, russian: Дворец Румянцевых — Паскевичей) is the main place of historical importance in the city of

Gomel Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census). Etymology There are at least six narratives of the ori ...

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 R ...

. The grounds of the residence stretch for 800 meters along the steep right bank of the

Sozh River The Sozh, or Sož ( be, Сож, ; russian: Сож, uk, Сож) is an international river flowing in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper. The Sozh passes through Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus. T ...

. An image of the residence is featured on the Belarusian 20-rubel note. The two-storey palace of Field Marshal

Pyotr Rumyantsev Count Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky (russian: Пётр Алекса́ндрович Румя́нцев-Задунайский; – ) was one of the foremost Russian generals of the 18th century. He governed Little Russia in the name ...

was built between 1777 and 1796 to a Neoclassical design attributed to

Ivan Starov Ivan Yegorovich Starov (russian: Ива́н Его́рович Старо́в) (23 February 1745 – 17 April 1808) was a Russian architect from St. Petersburg who devised the master plans for Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Pskov, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, ...

. The palace replaced the ruined castle of Gomel's previous owner, Michael Frederick Czartoryski. After Pyotr Rumyantsev's death in 1796, the grounds were slowly improved by his son

Nicholas Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...

(1754-1826). His brother Sergei was the next owner. He was never interested in country housekeeping and promptly sold the palace to the crown (1834). Gomel was immediately purchased by another Field Marshal,

Ivan Paskevich Count Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich-Erevansky, Serene Prince of Warsaw (russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Паске́вич-Эриванский, светлейший князь Варшавский, tr. ; – ) was an Imperial Russian mi ...

, who had both the palace and the park substantially renovated. He employed architect Adam Idźkowski to add a four-storey tower and a three-storey wing to the existing structure. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

the palace was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

to house a local museum. Paskevich's daughter-in-law Irina had to move from the palace into an ordinary flat. The buildings sustained heavy damage in the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

and

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 opposin ...

. The park contains a modern statue of Count

Nikolay Rumyantsev Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev (; 3 April 1754 – 3 January 1826), born in Saint Petersburg, was Russia's Foreign Minister and Chancellor of the Russian Empire in the run-up to Napoleon's invasion of Russia (1808–12). He was the son of ...

. The original marble statues of

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

, Venus, Athena, Ares, Bacchus, and the Nymph were lost. It was only in 2006 that the replacement statues were put in place. The Paskevich art collection also boasted several paintings by

Ivan Kramskoi Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi (russian: Ива́н Никола́евич Крамско́й; June 8 (O.S. May 27), 1837, Ostrogozhsk – April 6 (O.S. March 24), 1887, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian painter and art critic. He was an intellectual l ...

, Marcin Zaleski, and

January Suchodolski January Suchodolski (; September 19, 1797 – March 20, 1875) was a Polish painter and Army officer, and a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Life Suchodolski was born in Grodno and was the brother of Rajnold Suchodolski. He joined the ...

, as well as a marble bust of Count Rumyantsev by

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

. The bronze equestrian statue of Prince

Joseph Poniatowski Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

Bertel Thorvaldsen Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish and Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in ...

, which Paskevich had brought from

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

as a trophy in 1842, was dismantled by the Poles during the Polish-Soviet War and transported back to Warsaw, only to be destroyed by the Germans in the 1940s.Official website: Works by artists from Poland in the museum palace and park ensemble
By far the most conspicuous landmark in the park is the Neoclassical

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

of Sts. Peter and Paul. It was commissioned by Count Nikolay Rumyantsev from architect John Clark in 1809 but was not consecrated until 1824.Ю. В. Шпит, В. И. Аникин. "Архитектура Советской Белоруссии". Стройиздат, 1973. Стр. 117. The church is the seat of the local Orthodox bishopric.

Other Rumyantsev residences

* Tashan, Ukraine *

Kachanivka Kachanivka Palace ( uk, Качанівка; ''Kachanivka''; russian: Качановка; ''Kachanovka'') is one of the many country estates built by Pyotr Rumyantsev, Catherine II's viceroy of Little Russia. It stands on the bank of the Smosh R ...

References

{{coord, 52, 25, 20, N, 31, 00, 59, E, type:city_source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title Palaces in Belarus History museums in Belarus Gomel Houses completed in 1796 Neoclassical architecture in Belarus Neoclassical palaces Museums in Gomel Region Buildings and structures in Gomel Region 1796 establishments in the Russian Empire