Mysh old castle site
To the south of the village of Staraya Mysh, on the bank of the Myshanka River, there is a medieval castle site. There are remains of once most powerful medieval castle of our country.
Before the 16th century, the settlement of Mysh was part of the royal lands. In 1568, Sigismund August, king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuanina, transferred Mysh and the neighbouring lands to the possession of the magnate Jan Chodkiewicz for his military services, who built there a powerful wooden castle.
The castle stood on a strategically important road, the Warsaw highway, and was a major obstacle to the enemy.
During the war of 1654, the castle failed to stand the siege of the Russian troops and was destroyed. The castle was almost of a regular quadrilateral shape (50 x 50 m) surrounded on 3 sides by no less than a 4-metre-high earth mound and a 30 –metre –wide and up to 15-metre-deep water-filled moat. On the eastern side, there was no earth mound as the main barrier for the advancing enemy was the swampy bank of the river.
A reconstructed model of the castle is now on display at the district Folk Crafts Centre in the village of Rusino.
Geographic coordinates: N 53° 10'55,81" E 26° 53' 34,35"
Foto: Владимира ЗУЕВА, Андрея ПОНОМАРЕВА
