Golshany Castle

1. Golshany Castle
By Sakith Gunaratna

2. What is the Golshany Castle?
• Golshany Castle stands with Prince Holsha who built the first fort on its land.
It is known as the ruined house of the Sapieha wealthy person own circle of
relatives in Halshany, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus. It was the seat of certainly
considered one among the biggest land estates withinside the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania. . In Pavle Sapieha it was decided to move the residence of the
princes of the settlement closer to the river. The construction of the castle in
Golshany began in the first half of the 17th century, some sources have a date
- 1610 year).

4. Architecture of the
Golshany Castle
Initially, the castle in the village of Golshany
was a rectangular defensive structure.
Dimensions 89 meters with spacious terrace
60 to 60 meters. It is believed that outwardly
it resembled Mir Castle, but over time it
acquired the features inherent in palace
complexes. Hexagonal towers were erected
at the corners of the castle. They were used
for various domestic purposes and dwellings,
but also fulfilled their defensive function.
Several elements of the castle have been
irretrievably lost: the entrance gate and the
single-nave chapel. The chapel can be seen in
a drawing by Napoleon Orda from 1876.

5. Reconstruction of the Castle
• At the end of the 17th century, the Sapiehas stopped owning Golshany. A
series of changes of ownership and numerous reconstructions of the castle
began. At different times, the lands belonged to Kuntsevich, Masevich, Pats
and Toads. In addition, constant wars led to the decay and ruin of the castle.
From the former splendor and beautiful interior mostly only ruins are left.
• After the uprising of 1863 and the peasant uprising of 1871, the Golshani
went to the Russian officer Gorbanev. Not seeing much point in a massive
castle, this man ordered part of the brick walls to be dismantled to build a
tavern.

6. Despite its partially destroyed state,
the castle continued to impress. At
the beginning of the 20th century,
the old Sapieha Palace looked like a
rough fortress. In 1921 Golschany
belonged to interwar Poland, the
castle was partially restored.
It is believed that the real downfall
in the history of the castle came after
the end of World War II. The palace
lay in ruins and there was neither
the strength nor the desire to restore
it. A photo of castle in 1930 is
showed

7. The Legend of the Golshansky castle
• The most famous legend of the castle is associated with the black monk. The poor young man
fell in love with Princess Hann-Gordislav Golshanskaya, who also liked him. After some time,
the princess's father found out about their connection. He was very angry and ordered the
young man in love to be locked alive in one of the walls of the Golshansky Castle. From that
time on people often noticed the silhouette of a man in a black robe.
• This spirit is said to have become a kind of guardian of the castle. In addition, local residents
more than once saw other silhouettes of figures near the ruins. You are sure that it is about the
inhabitants of the castle, that reason has not been able to leave this place for some time. The
chateau in Golshany also became famous thanks to the famous Belarusian writer Vladimir
Korotkevich.
• He took the image of this special castle as the basis for his historical crime novel "Black Castle
Olshansky

8. Golshany Castle Today
• Golschany Castle planned to start reconstruction for many years. Several
restoration projects have even been developed. An interesting option
appeared under it - to cover the ruins with a glass dome. As a result, this
idea was abandoned and it was decided to gradually restore one of the
main attractions of the Oshmyany region.
• By 2021 the tower will be finished and equipped with a viewing platform
and a small exhibition hall on the upper floor. The necessary
infrastructure for tourists has also been created in Golshany. In front of
the castle there is now a large parking lot, a toilet, an information point
and a museum.

9. The End
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• Thank you for your Attention