A few kilometers from Slonim there are two villages, Derevyanchitsy and Brakovo, which belonged to the Ord family since the beginning of the 19th century. Here they had the same name farm Derevyanchitsy (today belongs to the territory of the village of Brakovo) with a chic palace and a family chapel-tomb. Unfortunately, the palace has not been preserved, but the chapel has survived to this day almost in its original form.
The chapel was built in 1852 by order of Peter Orda in memory of his deceased wife Evilena. The compact chapel is made of yellow brick in the Neo-Gothic style popular for that time. It is decorated with an arched portal with a triangular niche, the walls are cut by a cornice with pilasters, and the building ends with a small turret on the sides of which there are pinnacles.
In the second half of the 19th century, these regions were visited by Napoleon Orda (the most famous representative of this family, but on a different branch) and depicted the tomb in his drawing. As you can see, outwardly the building has changed slightly, only the rebuilt tower catches the eye.
Hordes owned the estate until 1927, after which the rich lands passed to Joseph Obezersky. Almost all prominent representatives of the Slonim branch of the Ords were buried in the crypt of this chapel.
The last representative of the line of the Ords, Joseph, received permission to hold services and mourning services in the chapel in 1904.
In Soviet times, the chapel was rebuilt and began to be used as a warehouse for fertilizers. A new one-story volume appeared to the right of the entrance, the tower was demolished, and the roof was simplified.
In the early 90s, this architectural monument was returned to believers who were able to restore the heritage of the Hordes. Since 2007, services have been held here again, and a commemorative shield with the history of construction has appeared on the wall.
What is known about Palace of the Ords? Surprisingly, not much. Probably the estate in Derevyanchitsy was built by Peter Orda, who built the chapel. Under him, the region flourished: the population increased, a brick factory and a distillery were built. Thanks to an old aerial photograph, you can see what the family's property looked like at the beginning of the 20th century.
The central part of the palace had one floor, two-story outbuildings adjoined on the sides, and in front of the entrance there was a lawn in the form of a circle with an alley of trees. I suppose that outwardly the palace was somewhat reminiscent of the estate of the Platers in Opsa.
In addition to the palace itself, numerous outbuildings were built. True, only one building has survived to this day - the former house for workers.
Perhaps it was bought out and now they are trying to restore it, new windows are already visible.
It will be easy to find the chapel, from Slonim turn onto the road H6348 and move to the first exit to the gravel road, before reaching Brakovo, below is the point marked on the map:
In these parts I recommend to look Puslovsky's estate "Albertin", as well as unusual split boulder in Yakimovichi.
