Friday 16 January 2009

Palaces in Belarus


Postmarked Minsk, Belarus.  Dated 1 December 2008.

Nesvizh
Kosovo
Ruzhany

Nesvizh was once the home of the Radziwill family but they were expelled by the Red Army in 1939.  In 1994 it was designated a national monument and in 2006 put on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

Although the card spells it Kosovo, all references I can find call the next castle Kosava.  It is not an ancient one, but built in 1830.  Nevertheless it is impressively castle-like, and before it fell into ruin it had 130 rooms, with a lion wandering the corridors.  Rumour has it that there was a 25 km tunnel connecting it to the Ruzhany palace.

Ruzhany Palace was built in the 16th century.  It has been damaged, rebuilt, restored and ruined several times.

1 comment:

  1. What makes it more confusing with Kosovo/Kosava is that "Kosova" is the indiginous name for the nation we generally call Kosovo. Which is in the same region of the world as Belarus, but not really the same place at all.

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