Semkovo

The village of Semkovo in Minsk region

The village of Semkovo refers to Minsk district, Minsk region, it is a part of Papernyansky village council. From the ring road of the capital to Semkovo there are 10 km. The river Chervanka flows through the village, not far from the village there is the Minsk sea.

Historical information

In written sources the first mention about the village Semkovo refers to 1567. In the 80-ies of the XVI century on the territory of the village there was located the estate belonging to the princely family of  Solomorecky. In 1755 the village passed to Minsk Governor Adam Khmara.

The population

Currently in the village of Semkovo there live more than 1,500 people.

The Attractions

After obtaining possession of the estate Adam Khmara began to reform the received property. He built a new manor house, two outbuildings, the entry gate, broken picturesque orangery and a park with decorative pavilions.

The manor house was built in the Baroque style, rolling in classicism. Some historians believe that the architecture of the building has elements of Rococo. One-story stone building has a rectangular form. The high roof of the manor house had a shaped window. The portico, which distinguishes the Central part of the house had a triangular pediment. The Central part of the manor house was divided into staterooms. One of the rooms on the left side adjoined the bathroom, decorated with mirrors. The decoration of the house talked about the high material wealth of its owners: gilded chandeliers, floors with parquet flooring, fireplaces, black marble, expensive furniture. In the house was stored a large collection of paintings, icons, family portraits. Adam Khmara was the owner of a unique library. The Spacious dining room was for 100 places. It was a portrait of A. Khmara, made upright and placed in a gilt frame.

The right wing was left less in size and served as a building for administrative purposes. The left wing was the size of a manor house and was intended to accommodate guests, teachers and governesses. In the center of the wings there was an oval room. On both sides of the buildings there were stone pylons with vases, which started the park. It occupied a small area and was surrounded by a lime Avenue along the perimeter. The alley, together with the front yard was enclosed by a single fence that gave the estate the effect of completion.

The front yard was rectangular in shape, the perimeter of the growing lime trees with carefully cut round crown. The entry gate had four pylons, two of which were lower on the sides than those in the center. The entire territory of the courtyard was occupied by a lawn. Innovation in its decision was that the canvas of the lawn had two boskets. They had a triangular shape and consisted of physocarpus English and Norway spruce.

In 1902 in the estate was built the distillery. Famous Belarusian poet Yanka Kupala, came to the estate in search of earnings in 1905. Hard work at the distillery forced the poet to return to the farm in Borovtsy.

After the revolution of 1917 the manor came into the ruin. Later there was organized the internat.

Currently, the Foundation "Family-Unity-Fatherland" developed the plan of reconstruction of the monument of Belarusian architecture.