Sapega castle in Golshany

The Golshany Castle, erected in the first half of the 17th century - a graphic illustration of the significant changes in architecture that took place over the course of the century. Its composition vaguely resembles the Mir Castle and is a rectangular (88.6 x 95.6 m) closed building. Residential buildings with towers at the corners create a closed square courtyard. However, the mighty defensive walls, typical for the castle construction of the 16th century, gave way to the facade of a residential building in Golshany. There is no longer the overhead tower, and the hexagonal towers have become smaller and more slender. They housed living and utility rooms. The towers have not yet lost their defensive significance, however, the basis of the defense of the Golshany castle has already moved to the mighty earthen ramparts and water ditches that surrounded the castle.

The castle was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, which significantly changed its appearance and volumetric-spatial composition (the galleries, the decorative design of the walls were lost, two pentahedral turrets were added to the northwestern and southeastern buildings). As a result of a survey of the monument in 1981-83 by an architectural and archaeological expedition of the Special Scientific and Restoration Workshops of the Ministry of Culture, 3 construction stages of different periods were revealed, differing in the nature of the used brick, lime mortar and masonry technique.

The poor state of preservation of the castle in Golshany does not allow to fully determine its layout. It can only be argued that to the right of the entrance there was a large square hall with four columns on which the cross vaults rested.

Already in the 17th century, the Golshany Castle from Sapieha passed to other owners, and over the centuries it often passed from hand to hand. In 1880, the owner of the castle, Gorbanev, began blowing up the towers and walls, and selling bricks to build a tavern.

Before the outbreak of the First World War, people still lived in the castle, and after the Great Patriotic War, the remnants of the living quarters were finally dismantled for the construction of pigsties and a house of culture necessary for the local collective farm.

In 2018, the foundation was waterproofed, the walls of the North Tower, as well as window and door openings were restored. The walls of the tower for strengthening were tightened with spiral rods, the inter-storey floors were reinforced, and a roof with a weather vane was installed at the top. The reconstruction of fragments of the walls adjacent to the tower is in progress.

On May 6, 2021, the grand opening of the North Tower of the Golshany Castle and the tourist information center with it took place.

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