Ruzhany Palace

Ruzhany Palace (Template:Lang-be) is a ruined palace compound in Ruzhany village, Pruzhany Raion (district), Brest voblast (province), Western Belarus. Between the 16th and 19th centuries Różańy was the main seat of the senior line of the Sapieha noble family, known as the Sapiehowie-Różańscy ("the Sapiehas of Różańy").

The ruins of Różańy castle and theatre in 2007.

History

Różańy began its life in the late 16th century as the site of Lew Sapieha's castle. The Sapieha residence was destroyed in the course of the internecine strife in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania when it was attacked by Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki's forces in 1700.

Różańy was rebuilt as a grand Neoclassical residence in the 1770s by Aleksander Michał Sapieha. The architect was Jan Samuel Becker from Saxony. The palace was set in an English park. Apart from the palace, there were a theatre (1784-88), an orangery, and several other outbuildings. It was Becker who designed the local church (rebuilt in the 1850s).

By the time of King Stanisław II's visit in 1784, work on the palace had been suspended. The Sapieha estates were nationalised in the aftermath of the November Uprising (1831). Three years later, the palace compound was leased to Ari Leib Pines to be used as a textile mill and weaving factory.

In 1914 the palace was accidentally set on fire by factory workers. The First World War and subsequent financial hardships prevented the building's restoration until 1930. The partially restored palace was ruined in 15 years, a casualty of the Second World War. The ornate palace gate survives and has recently been repaired.

References

• Belarus Guide
• ShtetLinks page on ownership by Pines family

See also

• Biaroza monastery, a family vault of the Sapieha family not far from Ruzhany
• Halshany Castle, another ruined Sapieha residence in Belarus
• List of castles in Belarus

External links

• Photos on Radzima.org
• Photos on Globus.tut.by