a pond, and a variety of business and residential wooden buildings. Outside, the castle was surrounded by a moat filled with water.

Castle in the village of Kreva is one of the oldest surviving structures in Belarus. Given its scale, size, age and history of it of course, is the most important architectural monument of the early 14th century, the historical and cultural value and an outstanding landmark of Belarus.

There are in the village Kreva and two more small attractions. First of all, it is the Orthodox church of St. Alexander Nevsky, built in 1854. Also, to the attractions of the village Kreva must be attributed to the Transfiguration Catholic church, built here as recently as 1997. Although church and was built recently, it looks like was built much earlier. Both the church in the village Kreva beautifully situated on the hills, and of course are the architectural monuments of the era.

Visit the village Kreva always brings a lot of interesting tour and memorable experience. Excellent tourist atmosphere of village Kreva complement several well located infrastructure. Just between the castle and the churches you can find a number of shops and small cafes. During warmer months, on weekends near the castle are also souvenir shops operate. In the village itself there are also Kreva post office and a bank, a pharmacy, ATM and more.

Sketches of Napoleon Orda, Kreva: