The staff of the Printing House visited one of the main attractions of Belarus – the medieval Mir Castle.
Mir Castle is a defensive fortification and residence in the urban village of Mir, Grodno region. It is located on a plain – on the banks of the small river Miryanka. At the foot of the castle lies a small urban village with the beautiful name Mir. A place known since the 14th century for its trade connections with Leipzig, Koenigsberg, Memel and Libau, as well as noisy fairs, the atmosphere of one of which Yakub Kolas described in his poem “Symon Music”. During the excursion program, we visited the historical center of the village – Market Square, where shopping arcades, residential buildings of artisans and merchants, religious buildings ─ Trinity Church, St. Nicholas Church and synagogue were located.
Mir Castle is a branch of the National Art Museum of Belarus, so in one of the towers there is an exhibition with a collection of weapons and knightly armor, traditional gentry costumes of the 14th century, hunting trophies, and medieval household items. The castle is built of simple red brick, decorated with green inserts, openings and ornamental belts. It is not for nothing that Mir Castle is called an outstanding work of Belarusian architecture, a masterpiece of world significance with the personification of the feudal era, a witness to significant events in our Belarusian history.
During the excursion, the company’s employees examined the castle from the outside, walked along the courtyard, feeling like residents of the Middle Ages, visited the galleries, and also climbed the narrow stairs to one of the defensive towers. We listened with great interest to the legends about countless treasures located somewhere in secret underground tunnels. We looked into the family chapel-tomb of the last owners of the Svyatopolk-Mirsky castle. We were also able to visit the wine cellar, see antique furniture from the 19th century, and the stunningly beautiful banquet and ballrooms. On the walls of the castle there are tiled passages between the towers, and there are loopholes in the walls for the defenders of the castle.
The tourists learned a lot of new and useful information about the history of the Mir Castle (included in the UNESCO World Heritage List) and the Radziwill family, which played a significant role in the development of the culture of Belarus.
The workforce expresses gratitude to the trade union committee of the enterprise for organizing a tourist trip to Mir Castle, which is rightfully today a tourism brand of Belarus and is looking forward to new trips across our blue-eyed land!