The Corpus Christi Church in
Nesvizh
Nesvizh, Niasviž ( be, Нясві́ж ; lt, Nesvyžius; pl, Nieśwież; russian: Не́свиж; yi, ניעסוויז; la, Nesvisium) is a city in Belarus. It is the administrative centre of the Nyasvizh District (''rajon'') of Minsk Region ...
,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, is an early
Jesuit church and one of the oldest
Baroque structures outside Italy,
[Andrzej Piotrowski, Architecture of Thought. University of Minnesota Press, 2011, p.142-143, 297-298.] influencing the later architecture of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
and
Lithuania. Commissioned by
Prince Nicholas Radziwill and constructed between 1587 and 1593 by
Gian Maria Bernardoni during the times of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
,
it contains tombs of powerful
Radiziwiłł family members.
The church is included into the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
list.
History
Construction and Architecture
The first wooden Corpus Christi church was built in 1510 by Petr Kishka who owned
Nesvizh
Nesvizh, Niasviž ( be, Нясві́ж ; lt, Nesvyžius; pl, Nieśwież; russian: Не́свиж; yi, ניעסוויז; la, Nesvisium) is a city in Belarus. It is the administrative centre of the Nyasvizh District (''rajon'') of Minsk Region ...
in the early 16th century. In 1555 Nikolai Cherniy
Radziwiłł (lit. 'the Black') gave the church to the
Calvinists.
The stone Corpus Christi church was founded by
Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł
Prince Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł ( lt, Mikalojus Kristupas Radvila Našlaitėlis) (2 Augustus 1549 – 28 February 1616) and nicknamed "the Orphan" ( pl, Sierotka, lt, Našlaitėlis), was a Polish–Lithuanian nobleman ( szlachcic), ...
, who decided to return into
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
[ On August 19, 1584, he signed a document allowing the ]Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
to stay in the city of Nesvizh. The architect Giovanni Maria Bernardoni was invited to head the construction of the collegium and the church. He was inspired by the Church of the Gesù
, image = Church of the Gesù, Rome.jpg
, imagesize =
, caption = Giacomo della Porta's façade, precursor of Baroque
, mapframe = yes
, mapframe-caption = Click on the map for a full ...
in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. However, he died in Krakow in 1605 and the dome of the Nesvizh church was completed by his apprentice Giuseppe Brisio. The nave is high and the dome is almost two times higher. The frescoes widely used compositions by Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradi ...
. The first mass was chanted on November 1, 1953.[
The altar was painted by the Radziwiłłs' court artist, Ksavery Dominik Gesksky. He also restored the dome between 1752 and 1754. In 1747 Italian artist built a chapel near the church for Thaddeus Bulgarin's grandfather.
During the ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in 1944 the building was hit by a bomb, which destroyed the roof and started a fire. The church was restored after the war.
The church's organ was constructed in the 19th century by a master from Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
, Vishnevsky. It survived the wars due to the efforts of its priest Grigoriy Kolosovsky and the organist Edvard Girdo. When in 1944 the retreating German troops took all the nonferrous metals and ordered the instrument to be dismantled and transported to Germany, Kolosovsky managed to take it off the train and return it to the church by bribing the train's accountant. Girdo then buried the pipes in the ground and dug them up only after the war's end.
21st century
The last burial took place on June 8, 2000, when Antoniy Nikolay Radziwiłł's ashes were taken from London to the church's Radziwiłł crypt.[
In 2010 the authorities started the church's restoration. The restorers discovered a piece of the bomb that hit the building in 1944. They also found out that after the war there was a shortage of materials, and in order to save the church the locals installed cut telegraph poles instead of the destroyed rafters, which preserved the unique interiors into the 21st century. Also in 2010, the restorers discovered medieval paintings under layers of plaster. After some research it turned out that the whole interior of the church was fully covered with frescoes; almost 80 % are well-preserved.][
In 2018 the crypt was damaged by flooding.
The restoration was planned to be finished in 2021.]
See also
* Catholic Church in Belarus
The Catholic Church in Belarus is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The first Latin Rite diocese in Belarus was established in Turaŭ between 1008 and 1013. Catholicism was a traditionall ...
* History of early modern period domes
Domes built in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries relied primarily on empirical techniques and oral traditions rather than the architectural treatises of the time, but the study of dome structures changed radically due to developments in mathemati ...
* List of Jesuit sites
This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association.
Nearly all these sites have bee ...
References
Sources
*
External links
Official web page of Parish of «Corpus Christi» in Niasvizh
Roman Catholic churches in Belarus
Baroque church buildings in Belarus
Burial sites of the House of Radziwiłł
Nesvizh
16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Belarus
Churches completed in 1593
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