Sulistrovsky`s Mansion in Yakhimovshchina Village

Most Belarusians in search of new emotions and experience prefer to go abroad. However many of them can` t even guess that the Belarusian land is rich in great historical places and architectural monuments. So the Sulistrovsky`s mansion which is situated in a small village of Yakhimovshchina in Minsk region is of considerable interest to historians.

In 2001 the fourth in Belarus museum of work of Yanka Kupala was opened up here. From 1906 to 1907 the Belarusian poet here lived and worked, right in Yakhimovshchina he prepared his first collection of poems «Zhaleyka». His temporary dwelling place was a wine distillery.

Nevertheless the Belarussian remote places are not only known for that fact. There has remained a unique estate construction that dates back to the 19thcentury on the territory of the village. Here were located the wine distillery, a factory`s office, barns, outbuildings, a beautiful park as well, reservoirs, and a residential building itself where Yanka Kupala worked. In 1959 a memorable board with information on life of the great Belarusian writer was installed on the wine distillery`s walls. It is this fact that has led restoration works to be made in the late 20th century.

Nowadays here it is the museum of the Belarusian way of life and culture, tourists can touch the writer`s life of Yanka Kupala and have unforgettable vacation in picturesque places of Minsk region. Guests can visit a preserved dwelling house, two wooden barns and a workshop. It is a pity but the Sulistrovsky`s mansion hasn`t remained as it was burnt during the Great Patriotic War.

The mansion was erected by descendants from a noble stem of the Sulistrovsky`s line who sat high in the government of the Great Duchy of Lithuania. The Sulistrovsky family were very serious about keeping their mansion`s exterior. In the 19thcentury one could view here artificial channels forming an open water space. According to a special project of the French architects the estate`s owners built a tomb-chapel as pyramids near the complex. An unusual construction of the tomb resembles the Egyptian pyramid only in diminished size. This place is considered to be the real architectural discovery of the 19thcentury.

An amazing thing is that practically all the historical wooden constructions during the war hostilities of the Second World War were lost. But two old barns have remained in Yakhimovshchina. Now they are of great interest to tourists and guests of the estate complex as it is the historical heritage preserved to this day and characteristic of the way of life of the Belarusian peasantry.

The survived dwelling house is built in the modernist style. Though most of the constructions of the early 19th century belong to this architectural style. Today the building is fully restored inside and outside, that`s why one can very often see here curious tourists and historians.