Belarus · Restored
Mir Castle Complex
Mir Castle Complex is a 16th-century fortified castle in Mir, Belarus, built in the late Brick Gothic style and later refitted with Renaissance residential wings. The complex centres on a square citadel with five towers and two inner residential ranges and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Its prime
1580
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1580
The shape it held in its prime.
A compact square citadel of red brick with a rough fieldstone plinth, its 75-metre sides enclosing an inner courtyard and five towered corners. The outer curtain is punctuated by a central arched gate and tall brick towers with white plastered decorative panels and narrow slit windows. Two inner wings (northern and eastern) present three-storey plastered facades with limestone portals and mullioned windows. Steep pyramidal red-tiled roofs and metal weather vanes top the towers; the site stands on a low rise with lawns before the entrance.
Its story
The story of Mir Castle Complex.
Duke Juryj Ivanavič Illinič began the castle near Mir after the turn of the 16th century in the Belarusian Gothic style: five towers guarding a citadel courtyard whose walls formed a square 75 metres on each side. When the Ilyinich line died out in 1568, Mir passed to Mikalaj Kryštafor "the Orphan" Radziwiłł, who refitted it with a two-winged, three-storey Renaissance residence along the eastern and northern inner walls, its plastered façades dressed with limestone portals, balconies and porches.
Abandoned for nearly a century and severely damaged in the Battle of Mir (1812), the castle passed on Daminik Hieranim Radziwiłł's death from battle injuries in 1817 to his daughter Stefania, who married Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Their son Maurice Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst sold it in 1895 to Mikalaj Sviatapolk-Mirski of the Bialynia clan, whose family owned Mir until the Soviet occupation of Western Belarus in 1939. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the few surviving monuments of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in Belarus.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1580.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Mir Castle Complex — including 3 interiors: northern state rooms (interior), chapel and burial vault (sviatapolk-mirsky), battlement walk and tower-top view. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Mir Castle Complex with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1580 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Mir Castle Complex.
The families that held Mir Castle Complex for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Ilyinich
Duke Juryj Ivanavič Illinič began the castle after the turn of the 16th century; the family held Mir until the line died out in 1568.
Radziwill
Held by the Radziwiłłs from 1568, when Mikalaj Kryštafor 'the Orphan' Radziwiłł added the Renaissance residence, until Daminik Hieranim Radziwiłł's death in 1817.
Sayn-Wittgenstein
Passed in 1817 to Radziwiłł heiress Stefania, wife of Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg; the line held Mir until their son sold it in 1895.
Sviatapolk-Mirski
Bought by Mikalaj Sviatapolk-Mirski in 1895 and owned by the family until the Soviet occupation of Western Belarus in 1939.
