Lida Castle is one of the most famous architectural monuments of Belarus. It was created in 1323 by order of Prince Gediminas. Its main purpose is to protect the lands from the crusaders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who liked the generous lands of this part of Europe.
Building a castle
Lida Castle, the photo of which is presented in this article, was built in a swampy area, at the place where the rivers Kamenka and Lideya meet. On its northern side there was a moat that connected the rivers and separated the building from the city. To build this structure, the builders were able to create a sandy artificial island. Further (in the 16-17 centuries), during the period of castle fortifications, an artificial lake was created on the north side.
Lida Castle in plan is an irregular quadrangle with 2 corner towers. Its walls were built of brick and rubble. By the way, brick in Eastern Europe and Germany was then very popular. It served as the basis for the emergence of "brick Gothic", in which, in fact, the castle was made.
Buildings
In the courtyard of the castle there were household and residential buildings, while from the 16th century the first floor was taken over by city administrative buildings - a prison, an archive and a court. The courtyard also housed an Orthodox church, which was moved to the city in 1533.
On the southern wall, loopholes are still preserved, which were of the same height and tubeless, but of different widths. There were 3 types in total. The loopholes were necessary for shooting crossbows and bows.
In the southwestern part of the castle there was a tower close in plan to a square. The thickness of the walls was about 3 m, and its height was much higher than the 12-meter walls of the building.
In the north-east of the courtyard was the 2nd tower, presumably built at the end of the 14th century. Then castle fortifications were created in Belarus and Lithuania, as enemy attacks became more frequent and powerful. This tower also has the shape of a quadrangle.
A castle in history
Lida Castle experienced devastating sieges from the end of the 14th century. Initially, it was captured by the crusaders, who partially plundered it, and then by the Anglo-German army. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle was attacked by the Crimean Tatars, Prince Svidrigaila and the troops of Yuri Svyatoslavich. In 1659, the Lida Castle was stormed by an army from Moscow.
In 1394, one of the British raids on Lida took place, the French army also took part in it. The British intended to plunder the city, but the inhabitants themselves burned all the houses and hid in the castle, thus repulsing the attack. Because thethe city did not have its own fortifications, the castle was a salvation for the entire local population.
The city burned down in 1891 due to a fire that destroyed the castle too. The city authorities began to sell its fragments, bricks and stones were used to restore the buildings of Lida. But after numerous protests from local residents, vandalism and looting was stopped.
Restoration
In tsarist times, the restoration of the castle began. Then the Imperial Archaeological Commission allocated 946 rubles for restoration work, although little was done. In the 1920s, Polish specialists took over the restoration work, although they could do little. In the eighties of the last century, specialists from the Ministry of Culture of Belarus restored the northeastern tower and walls, where today the local history museum is located. It is worth knowing when going on an excursion to the Lida Castle, the opening hours of the exhibition halls: they are open to visitors every day, except Monday, from morning to 7 pm.
The most recent restoration of the building took place in 2011, but its results did not even disappoint - they outraged those who were not indifferent! There is an opinion that the work was carried out extremely carelessly, with the sole purpose of pleasing the officials and withdrawing the budget funds allocated for restoration.
Brick laying was carried out somehow, artlessly and crookedly. The masonry took an incredible amount of modern mortar, and as a result, huge gaps remained in the walls. But the main thing is the bricks, which were also “today's”, and notoriginal; in some places even hollow ceramites appeared, which they could not make in the gloomy Middle Ages. The bricks are also of different shades, while their color difference was not taken into account during laying.
Lida Castle: reviews of tourists
Many tourists remain at a loss after visiting here. They leave feedback that they were unpleasantly surprised to see an exposition on the 1st floor, which reminds many, rather, of a corner of local history in the school museum. Household items and castle attributes were made primitively. Some vacationers grin, talking about the table that is set in the main hall of the castle - it is lit by just a few candles, which, in theory, should have been much more; Apparently, the means were spared on them here. As a result, it is incredibly dark here. Also, tourists leave angry reviews that concrete was used in some places of the building, while the stairs are completely made of reinforced concrete! Surely such a structure will stand for hundreds of years. But if people in the 14th century had known anything about reinforced concrete, most likely the history of Eastern Europe and Russia would have been different, and the castle would not have suffered such a fate as destruction from time to time.
