Polonechka

A village with the affectionate name Polonechka is the place which is obligatory to be visited by everyone traveling to Brest region. Polonechka is a real architectural jewel of Brest. It is here where the well-preserved wooden church of St. George is located, as well as the palace and park complex of the XVIII century, belonging to the Radziwills.

HISTORICAL REFERENCE

For the first time, village Polonechka (later the town) was mentioned in the chronicles in the beginning of XVI century. It belonged to Dusetskiy and Rudominov dynasty at that time. Then Sesitskiy dynasty was the owner of it. The place was given as a dowry to Marianne, the daughter of Michael Sesitskiy, Mstislav magistrate, who was married to Michael Anthony Radziwill, only at the end of the XVII century.  Radziwill family became the permanent owner of this property. The famous race made great efforts to the development of their possessions. Polonechka was the cultural center of the region under Matvey Radziwill.

Polonechka didn’t lose its status of the center of culture with his successor Constantine, the prince actively rebuilt the palace and park ensemble, using the inherited money, and added the elements of the Empire style to the classical style, which the complex was built in. Polonechka was left after the death of Constantine: Matvey Radziwill, the heir of Constantine, chose to move to Poland, took all the valuables with him.

Radziwills returned to their residence in the end of the XIX century. The grandson of Constantine, Stanislaw Albert, returned home, started renovation of  the palace and became the initiator of construction of the church of St. George in the Gothic Revival style. In 1919, Albert Stanislaus moved to America, leaving the estate to his nephew Vladislav, who was the last owner of Polonechki.

ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE

The palace and park ensemble, which became the seat of Radziwill family, was built in the second half of the XVIIIth century. The complex consisted of a two-storey palace with wings and an attached pavilion in the Gothic Revival style by Albert Stanislav, served the Winter Garden, the park with its own system of reservoirs, a tomb-chapel, an orangery, a mill and entrance gates. The facade of the palace is a unique and the only of its kind on the territory of Belarus: it was decorated with four-sided columns, crowning the heads of Greek philosophers or heroes. Now there has remained only the palace of the former magnificence of the ensemble, the victim of the Great Patriotic War. In Soviet times, the palace was rebuilt and used as a boarding school.

Yuriev wooden Church, built in 1899, is the main attraction close to Polonechka. It is a fine example of Catholic architecture, combining the features of the Gothic Revival with modern elements. Despite the severity of the neo-Gothic temple appearance, soft white and brown range of colours of walls creates an impression of comfort and peace. In addition to the ideal state of the external appearance, the temple has preserved several historical relics: organ for the church was made in Vilna in 1897, liturgical vestments of the priest were sewed of Slutsky belt and the altar with carved Corinthian columns, on which there are seven ancient icons of the XVIII - XIXth centuries.