Mir village was founded sometime prior to 1345. It is home to a late medieval castle, which made the town the target of many attacks over the centuries. http://www.belarus.by/en/press-center/video/i_45.html?page=3
The construction of the castle began at the end of the 15th century, in the Gothic architecture style. Building of the castle was completed by Duke Ilinich in the early 16th century near village Mir (formerly of Minsk gubernia). This is a square-planned building with towers at the corners. The fifth tower had a drawbridge and a forged grille chersa which could urgently stop a sudden attack. The castle was well adapted for gunshot defense. Its walls had two rows of loop-holes, and its towers were intended for heavy cannon shooting from them.
The basis of the volumetric castle's composition is its high towers which jut out beyond the wall-line. All of them have the same structure - tetrahedral core with octahedral top, but they differently decorated which gives original decorative value and beauty to the castle.
Around 1568 the Mir Castle passed into the hands of Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł, who finished building the castle in the Renaissance style. A three-storey palace was built along the eastern and northern walls of the castle. Plastered facades were decorated with limestone portals, plates, balconies and porches.
After being abandoned for nearly a century and suffering severe damage during the Napoleonic period, the castle was restored at the end of the 19th century. In 1813, after the death of Dominik Hieronim Radziwiłł, the castle passed into the hands of his daughter Stefania, who married Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. The castle later fell into the hands of their daughter Maria, who married Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst.
Their son, Maurice Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst sold the castle to Nikolai Sviatopolk-Mirski, of the Bialynia clan, in 1895. Nikolaj's son Michail began to rebuild the castle according to the plans of architect Teodor Bursze. The Sviatopolk-Mirski family owned the castle up to 1939. During WWII, it came under the dominion of the Nazi occupying force and served as a ghetto for the local Jewish population prior to their liquidation.
During the restoration of the castle there were found two skeletons. On a legend, in New Year's midnight it is possible to hear a clang of swords, and then long groan. However, it is not specified, on what calendar soldiers celebrate New year.
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| This is my friend Riva L'vova and I near the Nesvizh Castle (not fare from Mir) |
