Grodno. New castle.

The construction of a new royal palace was conceived by Augustus II, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The palace in Grodno was to become the royal residence and the venue for the General Sejms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, the construction of the palace was completed only under Augustus III. The design for the palace complex was developed by Karl Friedrich Pöppelmann, a court architect from Dresden. Construction lasted from 1737 to 1742.

The main building in the shape of the letter "P" formed a large ceremonial courtyard - the cour d'honneur. The building itself was proportionate and majestic, designed in the rococo style. Its facades were divided by pilasters, decorated with cartouches with masks, molding of various shapes. The picturesqueness of the building was enhanced by the combination of the rich brick color of the tiles and the white and pink planes of the facade.

The main entrance led to the large Guard Hall, decorated with fresco paintings. Nearby were the king's first reception room (the Oval Hall), the Senatorial and Ambassadorial Halls. All of them were richly decorated with stucco cartouches and rocailles, fresco imitation of architectural details. The royal apartments were in the right wing of the palace, and in the left were the rooms for the courtiers, servants and guards. The front courtyard was closed by two one-story buildings - the guardhouse and the bakery. Between them, the fence and the entrance gate have survived to this day in their original form, the pylons of which are crowned with sculptures of mythical creatures - sphinxes with plump putti. The fence posts are topped with helmets with military attributes.

Since the palace was built opposite the Old Castle, the former residence of the kings, over time it was called the New Castle. Under Stanisław August Poniatowski, extensive renovations were carried out on the palace under the direction of Giuseppe Sacco, the court architect from Italy, and the decorator Szymon Mankowski. The interiors were redesigned in the classical style.

After the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the palace passed to the military department of the Russian Empire. At first, it housed a cadet corps, and then a military hospital. In the mid-19th century, significant repairs were carried out in the palace, the Oval and Ambassadorial Halls were divided into several rooms. The building was badly damaged during the battles for the city in 1944. The restoration of the palace and its adaptation for an administrative institution was supervised by the architect V. Varaksin.

In 1991, the palace was handed over to cultural institutions, and its main building and left wing were occupied by a museum. The premises were reconstructed into suites of exhibition halls, and some of them were adapted for storage. Currently, the New Castle displays the exhibitions "The New Castle. Events and Destiny", "Sacred Art", "Saved Values", "Weapons of Past Centuries", and "The Amazing World of Nature". Temporary exhibitions are held in the Senator's Hall.