Golshany Castle is a magnificent palace that once belonged to a noble and wealthy family. You can contemplate everything that remains of this building in the Oshmyany district of the Grodno region of the Republic of Belarus, unless of course you are afraid of his ghost.
The castle was built in the first half of the 17th century on the initiative of Pavel Stefan Sapieha. Its greatness was beyond doubt - Baroque architecture, skillful stucco, rich tapestries, exquisite furniture, exquisite dishes, stained glass … Many artists, inspired by the splendor of the castle, captured it on their canvases.
Pavel Sapega was unhappy in his personal life. Three of the prince's wives died, for which they even began to call him "Bluebeard" behind his back, the name of an insidious fairytale character who killed his wives. Paul had no heirs - according to most historians, this was the main reason for the destruction of the castle. If the Golshany became the ancestral nest of the next generation of Sapieha, the castle would not have been brought to such a state.
Golshany castle today is just ruins, among which the wind whistles lonely. Time and wars have not spared this place. Even in the newspapers of the late 19th century it was written: “Half of this castle still exists in a residential state, but there is no third floor, the chapel has been turned into a warehouse of various rubbish, only in some rooms there are traces of painting on the ceiling and a couple of old landscapes above the doors; finally, a portrait of one of the Sapieha and a marble table complement a small handful of silent witnesses of the past of the Sapieha castle."
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In 1880 the castle belonged to a certain Gorbanev. He ordered to dismantle part of the buildings in order to build a tavern out of this brick. People lived in the castle until 1939. In Soviet times, the palace suffered even more: a pigsty and a house of culture were built from its bricks. It is said that it was after this that the ghost of the Black Monk woke up again in the ruins desecrated by people.
According to legend, a long time ago, a young guy without a title and a big fortune allowed himself the audacity to fall in love with the beauty of Golshansk, Princess Ganna-Gordislava Golshanskaya, who reciprocated. The lovers began to meet in secret, but once the princess's father found out about it. He considered that a simple young man was not worthy of becoming a part of such a rich and noble family and ordered him to be immured in one of the castle walls.
Since then, a ghost began to roam the castle, which the inhabitants of the castle called the "Black Monk". Over the years, the ghost appeared less and less until it disappeared completely. But when a pigsty was built from the bricks of the castle, the Black Monk began to appear again to uninvited guests, scaring them away from the ruins.
It is believed that the spirit protects, not the castle, but its remains, hidden in one of the walls or disturbed during the extraction of bricks for the construction of a pigsty and a house of culture. These days, a ghost is rarely seen, but its appearance does not bode well.