| Grodno | Kolozhskaya Church |
Brigidon cloister |
Bernadinzev cloister |
Grodno Tyzenhous Palace |
Fara Vitova |
LOCALHISTORYARTICLES
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GRODNO.I live in Grodno. I go to school here. I was born here and it is my native town, the town of my Childhood and youth. So it is very dear for me. From history lessons, from visits to History Museum I get to know more and more about my town. Towns like people have their own history, their own life. Grodno is an ancient Belarusian town. It history dates back to the Middle Ages. It was first mentioned in the Ipatev Chronicles in 1128. Grodno has a great and eventful past. It has lived through hardships of many wars. Monuments and reliks of almost every period of human history, begining from the 12-th century, can be found there: The Kolozhskaya Church built in the 12-th century, the Old King's Castle, famous for its architecture dating back to the 16-th century, the House Museum of the famous Polish writer Elisa Ozheshko. Grodno is situated on the crossroads of commercial and military ways, that determined its destiny. The river Nieman divides Grodno into two parts. The Older part of the town lies on the right bank of the Nieman. On this high bank you can see an imposing building of the Old Castle, where Kings once lived. It was built on the Castle Hill on the territory of the former fortress. In the 16-th century the fortress lost its military significance. And then Polish King Stefan Batory ordered to build a place for his residence. We can see this place now. Now it is a museum with its interesting expositions illustrating the history of Grodno region. The best starting point for the sightseeing tour of Grodno is Zamkovaya Street. Grodno actually began with the Kolozhskaya Church. It serves as a symbol of the city. The church has another home - the name of two Grodno princes - Boris and Gleb. But people often call this building - Kolozhskaya Church or simply Kolozha. It got its name thanks to the prisoners of war who settled near in it in the 14-th century. The prince of Grodno won a battle against his enemy from the Pskov Rrincipality and brought many prisoners of war with him. They built their little settlement not far from the church and gave their new homeplace the nameof one of the little cities near Pskov - Kolozha. So in the course of time the church also got the second name Kolozha. There are lots of cathedrals and churches in our city. You can hear the bells of one of them when you walk down Soviet Street. Besides, originally it was Sobornaya Street. The history of Grodno is in its architecture, in the names of its streets, avenues and monuments. In fact every stone, every corner in our town can tell its story if you are attentive. The story of any places is in the memory of some people of our city. I love one
wonderful corner in our city. It is the embankment of the
Nieman, Kolozha and of course Zamkovaya street with its ancient
palaces, beautiful trees, with its mysterious
silence. This corner of our town differs from
other parts of the city. There are two sides there. On the one hand
there is Zamkovaya street with its quiet beauty and on the other land
there is Soviet street with its ancient part of my city.
Invisible threads attiact me to the embankment, to
Kolozha, to the majestic castles. Every piece of
ground, every stone, every tree in this corner tells
you the history of this interesting place. When you walk along this
street or along the embankment with your sweetheart
partner, you think nobody is happier, than you.
When you go along this street with your friend, you
are trying to keep quiet, because your friend also admires this beauty
and understands you without any words. But when I walk
alone, I think about ancient Kings and prices,
about prisoners of wars. When I come into the Old Castle
I imagine that noble princes lived here many years ago. And I'm very
glad that there is no people's fuss here now. Everything
is still and quiet. That's why I love this place.
In the second half of the 12-th century Grodno was
the entry of independent Princedom, then after the Tatar - Mongo invasion
(yoke) it be longed to the Great Lithuanian Princedom, from 1569 -
to Rzhesh Pospolitaya (Common wealth). Great past of
Grodno is connected with the word famous names -
Peter the Great and August Ponyatovsy, Stefan
Batory and Knight Vitovt, K. Kalinovsky, A. Vrublevsky, School #10 Grodno Belarus Coordinators Igor Grigus, Kolesnikov Dmitry Kolozhskaya Church
Click on the picture to see the enlarged version Kolozhskaya Church is situated on the right bank of the river
Neman, near Zamkovaya Hill, on the territory of the late kolozhski pasad. It is
the monument of architecture in Grodno. Brigidon cloister.Click picture to see enlarged version
On the crossroads of K. Marksa street and Molodezhnoy street a great architectural monument stands. It was built in a style of earlier barroco in 1634-1642. It consisted from the castle, garden, some other constructions. It was surrounded by a wall of 5 meters . Nowadays only some parts of the cloister exist. In the 17 century the monks from Sweden St.Brigid’s order came to Grodno. Some years later a construction of the temple began. Some of the first parts are still in Grodno. After the war of 18 century the monks came back to the temple and built a school for young women. There are some relics of St. Nimens-a patron of a town, in this cloister. Then Grodno appeared in Russian Empire. And the order had the same destiny as all the catholic cloisters. In 1842 the bill of rescue was exhaled. And since that time the monks from different cloisters were to live in this Brigid cloister. And then another St. Dominik’s castle was closed. And all the monks from this castle were to visit St. Brigid castle. The castle burnt twice in 1855 and in 1885. To the end of this century only 5 sisters were in the castle. Soon the castle was delivered to sisters and they built a school for 200 children. In 1944 the castle was destroyed. It was closed and some parts of it were rebuilt for a hospital. After the rebuilding some parts were delivered to Sweden St. Brigid order. And other buildings were still for a hospital. Kolozhskaya Church. Kolozhskaya Church is situated on the right bank of the river Neman, near Zamkovaya Hill, on the territory of the late kolozhski pasad. It is the monument of architecture in Grodno. It was built at the last two decades of the 12th century. It was restorated at the beginning of the 16th century by Bogush Bogutovich and at the beginning of the 17th century, part of church was destroyed in 1853 as a result of landslide. But nothing couldn't destroy the beauty and magnificence of one of the ancient monuments of architecture of Belarus!Agneshka Krishtofovich 15 years. Korneli Ksenia 14 years Bernadinzev cloister.Click on the picture to see the enlarged version
On the right shore of the Neman a great architectural monument of 16-18 century stands. A wooden cloister founded in 1494 (1495) was built in 1595-1618. Some of the adjacent buildings were built later in 18 century. A castle, a bell-town, different habit-able buildings were included into the cloister. In 1944 a prince, Alexander Y. offered a large territory to St. Fathers for building a castle and a cloister. But only 100 years ago they were built. By the order of Fabrian Konopadsky-a superior, bernadins came to Grodno in 1595. In 1602 the first stones were put. 16 years later a bishop of Wilnus developed the temple thanks to Sapegs, Voloviches, and some other people’s. The castle suffered from the conflagration. But it was rebuilt some years later. In 18 century the cloister was destroyed in the result of one of the largest conflagration. But then it was rebuilt in a new style. Then a new bell-tower was built. In 1788 the castle was developed by the pictorial arts, wood fretwork ’s and many sculpture works. In 1853 the castle appeared under clergy government. Some years later the highest seminary appeared.Grodno Tyzenhous PalaceAntonij Tyzenhaus built a palace to live in Gorodnitsa Square. The palace overlooked the Square. With its big trapeliform courtyard. Opposite the palace there was a park. The court architect Joseppe Saka, an Italian from Verona invited by Tyzenhaus as the chief architect of the Treasury of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, become the designer of the above mentioned palace built in the late borogue style. In 1760-1770 he worked together with the architects Joseph Myoser, the designers Pyotr Gezhidovich, King Khible, Anton Grushetsky and Luis Fallwill. The Governer of Grodno lived there after the third division of Rzech Pospolita. The building had been well preserved till 1915. Later it was burnt by Germans. The Palace was a one-storied building with stretched wings. At the entrance the courtyard was (locked) fenced. The middle two-storyed part of the main building had the form of a semicircular domelike balcony. The main entrance was on the ground floor. Above it there were high flamed by pilasters window-door. That overlooked a small balcony. It was decorated only with niches under the windows. The getting up of the building had some elements of the rococo. The main building had a suit of rooms. In the middle of it there was a small oval hall with a stair in the centre. The suite of rooms was used for dwelling and outbuildings. The collection of masterpieces of art was placed in the palace. Like many others barons of the time, Tyzenhaus kept a court choir – about 80 people, a theatre placed in a separate building and a ballet as well. Not far from the estate there was park that later in 1920 became a town park. But like many others architectural monuments the palace hasn’t remained. Fara VitovaArchitecture is often called history. The bright example of this is the fate of the castle in Grodno. During his direction The Great Liteva’s Princely became very famous. The politic ambitious of Vitovt: contests with Jagailo, aspiration to have a crown co-operate to built by Vitovt the first castle in Grodno, were existed only churches. The date of buildings of the castle don’t known, but from princely rights Grodno’s Israelites 1389 we can know, that in this time it existed. The first building was wooden, but the last sources castle till the last decades of the 16th century don’t consent with each other. One of them approve, that in 1496 the king Alexander Jagelonchik built instead wooden building stony castle, another say, that the castle was rebuilt in 1551 by queen Bonna. Kvitnitskaya said, that stony castle was built in 1579-1586 by command of Stefan Batorey. Magnificent "Fara Vitovta" situated near Trading Square, which was destroyed. In another side of square in 17-18 century bazylik castle was built by Monks. When in1773 the order of Monks was destroyed, the castle of Monks became Fara. Then Russian Government decided to rebuild castle to church. And in 1803 architecture rebuilding took part. Castle was built in gotico-renaissance style. That characterises the architecture of Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and soma other countries of Europe. Walls of the sane bulk and inferior circle of tower were built like contrforce that consolidated with arches. Between contrforces were windows. After fire in 1751 castle demanded the repair, but in 1782 building of castle was again in fire. In 1804-1807 the repair took part, after this "Fara Vitovta" became a church – Sofia’s church. In 11982 building of castle in fire again, in 1898 Sofia’s church was rebuilt in Russian style In 1922 this church in fire again. In 1961 Fara Vitovta" was tearing away. Everything was reflected in the tragic way monument: the fire, wars, and political conflicts. Agneshka Krishtofovich (15 years) and Ksenia Kornelik (14 years).page created by Margaret Shearn on 25th August 2000
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