Усадьба Тышкевичей в урочище Вялое

Tyszkiewicz Manor in Vyaloe Tract

Tyszkiewicz is a famous magnate family, which dates back to the first half of the 15^th century. Historical properties of these princes stretched across the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On the territory of modern Belarus there are two manors of Tyszkiewicz: one palace in Logoisk, and the other is in the Belarusian remote place Vyaloe.

Benedict Tyszkiewicz built his family "nest" in Vyaloe tract. The original wooden construction consisted of one floor and was called "hunting lodge". The real palace of wood was built in 1840.

The name for the family place was not chosen by chance. Virgin Naliboksky forests, wonderful Isloch river and unique natural landscape attracted Tyszkiewicz greatly to demonstrate his hunting skills. Every autumn, count Tyszkiewicz, together with his friends came to this beautiful place for hunting. Especially Benedict loved to hunt elks and wild boars. Meat, by the way, went straight to the count's table, but the boar meat was given to the servants.

However, not only by this Benedict was glorious. There is information that the count was fond of traveling and his free time he devoted to painting. We can therefore assume that the estate served not only as a refuge for hunters, but also as Tyszkiewicz’s photo studio. This is evidenced by pictures of the 19th century found at the Parisian antiquarian’s place, which depict the life of the peasants and the scenes of rural life.

Like many other wooden buildings of the 19^th century, Tyszkiewicz hunting lodge was completely destroyed during one of the fires. Then the grandson of the count Michael Tyszkiewicz decided to build a new "hunting" residence, but as a construction material was decided to use stone. Because of this we can now see the extant ruins of the old manor.

Each of the Tyszkiewicz heirs tried to somehow improve the appearance of the estate. Benedict Tyszkiewicz’s son often visited the tract Vyaloe and eventually built the second floor of the old wooden building. It was he who initiated the construction of a new stone building on the site of the burnt wooden house.
Benedict's grandson, Jan Tyszkiewicz, decided to set up a zoo on the territory of the estate in 1892. By the way, it was the first zoo on the territory of Belarus. Its area at that time reached 400 hectares. Here one could see moose, deer and even bears. However, Jan Tyszkiewicz dominated this area not long. During the 1st World War, the zoo experienced the invasion of poachers, and the Russian army was digging defensive trenches on the territory of the estate. The count had nothing to do but kill the last elk and leave Vyaloe forever in 1915.

In the time when Belarus was affiliated to Poland, there were attempts to restore the zoo. However, due to the hostilities of the Second World War, these plans did not come true. Only estate’s ruins remained since the guerrillas blew up German pilots, hiding there, and the locals later took the house to pieces. However, despite this, Tyszkiewicz manor ruins considered to be a true architectural monument of the 19^thcentury.