Skoki

The village with a cheerful name of Skoki is located not far fr om Brest. It is noteworthy not only for its «speaking» name, but also for the fact that an ancestral home of the eminent gentry Nemtsevich dynasty is located on its territory.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

The mention of Skoki village is associated primarily with the Nemtsevich family. Construction of a manor and park complex, owned by the famous dynasty, goes to 1777. Then an outstanding member of the family - a writer and publicist, the adjutant of Tadeush Kostyushko, one of the authors of the first European Constitution (1791) Julian Ursyn Nemcevich possessed Skoki. As an active politician, indifferent to the fate of the people, he took part in the uprising of 1794. Julian was captured and had to spend two years in the walls of the fortress.

After his release, he went to the United States of America. It is believed that there Julian met and was in close contact with President George Washington for some time. The glorious representative of the Nemtsevich family took part in the uprising of 1830-31 years, after which he left Belarus. The glorious representative of the Nemtsevich family went to France, wh ere died a decade later.

Marcel Nemcevich laid the start of the palace construction, and only at his son Julian’s time the building acquired its traits. Thanks to him, the estate of the Nemtseviches was one of the centers of the Belarusian cultural and social life. There were Tadeush Kostyushko, Napoleon Orda, Russian Emperor Alexander III.

The name of the village and the manor located on its territory were immortalized during the World War I: there were headquarters of the East German front of Field Marshal, Prince Leopold of Bavaria, in the walls of the manor. Because of this, the Nemtseviches family estate hosted a very important guest - the last Bavarian King Ludwik III. There were also important historical documents signed there, in particular, in December 1917, the protocol signing of military truce between Soviet Russia and Germany happened in the Nemtseviches’ family manor and ended that war.

By the way, this historic event marked the beginning of a wonderful tradition: every year, the military-historical reconstruction is held on the day of the signing (December 12). The event gathers guests from different countries. Reenactment clubs organize a spectacular show with the use of the weapons of the time, the horse cavalry, as well as fireworks, allowing plunging into the atmosphere of combat operations.

Five generations of the Nemtseviches’ family built the family manor, but they were forced to leave their possessions in 1939. The fate of many abandoned monuments awaited the manor; it was moldering and gradually falling into decay. The Nemtseviches’ homestead got hope for recovery being included in the state list of historical and cultural monuments of Belarus only in the eighties of the last century. Extensive renovations have been carried out, and the Nemtseviches’ family property  found a second life in the form of historical and memorial museum.