Lyakhovichy. Castle.

If you drive from Baranovichy to Lyakhovichy along the central street, when you cross a small brook with a beautiful name... Witch, on the left side across the road, near the bus stop, you will see a small commemorative sign made of a boulder. In the 16th - 18th centuries, there was a powerful bastion castle at this place. The castle was built at the end of the 16th century by the famous Belarusian general, public and political figure, Count Jan Karol Hodkevich. In 1595, the castle withstood the assaults of Severin Nalivaika's Cossack troops. During the war between the Moscovite Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the middle of the 17th century, Moscovite troops under the leadership of Alexei Trubetsky and Ivan Khovansky tried to take the castle several times, but the castle stood firm. The Northern War also did not bypass the Lyakhovichy fortifications, and King Stanislav Leszczynski and Tsar Pyotr I visited here with their troops. At the end of the 18th century, the castle fell into complete disrepair. The castle fortifications were erected on the banks of the Witch River on a hill. It was surrounded by a defensive moat, which was filled with water. In plan, the castle had the shape of a quadrangle measuring 175 by 220 meters. there were 4 earthen bastions and parapets. Inside the earthen fortifications stood a two-story brick palace in the Renaissance style. There were 31 cannons cast in the early 17th century and other weapons on the castle fortifications. A few years ago, a memorial sign was erected on the site of the castle.