Niasviž Castle or Nesvizh Castle (, , , ) is a residential castle of the Radziwiłł family in Niasviž, Belarus. It is above sea level. Built in the 16th and 17th centuries, and maintained by the Radziwiłł family until 1939, the castle and the nearby Corpus Christi Church were instrumental in the development of Central European and Russian architecture. In 2005, the castle, church, and surrounding environment were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. History The estate was owned by the Radziwiłł magnate family from 1533, when it was awarded to Mikołaj Radziwiłł and his brother Jan Radziwiłł after the extinction of the Kiszka family. Since the Radziwiłłs were one of the most important and wealthy clans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, it was there that the Lithuanian Metrica was moved in 1551. In 1586 the estate was turned into an ordynacja. After the Union of Lublin the castle became one of the most important residences in the central part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1582 Mikołaj Krzysztof "Sierotka" Radziwiłł, the Marshal of Lithuania, Voivode of Trakai–Vilnius and castellan of Šiauliai, started the construction of an imposing square three-storey "château". Although the works were based on a pre-existing structure of a medieval castle, the former fortifications were entirely turned into a renaissance-baroque house. Construction was completed by 1604, and they added several galleries half a century later. The château's corners were fortified with four octagonal towers. In 1706, during the Great Northern War, Charles XII's army sacked the castle and destroyed its fortifications. Several decades later, the Radziwiłłs invited some German and Italian architects to substantially renovate and enlarge the castle. Antoni Zaleski decorated its yellow facades with baroque stucco work. The 16th-century castle gates were also reconstructed, and the two-storey gatehouse tower was crowned with a helm. It was at this time that the three separate buildings surrounding the central courtyard were joined into a single structure. During the Polish–Russian War of 1792, the castle was seized by Russian forces and the Radziwiłł family was expelled. Soon afterwards the Lithuanian Metrica was transferred to Saint Petersburg (where it still remains today), while the majority of works of art gathered in the palace were distributed among various Russian and Polish nobles in support of Catherine the Great. Due to the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the castle became part