Pischalauski Castle, Former prison castle in Minsk, Belarus
Pischalauski Castle is a three-story neoclassical prison building with four corner towers, completed in 1825 on Romanovskaya Hill. Its pale facades are pierced by rows of small windows, and two brick towers with conical roofs rise above the roofline. A round white tower with a crenellated top stands at the center of the complex.
Built as a stone prison, the castle was completed by 1824 and opened in 1825 for landowner Rudolf Pischallo, with architect Kazimierz Chrzczonowicz designing it and Tsar Nicholas I approving the project. It served as a prison from the start, later becoming SIZO No. 1. In 2024 the detention center moved out, and reconstruction began in 2025.
The name comes from Rudolf Pischallo, the contractor who won the state tender to build the prison; locals called it a castle after him. Its popular name, Volodarka, dates from after the October Revolution, when the street was renamed for revolutionary V. Volodarsky. It is also sometimes called the Belarusian Bastille.
The complex is undergoing reconstruction after the detention center moved out in April 2024, so access is restricted and the site cannot be entered. The two brick towers and the pale facade are visible from Valadarski Street and Romanovskaya Hill. A tower partially collapsed in April 2008, and the structure remains in need of repair.
One of the castle's four towers experienced a partial collapse in 2008, revealing the fragility of this two-century-old structure. This damage highlighted the challenges facing historical buildings as they age and require ongoing attention.
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