The Radziwiłł Mausoleum
in Nesvizh.
Research

Four hundred years separate the first burials in the crypt of the Corpus Christi Church in Nesvizh from the last ones (from the turn of the 16th-17th centuries to the year 2000). The only thing that has remained unchanged in the course of all these centuries is inevitability of death. The very perception of death, however, its actualisation, the burial rituals and customs have changed their form and content with the passing of time.

The research conducted in 2016 and 2017 lifted the veil of the past and allowed us to come into contact with the burials of the beginning of the 17th and the end of the 18th centuries. The elaborate and viable Baroque style with its peculiar trends in art and culture, distinctive values and the worldview prevailed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the largest part of that period. A pious person committed to God and the Homeland replaced a valiant hero and a free personality typical of the Renaissance. The following three factors are said to have been conducive to the development of the Baroque in Europe: the greatness of the King’s power, deep spirituality and love of the theatre¹Laima Šinkūnaitė, XVII a. Lietuvos portretas: kultūros, asmenybės ir jos atvaizdo santykis (series Acta Academiaе Artium Vilnensis, vol. 19), Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2000, p. 30.. Funerals of the noblemen of that time were also theatrical with pompous mournful processions, a solemn Mass, commemorative speeches and sermons, and many noble participants. The funeral ceremonies of the noblemen of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania have been exhaustively researched and described by the historians²Lina Balaišytė, “Publicum dolori theatrum: kilmingųjų laidotuvių apipavidalinimas Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje XVIII a. viduryje”, Ars memoriae: atmintis – dailės funkcija ir tema (XVIII–XXI a.) (series Dailės istorijos studijos, vol. 3), compiled by Lina Balaišytė, Auksė Kaladžinskaitė, Vilnius: Kultūros, filosofijos ir meno institutas, 2008, p. 9-23; Rūta Janonienė, “Laidotuvių iškilmės Vilniaus Bernardinų bažnyčioje XVII–XIX amžiais”, Iškilmės ir kasdienybė Lietuvos didžiojoje kunigaikštystėje ir jos kontekstuose (series Acta Academiaе Artium Vilnensis, vol. 54), compiled by Aistė Paliušytė, Tojana Račiūnaitė, Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2009, p. 27-40; Aistė Paliušytė, “Vizualumas Radvilų laidotuvių iškilmėse XVIII amžiuje”, Menotyra, 2017, vol. 4, p. 243-259.. However, the Radziwiłł family crypt still hides the answers to the questions about what clothes the dead were buried in, what material their coffins were lined with and what burial items were placed in the coffins to accompany the dead of the Radziwiłł family to their last resting place.

Over the past few decades it was believed that it is known for sure which sarcophagi contained the remains of the most prominent representatives of the Radziwiłł family; specific names were mentioned and concrete sarcophagi were boldly indicated. This information was provided to the visitors to the crypt, the echo of such “knowledge” can be found in the crypt inventory documents of 1999 or 2016³[Gintaras Kazlauskas, et al.], Kunigaikščių Radvilų mauzoliejaus inventorizacija: [the manuscript; preserved at the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture (Lithuania)], 1999; [Mikołaj Radziwiłł, Maciej Radziwiłł], Krypta X. X. Radziwiłłów. Kościół Bożego Ciała Nieśwież, [s. l.], 2016.. This conviction was based on the assumptions once put forward by someone and later they turned into “irrefutable” facts and abundant inscriptions engraved in the crypt (on the walls, on the “cases” or on the sarcophagi). The research carried out in 2016 and in 2017 aroused serious doubts about the alleged identities of the individuals buried there – the burial items discovered or anthropological data were at variance with the specified names. For instance, a cap found in the alleged coffin⁴Sarcophagus No 1. The numbering of the sarcophagi is hereinafter referred to in accordance with the Inventory carried out by the Department of Cultural Heritage (Lithuania) in 1999, see [Gintaras Kazlauskas, et al.], op. cit., p. [18] [the scheme]. of Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł Sierotka (1549-1616) was dated to the end of the 17th century – the first half of the 18th century rather than to the period of the life and burial of Mikołaj Krzysztof (See more: Nesvizh. Clothing). The coffin⁵Sarcophagus No 6. assigned to Andrzej Skorulski (1554-1637), Mikołaj Krzysztof brother-in-arms, contained the remains of a man dressed in a European suit typical of the 18th century. This cast doubts on the reliability of the wooden name plates fastened to the “cases”. Most likely they appeared in 1905 (See more: Nesvizh. 1905), when the crypt handling work was carried out on the initiative of Jerzy Radziwiłł. Unfortunately, these plates could have easily been removed and placed in a reverse order by curious visitors examining the coffins in the 20th century. This added to greater confusion. Peace and quiet of the deceased were once again disturbed in 1953 (See more: Nesvizh. 1953), when attempts were made to reveal the embalming secrets in the crypt (the expedition led by Professor Vasiliy Cherviakov). Hence, the following challenge is posed to research: not only to preserve the crypt, to document the remains and findings and to handle them properly but also to identify the dead as far as possible.

Vytautė Lukšėnienė