Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Golshany

Golshany is the first mentioned in chronicles of the 13th century. It is considered that the founder of the settlement and of the famous royal family of Golshanskys was the legendary Duke Golsha. For quite a long time Dukes Golshanskys held high posts in the Great Lithuanian Principality and later in the Rzecz Pospolita. Duke Algimut is the first representative of this family certifiably recorded by history. He was part of the council sent by Duke Yagailo in 1385 to ask for the hand of the Polish Queen Yadviga. Algimut’s son Ivan was the closest associate of Duke Vitovt who was married to Ivan’s sister – Ulyana Golshanskaya. Ulyana was included in the pantheon of Belarussian saints, along with the most famous female saints of the country – Euphrosinya Polotskaya and Sofia Slutskaya. Relics of the St.Ulyana are in the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra (a monastery in Kiev). Another representative of the Golshansky family, Sofia (1405 - 1461), after marrying the Polish king Yagailo in 1422 in Novogrudok, founded the royal Yagellon dynastry.

Golshany was an area where many craftsmen, merchants and military people settled. At the intersection of the main roads leading to Vilno (now Vilnius) and Krevo, Rynochnaya Square (‘Market Square’) appeared. Small kamenitsa houses, standing there still, and shops were built around the square. The square was surrounded by churches of the three main religions wide-spreaded in Belarus: a Catholic church and St.Francis monastery, a St.George Orthodox church and a synagogue. Trade stalls and inns were also situated in the locality. The town also boasted water mills and four taverns famous for their excellent and original beer. Golshany enjoyed brisk trade and many fairs were held there.

St. Yan the Baptist’s Catholic Church

The construction of this church is connected with the outstanding representative of one of the most prominent belarussian families - Pavel Sapega (1565-1635). He was a courtier of a King Stefan Batory and Sigizmund III, equerry of the Great Lithuanian Principality and starting form 1623 – the Lithuanian Vice Chancellor. At the same time from the beginning oh the 17th century, Pavel Stefan Sapega commenced the construction work, wich turned Golshany into a flourishing medieval “Holland”. He invited minorities to settle in the region and in 1618 constructed a new Catholic church and a monastery for them. The splendid church built in an early Baroque style was a kind of beacon for travelers as it could be seen from a dozens kilometers away. The main ornamental detail of the interior is an 18th century fresco over the altar. Another fresco of the Sapegas family coat of arms hangs over an altar on the right hand side of the church. The church also contains the ancestral burial vaults of Dukes Sapegas. His last years Pavel Stefan spent in Golshany, where he died in 1635 and was buried in the church along with his three wifes.

St.Francis’ monastery is a residential building constructed in the 17th century and attached to the north-west side of the church. The building has two storeys and a gallery. The first floor accommodated a dining hall, the second – the dormitory cells of monks and a libray stocked with around 1000 rare theological texts.

One of the many ghost tales the town has accumulated over the years is connected to the construction of the monastery. Pavel Stefan Sapega decided to build monastery as quickly as possible. The first three walls of the monastery were put up with speed and stood unstintingly, but the forth one fell down again and again despite any amount of effort. Craftsmen decided the reason for this was the presence of evil forces. According to the old beliefs, it was necessary to make a sacrifice to disperce the spirits. Being afraid of the Duke’s anger, craftsmen decidde to immure into the “damned” wall the first woman coming by the construction site to bring dinner for her husband. The first girl happened to be the wife of a young bricklayer.

Though the construction was completed peace has never reigned in its grounds. Even nowadays inexplicable events take place nearly every night and female whispers, crying for mercy are reported to be heard. Local people believe them to come from the soul of the immured young woman and they have named the ghost “White Lady”.

For those interested, Golshany monastery is open to visitors and is now a branch of Belarus Fine Arts Museum.

Castle

Zamkovaya street leads from Rynochnaya Square to the ruins of a one time beautiful medieval castle built in 1610 by Pavel Sapega. Along the castle, flows the Karabel stream. Formerly the stream was filled deep with water as one of the castle’s fortifications. The castle was a rectangular building with a square courtyard. The castle has hexagonal corner towers and a pentagonal tower with an entrance tunnel in the middle of the north-eastern building. In front of that building stood the castle chapel. The buildings had tiled roofs, and floors were covered with ceramic tiles. There were plenty of rooms in the castle decorated with frescos and artistic designs.

The place was filled with fancifully decorated fireplaces, ceilings, window openings, stoves with glazed tiles baring the heraldic monogram. On the walls hang portraits of the Sapegas family, as well as paintings and weapons. Stained-glass windows faced the inner courtyard, stone floor tiles were kept in harmony with expensive furniture and bronze candlesticks. There was a store of secrets kept in the underground vaults of the Sapegas family. One legend tells of a love between a young girl from the Sapegas clan and a handsome but poor castle gardener. Young lovers were doomed to die in the deep dungeons of the castle as soon as the girl’s parents discovered the “criminal” love.

Every evening since – according to local people – the soul of the young Marylya Sapega, who was eventually immured together with her lover in the vaults, turns into a white bird and flies all over the castle accompanied by a black shadow of a medieval cavalier dressed in a clock and a hat.

In th 17th century, Golshany’s castle was unique in the Great Lithuanian Principality because it was the only construction in the Holland architectural style. Unfortunately, due to wars, poor maintenance and other circumstances it did not survive. The ruins of its walls and a tower are the only reminders of the bygone greatness Golshany’s owners once enjoyed.

Gorodishche

If you are archaeology enthusiast, don’t miss out on visiting the site of Golshany’s settlement on the banks of River Karabel, 1.5 km east of the township. Stone stoves, arrow-heads, amulets, hatchets, glass, household goods and decorations were found on this location. The site dates back to the 12th century. According to legend, it was here that Duke Golsha established the first Golshanskoe Principality and built a wooden castle. Until the 16th century the residence of Golshanskys dukes was also situated here.

St. George’s Church

The exact date of construction of the first Orthodox Church in the old castle of the Golshanskys Dukes’ castle is unknown. The Golshanskys were patrons to local Orthodox believers and belonged to this branch of Christianity until the 15th century. The church is first mentioned in a text in 1536 as already active. After the Brest Union of 1596 it was handed over to members of the Uniate Church. In the first half of the the 19th century Uniate believers were exiled from Golshany and the wooden church disassembled. In 1901, tanks to the efforts of the Orthodox priest Vladimir a new Orthodox church was built in its place. Today the church houses many miracle-working icons of from the 18th and 19th centuries.

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