Description of the attraction
Ruzhany Palace - the ruins of the once majestic residence of the powerful Sapieha family. The original palace, built by Lev Sapieha, has not survived to this day. It was destroyed during the war with the Swedes at the beginning of the 18th century.
In the early 1770s, Alexander Sapega invited the architect Jan Becker to restore the ancestral palace. He proposed to build a new grandiose palace in Ruzhany in the classical style. Only one defensive tower remained from the old palace.
One can only guess how beautiful the palace was during its heyday, when it was surrounded by a park in which flowers bloomed, and lacquered carriages drawn by horses entered the main gate. The castle had its own theater, which even had a royal box. Serfs played in the theater.
The castle had the richest library, consisting of books written in 10 languages, and the interior decoration was striking in its luxury. There were French tapestries and goblets of rock crystal, marble and bronze sculptures, mosaic paintings, expensive furniture. There was an art gallery in the castle and its own greenhouse.
The decline of the palace began after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, when the palace fell to the Russian treasury. A cloth and weaving factories were organized there. During the First World War, fearing a possible occupation, the owner of the factories evacuated his goods, and ordered to burn the palace.
Now we can only talk about the ruins of the Ruzhany Palace, but the reconstruction of the palace and park complex has already begun. Perhaps soon we will see the magnificent Sapieha residence in its full splendor.
Until now, there are a variety of legends about the Ruzhany treasures. They say that the Sapieha palace was not so simple. There were many secrets in it, for which the great master architect Jan Becker was. So, they say that an underground passage was dug from the Ruzhany castle to the Kossovo castle. Legends also claim that it was so large that two crews could easily have parted in it, and the darkness of the dungeon was dispelled by the lanterns. They say that the underground passage was often used. For many years, legends have been luring treasure hunters of all nationalities and stripes to Ruzhany, however, so far no one has managed to find either an underground passage or the legendary treasures of Sapieha, which are supposedly still kept in the castle.
