The Radziwiłł Mausoleum
in Nesvizh.
Research

In the Middle Ages and in the early modern period (5th-18th centuries) man’s relationship with his surrounding or imaginary space depended on his social status. Sacred space was not an exception. Its division and the “gradation” of holiness were determined by the social structure and reflected it at the same time¹Will Coster, Andrew Spicer, “Introduction: The Dimensions of Sacred Space in Reformation Europe”, Sacred Space in Early Modern Europe, eds. Will Coster, Andrew Spicer, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 9-10.. In the medieval Europe, a tradition became established to bury more important members of the community in the church, to be more exact, in a certain space (crypt) underneath the church, as close to the high altar and the relics of the saints as possible, and to bury people belonging to the lower classes outside the walls of the church, in the churchyard²Thomas W. Laqueur, The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains, Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press, p. 96; Jeanne Halgren Kilde, Sacred Power, Sacred Space: An Introduction to Christian Architecture and Worship, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 80.. The burial in the church had to demonstrate the origins of the deceased and his/her place in the society, as well as to keep alive his/her memory, and maintain his/her bond with the living family members, relatives and friends. Tombstones, sculptures and other similar works had to serve as reminders of the deceased, his/her life and works.

In the Middle Ages, rulers and their family members were buried in cathedrals or other significant churches. For example, thus emerged the mausoleum of the Kings of France, the Basillica of Saint Denis³Elizabeth Tingle, Jonathan Willis, “Introduction: Dying, Death, Burial and Commemoration in Reformation Europe”, Dying, Death, Burial and Commemoration in Reformation Europe, eds. Elizabeth Tingle, Jonathan Willis, London, New York: Routledge, 2015, p. 12.. In the late Middle Ages, other more prominent representatives of the elite also began to be buried in privately-owned chapels built inside or outside churches⁴Jeanne Halgren Kilde, op. cit., p. 79-80.. At the end of the Middle Ages, and especially in the Early modern period (16th-18th centuries), burials in private chapels gained in popularity even more, and wealthier noble houses began to construct separate mausoleums devoted to the deceased of their own families⁵Ralph Houlbrooke, Death, Religion, and the Family in England, 1480-1750, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 338..

Similar burial practices were also established in Lithuania (See more: Lithuania. History: Mausoleums and the Way of Crypts to Lithuania). Shortly after the introduction of Christianity, the most influential representatives of the political elite started building private chapels in churches where they had to be buried and immortalized⁶Darius Baronas, Stephen C. Rowell, The Conversion of Lithuania: From Pagan Barbarians to Late Medieval Christians, Vilnius: The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, 2015, p. 302.. The chapels of the Goštautas, Kęsgaila and of other noble houses were erected in the Vilnius Cathedral. Other nobles chose monastery churches as places of their eternal rest⁷Rimvydas Petrauskas, Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė: politika ir visuomenė vėlyvaisiais Viduramžiais, Vilnius: Lietuvių katalikų mokslo akademija, Naujasis židinys-Aidai, 2017, p. 412.. The individuals of lower-class origin were buried in churchyards or traditional graveyards⁸Mindaugas Paknys, Mirtis LDK kultūroje XVI–XVIII a., Vilnius: Aidai, 2008, p. 102.. Hence, burial in the church area quickly acquired a clear social implication. At that time no mausoleums of individual families were built yet. Neither were they built in the neighbouring Kingdom of Poland, until the development of Renaissance culture provided the impetus for the emergence of mausoleums in that region. Following the example of the last rulers of the Jagiellonian dynasty (Sigismund’s Chapel in the Wawel Cathedral), the Polish nobles also began building their own mausoleums. According to the calculations of Jeannie Łabno, nearly 100 mausoleums of various size were built in Poland in the second half of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century. An exceptional and sumptuous burial place in mausoleums, in newly-built or rebuilt churches had to become another symbol of prestige and power of noble families⁹Jeannie Łabno, Commemorating the Polish Renaissance Child: Funeral Monuments and their European Context, London, New York: Routledge, 2011, p. 83-84..

In the late 16th century, via Poland, the fashion to build family mausoleums reached the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (See more: Lithuania. History: Mausoleums and the Way of Crypts to Lithuania). The first mausoleum of this kind appeared on the estate of the Radziwiłł family in Nesvizh (See more: Nesvizh. History; Nesvizh. Tradition). (funded in 1584, built in 1586-1593). Gradually, the Corpus Christi Church in Nesvizh has become the place of eternal rest for many Radziwiłłs and also one of the largest complexes of this kind in the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Voivode of Vilnius and the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Lew Sapieha funded the construction of his family mausoleum alongside the Church of St. Michael the Archangel and the Bernardine nunnery in Vilnius¹⁰Mindaugas Paknys, Mecenatystės reiškinys XVII a. LDK. Bažnytinės architektūros užsakymai, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2003, p. vi, 192..

Martynas Jakulis