Nesvizh. The Bernardine monastery.

        In the historical center of Nesvizh, opposite the Orthodox Church, there is a stone monastery of the Bernardines. If you go to the Radziwill Castle, the pond on the left is called Bernardinsky, since behind it was the Bernardine monastery, which has partially survived to our time.

         The Bernardine Monastery and St. Catherine's Catholic Church were built in the 16th and 19th centuries. The Catholic shrine was founded in 1598 by Nikolai Krystof Radziwill Sirotka (1649-1616). The prince founded the monastery at the behest of his wife Elizabeth Euphemia from the Vishnevetsky family. The church is named after the prince's daughter.

  The monastery was given land, a mill and other property. In the 17th century, the chapel of St. Francis and St. Anne was added to the church. There was a school of theology and philosophy at the monastery. During the war in 1655, the monastery was burned down and rebuilt in 1662. There were burials of famous magnates and gentry in the church, for example, Michal Kazimir Reitan was buried there.

      At the end of the 18th century, a massive fire broke out, and the church and monastery were rebuilt in the early 19th century. In 1804, the monastery had a library of 1,199 books, 12 students and 15 monks.

      The monastery was closed in 1864. The building was handed over to the military, and the church was rebuilt as an Orthodox church.

     The monastery and the church were built in the Baroque style. The stone, two-storey, U-shaped building of the monastery has been partially preserved.