Archeological research in the area of Nesvizh castle is to be continued in 2009.In the future the diggings will be organized in the place of the summer Radziwills’ residency, “Alba” park. The park hermitage will become the main exploration target of the archeologists. The scientists will try to define the initial inner layout and appearance of this unique building. “Today we encounter many descriptions of the hermitage. However, we don’t have the information about exact layout of rooms in it and their condition,” notes Andrey Metelsky, the Senior Researcher of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. “We will try to restore this information on the basis of the data collected during the diggings and their comparison with the written sources about “Alba” park.
Radziwill Sirotka founded the park in the XVIth century. The hermitage and the palace for theatrical performances Consolation were situated here. On the territory of the park there were also a wild beast show and a farm built in the Dutch style. In 1812 the main park buildings were destroyed, artificial reservoirs and canals, created in the basin of Usha river, declined, “Alba” green space lost former beauty. Now all these objects are being restored, the park is being improved. The works on putting its hydrologic system in order are being carried out.
The Radziwills is one of the most famous clans of the European civilization. They became history owing not only to their great power and prosperity, but also to a substantial contribution to the development of culture and art of the Great Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Since 2005 the Radziwills’ residency became a historical and cultural heritage of the whole humanity. This architectural monument is included into the UNESCO’s List of World Heritage.
Besides, the Joint information center will be created in Belarus, dealing with the study of the Radziwills’ legacy. The agreement was reached at the meeting of archival and library specialists from Belarus, Germany, Finland, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and Lithuania. The abovementioned countries will represent documents and books which belonged to the Radziwills in a digitalized form. It is planned to collect a unique archival material, the richest information on the Radziwills’ historical legacy.
At the present time the books and archival documents of the Radziwills are stored in Minsk, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, Vilnius, and Helsinki. The project realization at the international level will help to consolidate the efforts of organizations-holders of the Radziwills’ documentary legacy.
According to the guide of the National historical and cultural museum-reservation “Nesvizh” Sergey Chistiakov, the creation of a single examination informational center of the Radzivills’ legacy will provide a free access of the international scientific community and general public to valuable documents on digital carriers. It will help to obtain maximum of information, to use these unique materials for scientific works.
The archive of the Radzivills’ clan is one of the biggest collection of documents in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, as over many centuries the magnate Radziwills’ clan played an outstanding part in the political, social, economic, and cultural life of the Great Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire, and other European countries. It was related to many aristocratic families of the European states.
The Radzivills played the same role for Middle Europe, as Medici and Visconti for Western Europe. The Radziwills’ became the history not only because of their power and prosperity they possessed, but because of their protection of culture and art.
For this reason in the National Art Museum in December the permanent exhibition of a historical portrait of the XVI–XVIIth centuries was opened from the Radziwills’ colection and collections of other famous Belarusian clans.
