Kossovo Castle in Kossovo

Palace of the Puslovskys or, as it is often called Kossovo Castle is an architectural monument of the first half of the XIX century. It is located in Kossovo that is a small town in the south of Belarus. There were times when this region was as Polish as Belarusian territory. Once it was a typical gentry possession and later it belonged to the Communist Party.

The palace was built in Kossovo in 1838 following the Gothic style by the architect František Yashcholda that came from Warsaw. The Italian master Marconi created the inner design of the palace.

Landowner Casimir Puslovsky began the construction of the palace. Then his heir - industrialist Vandalin Puslovsky continued the building process. But the further fate of Kossovo Castle was tragic. Leon Puslovsky, a son of Vandalin, lost the family estate at cards. After that Kossovo Castle constantly changed its owners and gradually lost its grandeur and luxury.

In 1914 Palace of the Puslovskys was completely plundered by invaders. During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet guerrillas set fire to it, trying to prevent the creation of the Nazi ambush on the territory of once prosperous estate.

Kossovo Castle has 12 towers, each symbolizing a certain month of a year. The palace was originally constructed in such way that annually the sun lit two and a half days one of its rooms. A unique system of internal corridors and windows allow the sunlight to penetrate into every corner of Kossovo Castle. According to the local legend, the landlords Puslovskie celebrated a «room day»: they specially decorated a room, when it was filled with the sunlight.

Palace of the Puslovskys had more than 100 rooms. One of them, according to some historians, had a glass floor under which there was an aquarium. The palace was famous for its library having more than 10 000 books. The local legend tells that the owners of the castle had a lion to fight theft among servants. Every night they unleashed a lion and allowed it to go silently among corridors of the palace guarding the property of the owners.

Today instead a majestic powerful castle, you can see only bare walls. Kossovo Castle is under reconstruction now. It is the Republican property and is under state protection.

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