The collection perfectly fitted in interior

By Irina Sviridova

Relics of Radziwill family returned from Bavaria to Mir Castle for 6 months

The exhibition of portraits of Radziwill princes from the collection of Konstantin Hohenlohe opened at the museum of the Mir Castle Complex.

The unique collection of pictures, art and craft objects, belonging to the former owners of Mir Castle, was found by experts of the museum in 2012 during scientific research in Bavaria in the Schillingsfьrst Palace. At the end of the 19th century, Princess Maria Hohenlohe, a descendant of Radziwill along the female line, brought the collection to Germany. Now Konstantin Hohenlohe, heir by collateral, is the owner of the portraits. An engineer by education, he currently lives in Vienna.
Organisation of the exhibition took almost a year and a half and many private individuals and organisations were involved. “First of all I want to thank the workers of the Consulate General of the Republic of Belarus in Munich and Goethe Institute in Minsk, who took the most active part in the project, and of course, Konstantin Hohenlohe. Thanks to his good will, the relics of the Radziwill family if only for a while will return to Mir Castle,” says the Director of the Mir Castle Complex Museum, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Olga Popko.

The exposition represents the majority of the collection of Prince Hohenlohe: two big portraits and 16 works of smaller sizes. The latest work is dated 1884 and is painted by Vilno artist, Wikenty Slezinski. The authorship of other works is unknown.
Among heroes depicted in portraits are the most notable representatives of Radziwill family, beginning from their mythical ancestor, Woischund.

Over time the collection was created especially for one large stateroom and now it perfectly fits inside the interior of the Portrait Hall of Mir Castle. The collection will be on display until the 16th November.