New Hrodna Castle, Hrodna, Belarus

The New Castle in Hrodna, Belarus is the royal palace of Augustus III of Poland and Stanisław August Poniatowski where the infamous Grodno Sejm took place in 1793.

The royal residence was built on the high bank of the Neman River at a little distance from the Old Hrodna Castle which had suffered great dilapidation in the aftermath of the Swedish occupation in the early 18th century. The two castles are joined by a 300-year-old arch bridge.

The palace compound was designed by Carl Friedrich Pöppelmann. Construction was carried out between 1734 and 1751 under the supervision of several other Saxon architects, including Johann Friedrich Knöbel and Joachim Daniel von Jauch. The palace was completed under the direction of Giuseppe de Sacco in 1789 and remained home for King Stanisław II August until 1797.

Used as a hospital and barracks throughout most of the 19th century, the palace was renovated by the Polish administration in the interwar period. Scarcely anything is left of the original fabric of the castle, whose refined Rococo detailing vanished during World War II. There followed a hasty and rather superficial refurbishing of the palace by the Soviets with a view to making it the headquarters of a local obkom.

A plaque on the wall of the palace commemorates the council of war held in the royal residence by Tadeusz Kościuszko on 30 October 1794.

References:

Wikipedia

Castles and fortifications in Belarus

User Reviews

M-L (6 months ago)
The old castle is a place to visit when traveling to Hrodna. The visit takes 2 to 3 hours depending on your pace. Translation is available in several languages. The top of the castle gives you a good look at the surrounding.

walper (4 years ago)
Wondeful place!

Maksim Zmitrovich (4 years ago)
Beautifully restored. Picturesque place. Fantastic pictures for Instagram. )))

Fridolen Djiegue (5 years ago)
It is a beautiful muséum

Phillip Wingfield (5 years ago)
The Old Castle in Grodno or Hrodno as it is known locally looks very interesting and has a great view over the river. Unfortunately the castle was closed when we visited and it looks like there is some building work going on so perhaps it is being refurbished. I would like to go back and visit sometime and have a proper look around. The Old Castle is next door to the New Castle which looks more like a stately home or similar then a castle.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Zvonimir Hrvoj

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New Hrodna Castle

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