The Palace of the Puslovskys, or Kossovo Castle, has been nicknamed "knights’ dream" for its fairy-tale-like appearance and splendor. This unique monument of neo-gothic architecture of the 19th century is situated in the Belarusian town of Kossovo.
Kossovo was first mentioned in 1494 when Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander Jagiellon presented these lands to Yan Khreptovich, a high-ranking state official of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
For centuries Kossovo was owned by several distinguished dynasties: the Khreptovichs, Sanguszkos, Flemmings, Czartoryskis and Sapiehas.
Wojciech Puslovsky bought the estate in 1821. He founded a carpet-making factory in Kossovo and built and restored about 60 churches in the neighborhood.
The Puslovskys took pride in their estate being neighbors with the manor in the Merechevschina village- the birthplace of national hero of Poland and the USA and honorary citizen of France Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
The palace in Kossovo is unique. It consists of the central two-storied building and two wings. Because of the rectangular merlons at the top of the towers the palace is often called a mini-castle.
Each tower symbolizes one month of the year, with four highest towers in the center standing for May, June, July and August when harvest is reaped.
There are over 100 rooms and no walk-through rooms in the palace. Thanks to a system of corridors and a special location of the windows every year one of the palace’s rooms was flooded with sunlight for two and a half days. This was the time when the owners of the palace celebrated the Day of the Roomadorning it and spending there most of the time.
Kossovo Palace was famous for its magnificent audience chambers: the White Chamber was designed for noisy balls, the Black Chamber was used for card games while in the Pinkone people usually played music.
Another room, the Ceremonial Chamber, was probably the most amazing one. It is said that the floor of this chamber was made of glass under which fish swam and algae grew. Today’s restoration experts have not confirmed this fact but they know for sure that the palace was equipped with an under-floor heating system.
The palace was surrounded by a magnificent park with over 150 species of exotic plants. A special greenhouse was built for the most unique of them. The terraces of the park led down to three artificial lakes and the Kosciuszko estate.
After Leonard Puslowski gambled away the estate, Kossovo changed hands several times. During the First World War the palace was plundered and its valuables were taken abroad. In 1921 a district administration office and a bee keeper school opened here.
During the Second World War the palace suffered the worst damage. For many days a fire blazed through its rooms in 1944 and destroyed the decoration of the chambers and left only the magnificent walls.
Lots of legends are connected with Kossovo Palace. Locals said that the owners kept a lion to guard the palace. At night the lion was released from the cage to roam about the corridors.
Despite the destruction the beauty of Kossovo Palace still impresses and attracts tourists. Since 2008 the site has been undergoing restoration which is set to finish in 2018.
Kossovo Palace has turned into a social, cultural and tourism center. A museum, a mini-hotel and a restaurant will be opened here. There are also plans to restore the biggest terraced park in Belarus to its original condition.
Tourists from all over the world are welcome to visit the house-turned-museum of Tadeusz Kosciuszko which was restored and opened in 2004.
In Kossovo you can also see the following sightseeing:
The Kossovo town is located in Ivatsevichi District, Brest Region, Belarus
