Belarus · Ruin
Halshany Castle
Halshany (Holszany) Castle is the ruined early‑17th‑century residence of the Sapieha magnate family in Halshany, Belarus. Built about 1610, it was a large red‑brick private château whose surviving fragments include vaulted arcades, curtain walls and a tall rectangular tower now partially collapsed.
Its prime
1610
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1610
What Halshany Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact red‑brick château clustered around an open inner courtyard, with curtain walls pierced by a sequence of broad semicircular vaulted arches and arcades. A taller rectangular tower rises above the surrounding ranges, its faces of brick punctured by narrow vertical openings. The roofs and towers would have been complete with tiled roofs and raised parapets; the complex sits low in parkland among trees, with lawns and paths around the enclosed yard.
Its story
The story of Halshany Castle.
Halshany Castle was built about 1610 by Paweł Stefan Sapieha, replacing an older castle of the Holszanski princely family, of whom the Sapiehas were descendants and heirs. The seat of one of the largest land estates in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the red-brick residence once rivalled Mir Castle as the most elegant private château in the Grand Duchy.
The castle was devastated and looted twice by invading Swedish troops, during the Deluge and again in the Great Northern War in 1704, and the financially pressed Sapiehas never fully restored it. In the 18th century it passed, diminished by creditors, to the Żaba family and then to the Korsaks, who sold it in the last quarter of the 19th century to a Russian landlord, Gorbanyov; he had the towers pulled down in 1880.
The nickname "Black Castle", despite the red brick, properly belongs to a fictional building in a book by Uladzimir Karatkievich, loosely based on Halshany. Government-funded restoration of the northern tower began in 2018, and an annual tournament is held beneath the walls each summer.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1610.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Halshany Castle, including 1 interior: north tower interior. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Halshany Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1610, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Halshany Castle.
The families that held Halshany Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Holszanski
The Holszanski princely family held the earlier castle on the site until their Sapieha heirs rebuilt it about 1610.
Sapieha
Seat of the Sapieha magnates from its building about 1610 until the 18th century.
Żaba
Held by the Żaba family in the 18th century, the estate diminished by creditors.
Korsak
Held by the Korsak family until sold in the last quarter of the 19th century.
