Belarus: Mir Castle Revisited
Belarus has 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites, of which the spectacular medieval castle is the settlement of Mir is the most know and arguably most spectacular, often gracing the tourism literature about the entire country. The castle was built in the middle of the 16th century and for about 300 hundred years belonged to the Radzivill family of local royalty. The castle changed multiple hands in the 18-19th century as this land was tossed between Germany and Poland and Russia. In WW2, the castle grounds were turned into a Jewish ghetto for the remaining people from the town of Mir which was almost entirely Jewish before the war. During the Soviet times, the castle was abandoned and fell into disrepair. With independence, Belarus restored the Mir Castle and it became symbolic with the newly sovereign country! The weather was really dreadful during my visit – snow and fog and rain – so I decided to make this post black and white. Let me know what you think.
