Nesvizh (Nyasvizh, Niasviž, Nieśwież) - is a city of Minsk region of Belarus, an administrative center of Nesvizh district. The city of Nesvizh has a special place among the cultural and historical heritage of Belarus. There are many attractions in Nesvizh, many of which are of particular value to the whole country. The city of Nesvizh and its attractions is dedicated to many individual books, monographs, scientific works, articles, publications and so on. Tourists love the city of Nesvizh, are well aware of its cultural and architectural richness and actively visit. So, the city of Nesvizh is extraordinarily rich in unbelievably valuable architectural monuments and outstanding attractions, but first, the city of Nesvizh is famous because it is here located Nesvizh Castle - one of the most important and valuable attractions in all of Belarus, which is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage.
The history of Nesvizh Castle begins in 1583. It was this year that the construction of a new stone castle on the site of a wooden castle built in 1533 began. The castle in the city of Nesvizh was built as the central residence of the magnifying family of Radziwill. In the future, the castle was waiting for a very turbulent history and numerous reconstructions, renovations, improvements. As a result of all these works, the medieval feudal castle turned into a beautiful palace-park ensemble. In the history of the castle in the city of Nesvizh there are several periods of prosperity, and several periods of decline. There were periods when the collections and vaults of the castle were filled with new jewels and works of art, and there were times when all these valuables were taken out of the castle en masse. At the same time, until 1939 Nesvizh Castle somehow remained in the possession of the Radziwill family. In Soviet times, the Nesvizh Palace housed a sanatorium. This sanatorium was liquidated only in 2001. The palace by this time was in a state of emergency, the original layouts and interiors were almost completely lost.
At the same time, in 2001, the restoration of the Nesvizh Palace was started. In 2005, together with the nearby Farny Catholic Church, Nesvizh Castle was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The restoration of Nesvizh Castle ended in 2012. Restoration was carried out at an extremely high level, perfectly restored the appearance of the palace, and stunningly recreated all the interiors. Nowadays, Nesvizh Castle is in excellent condition. To date, based on the architectural ensemble of Nesvizh Castle, the National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Nesvizh" has been created. This museum provides tourists and travelers with a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the rich exhibition and stunning interior of the palace. Walks in the park and inspection of the palace from the outside are available without visiting the museum. This museum is the most visited museum in whole Belarus.
The next extremely important attraction of the city of Nesvizh is the Catholic Church of the Body of the Lord (the second version of the name: The Church of God's Body). This temple was built in the city of Nesvizh from 1584 to 1593. This temple is also called the Farny Church, which means the main Catholic church in the city of Nesvizh. Sometimes this temple is also called the Jesuit church, as it was originally built by the Radziwills for representatives of this monastic order. By the way, the church in Nesvizh became the first Jesuit church in the entire Commonwealth. The Jesuits left Nesvizh in the mid-19th century. In Soviet times, this temple was continuously functioning and was not closed. Today, this church remains an active temple and is an ordinary parish. As mentioned, this Nesvizh Church, together with Radziwill Castle, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Indeed, this temple forms together with the castle a kind of common historical, cultural, architectural complex. The church is located near the castle and it was this temple was the ancestral tomb of the princes of Radziwill. The corresponding graves have been preserved in the church until our time.
The Catholic Church of the Body of the Lord in the city of Nesvizh or simply the Nesvizh Farny Church is quite unique in its value architectural and cultural monument of Belarus. There are several main reasons for this: first, this centuries-old temple has reached our time, having virtually completely preserved its original appearance and authentic interior; secondly, the interior of the temple really amazes with its richness, beauty, solemnity, pomp; thirdly, the burials of the Radziwills have been preserved here; fourthly, the Nesvizh Farny Church is the first Baroque building in the entire Commonwealth. The tower, which is located next to the Church of God's Body in Nesvizh, also deserves a special mention. This ancient tower was built at the end of the 16th century, and to this day has almost completely preserved its pristine appearance. Today, this tower acts as a church bell tower, but initially it was a defense tower, which guarded the entrance to the castle complex from the city, or vice versa the entrance to the city of Nesvizh from the side of the castle complex. This tower is called the Castle Tower.
Nesvizh Castle does not leave tourists and travelers indifferent for many reasons. Let us list the main ones: first, the age of the castle is much more than four hundred years; secondly, Nesvizh Castle has a very impressive size, stunning and very memorable appearance; thirdly, this castle is extremely beautifully restored; fourthly, around Nesvizh Castle is an incredibly beautiful park with large and picturesque ponds. Walking through this park around the castle and among the reservoirs can cause tourists a lot of positive emotions. The park as part of the Nesvizh Palace Park Complex consists of several parts, each of which has its own name: Castle Park, Old Park, New Park, English Park and Japanese Garden.
The park in Nesvizh is maintained in good condition. At the entrances to the park, and therefore the entire Nesvizh palace-park complex there are small brams with guardhouses. It is also important that the system of canals, dams and bridges is in good condition nowadays. Thanks to this, large artificial reservoirs, widely spread around the surrounding area, which surround the palace and decorate the Nesvizh Park, are in good condition and please tourists and travelers with their beauty and purity. These reservoirs give extraordinary picturesqueness and grandiosity to the entire architectural ensemble, which includes the Nesvizh Castle and the Farny Church, the whole city of Nesvizh, and in general the entire surrounding area.
The Nesvizh Palace-Park Ensemble together with the Farny Catholic Church is a tourist complex with excellent infrastructure. There are several restaurants, souvenir shops, spacious protected parking, a beautiful playground, food stalls. It is also possible to ride horses or boats. The palace-park complex in the city of Nesvizh hosts a lot of different cultural and historical events. Nesvizh Castle is one of the most popular tourist sites in Belarus and one of its most recognizable symbols. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusian and foreign tourists and travelers come here every year, and many excursion routes pass through the city of Nesvizh.
First of all, the city of Nesvizh is famous for its castle, located here, but there are still several outstanding and valuable landmarks and architectural monuments that perfectly complement the stunning tourist atmosphere of the city of Nesvizh, and are important components of the Belarusian cultural and historical heritage.
The first such attraction of the city of Nesvizh is the Nesvizh Town Hall, which was built around 1596. During its centuries-old history, the town hall was slightly rebuilt several times, but at the beginning of the 21st century it regained its original appearance. On three sides, the town hall is surrounded by trade rows, forming a holistic and impressive architectural composition, located in the center of the main square of the city of Nesvizh. Today, both the town hall and the old trading rows are in excellent condition. The town hall and trade rows in the city of Nesvizh are extremely valuable architectural and cultural monuments of Belarus. There are several main reasons for this: first, the age of these buildings is more than four hundred years old, and tourists and travelers can see them in excellent and original condition; and secondly, the town hall and trade rows in Nesvizh are representatives of exceedingly rare types of preserved architectural monuments in Belarus. Belarus has relatively few old and authentic town halls and trade rows, although once such buildings adorned the central squares of many cities of Belarus, so each of the surviving such monuments acquires special importance and value.
The next unique attraction of the city of Nesvizh is the Slutsk Brama - a very original and unusual monument of Baroque architecture. Once this brama was part of the system of urban fortifications, protecting the entrance to the city from the Slutsk tract. Brama was built in the late 16th century. Initially, this brama was rather a fortified tower. In the middle of the 18th century, the wall near the brama was dismantled and the brama itself was rebuilt in 1760. Then it ceased to perform the role of a defense structure and turned rather into an original guardhouse at the entrance to the city of Nesvizh. In our time, this brama functions exclusively as a cultural and historical monument and a completely unique attraction for Belarus. The architecture of the brama with counterforces, curved outlines of walls and gable is distinguished by unusual expressiveness and picturesqueness.
By the way, the town hall and brama are part of the National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve "Nesvizh". These buildings are completely, very well, qualitatively, carefully restored not only from the outside, but also from the inside. Thanks to all this, travelers and tourists can see the ancient interiors of these unique buildings, as well as the museum exhibition, which is presented there.
In addition to the mentioned, in the city of Nesvizh there are many other ancient architectural monuments and landmarks. Among them it is worth noting: the complex of buildings of the ancient Benedictine monastery (most of the buildings belonging to this monastery were erected at the end of the 16th century, fragments of these ancient original buildings have survived to our time and are now used by one of the local educational institutions); brama bell tower of the Benedictine monastery, built in 1763 (the best preserved building from the entire monastery complex); the ancient residential building of the Bernardino monastery, built in 1594-1598; artisan's house, merchant's house or market house, built in 1721 and located next to the town hall in the central square of the city of Nesvizh (the main feature of this house is the high curly contour of the facade wall, such a method was very typical for buildings of this type in the first half of the 18th century, in Nesvizh this is the only building having such an architectural element).
Also, in the historic center of the city of Nesvizh there are many more buildings that can be attributed to an interesting ordinary urban historical building of the 19th - early 20th centuries. At the same time, the single buildings that make up this historical building date even to the 18th century. The buildings in question were previously administrative, commercial, economic, residential. To date, all these historical buildings still performadministrative, commercial and economic functions, as well as are used for housing. Unfortunately, the ordinary historical buildings of the city of Nesvizh nowhere form full-fledged historical quarters, but are distributed throughout the central part of the city and are adjacent to typical and completely unremarkable buildings of the second half of the 20th century.
Also note that in the city of Nesvizh there are no ancient Orthodox churches. The most notable Orthodox church in the city of Nesvizh is the Church of the Ascension of the Lord built in 2016. There is also an Orthodox monastery in Nesvizh. This monastery is located in one of the buildings near the Farny Catholic Church, which was originally erected as a barracks in 1835 from the birth of Christ.
The town of Nesvizh, obviously, has all the elements of the basic and tourist infrastructure. Here you will find shops of various profiles, several cafes and restaurants, banks, pharmacies, ATMs, hotels, guest houses and hotels, a local history museum, a cinema, a gas station, a beach, and much more. Let us remind you that the castle complex in the town of Nesvizh also has many additional infrastructure facilities, such as a hotel, souvenir shops and restaurants. As a result, the town of Nesvizh has a whole range of different offers for tourists and travelers, differing in price and sophistication. All these infrastructural objects well complement the already wonderful and unique tourist atmosphere of the town of Nesvizh. The incredibly valuable ancient architectural and cultural monuments and sights of the town of Nesvizh, which are in excellent condition, supplemented with all the necessary elements of the tourist infrastructure, attract many travelers here. The town of Nesvizh is one of the main tourist destinations in Belarus and a key point of many excursion routes.
Sketches of Napoleon Orda, Nesvizh:
