RADOMYSHL — A CASTLE WITH A SURPRISE
Radomysl Castle, built on the site of a paper mill constructed around 1612 / wikipedia.org
Would you like to make paper with your own hands using a 17th-century recipe? Such an opportunity exists. In Zhytomyr Region, 100 kilometers from Kyiv, there is a small town called Radomyshl. Just a few more kilometers from its center, and we arrive at the historical and cultural complex «Radomysl Castle».
This is a private museum complex founded by the renowned physician Olha Bohomolets. It includes a museum, a landscaped park, spaces for ceremonial events, a refectory, a concert hall, and a mini-hotel. It is here that the only Museum of Ukrainian Home Icons in Europe is located. Its exhibits are the personal collection of Ms. Bohomolets, which she has been assembling since 1995.
Via Regia («the Royal Road») — the oldest overland trade route in the world, laid back in antiquity — passed through this area. In the Middle Ages, merchants, artists, travelers, and pilgrims journeyed along this route from Europe to Kyiv and back.
A CASTLE WITH A SURPRISE
T
he structure was purchased as a mill, but during inspection and reconstruction it became clear that the mill had been built on the foundations of an old paper mill — the first in Central Ukraine. It was founded at the beginning of the 17th century (in 1612) by monks on the order of Yelysei Pletenetskyi, Archimandrite of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Radomyshl paper was not sold externally — it was intended for the Lavra printing house, which produced church and other books in print runs considerable for its time. The scale of production can be judged by the fact that in the first eight years of its existence the Lavra printing house printed more books than all the printing houses of Ukraine at that time combined. Paper from Radomyshl (then the town was called Radomysl) is easy to recognize by its watermarks. They feature the noble coats of arms of the Lavra’s archimandrites (first Yelysei Pletenetskyi, and after his death — Zakhariia Kopystenskyi), as well as stylized images of a three-domed church with crosses. According to Kopystenskyi, an outstanding church and cultural figure and one of the theorists of the concept «Kyiv — the Second Jerusalem», the paper mill was founded «with considerable funds, astonishing for that region as something unprecedented».
THE FIRST PRINTED BOOKS
It was on this very paper that the first Kyiv Book of Hours was printed in December 1616, the first Ukrainian poetry collection The Wreath of Virtues of the Most Reverend and God-fearing Gracious Father Pletenetskyi (1618), and the first Ukrainian dictionary Lexicon Slavenorosskii (1627) — publications that became milestones in the history of national book printing. From the moment of its founding, the paper mill was managed by Hieromonk Panteleimon Kokhanovskyi of the Lavra. He was a highly educated church figure and a true patriot of Ukraine — in 1654 he refused to swear allegiance to the Moscow tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Finished paper from Radomyshl was floated down the rivers Myka and then Teteriv to the Dnipro and delivered to Kyiv. The village that emerged simultaneously with the mill was named Papirnia. It remained an independent administrative unit until the 1960s, after which it became part of Radomyshl.
BY OLD RECIPES
The paper-making recipe is known. Paper pulp was prepared from flax, nettle, hemp, old clothing, and water. Depending on the type of paper — whether for printing or for writing — the raw materials were taken in different proportions. To prevent insects from damaging the finished sheets, onion and garlic husks were added to the pulp. The paper had a grayish tint but was exceptionally durable. It has survived far better than its Dutch and German counterparts from the same 17th century. Some researchers of Ukrainian book printing have suggested that the paper mill existed until 1648. It first fell into decline and was later destroyed. However, there is also a version that it continued to function in the 18th century — a view supported by Polish scholars as well. For decades, no outsiders managed to seize the mill. According to another version, however, it was destroyed in the second half of the 17th century during the National Liberation War of the Ukrainian people under the leadership of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and the later Cossack uprisings.
A MILL ON THE SITE OF A PAPER MILL
Only two hundred years later, at the beginning of the 20th century, a mill was built on the preserved foundations of the paper mill. This took place in 1902. The structure, erected of red brick on a natural stone hill, rises on the bank of the Myka River. In Soviet times, the building was also used as a mill, and after the collapse of the USSR it stood abandoned for a decade. The mill produced its last batch of flour in 1989. After that, it gradually turned into a city dump. In 2007, a large-scale reconstruction of the castle was carried out under the guidance of the new owner, Olha Bohomolets. During the restoration works, the structure was cleared of 60 tons of waste, and the surrounding area was drained and transformed into a landscaped park.
THE NEW ADDED TO THE OLD
In 2009, a monument to Yelysei Pletenetskyi, the founder of the Radomyshl paper mill, was installed near the castle-mill building. It is the first monument to this outstanding figure in Ukraine and the first monument to a person placed on a water surface. The sculpture was created by the Ukrainian master Vladyslav Volosenko. It depicts a monk sailing in a boat, his head bowed over an open book, holding a candle in his hand.
SECRETS OF THE MASTERS
During the reconstruction and restoration works, it was established that the building housing the old paper mill also had a defensive function. The walls were 1.5 meters thick. Moreover, it was built on a natural underground granite rock that extended many meters into the ground and served as its foundation, making undermining impossible. Constant raids by nomads at the time when the paper mill was built were inevitable. The monks foresaw this and therefore chose the site for the paper mill very carefully. They took into account the features of the landscape, which had to facilitate defense during attacks. Thus, they found a place on a rock surrounded by water on all sides and built the paper mill in the form of a castle. During the restoration process, craftsmen managed to recreate interiors of the 17th–19th centuries. In 2008–2009, a 35-meter-high tower was added to the main structure, and a bell was installed on it.
MAKE PAPER WITH YOUR OWN HANDS
And the most interesting part: visitors to the castle are offered a master class in papermaking. It’s that simple — you can make real paper with your own hands under the guidance of a master and see how machines that are more than four centuries old work… Nine old bells were hung on an arch near the castle. Via the Bridge of Dreams, one can reach the Island of Happiness, surrounded by water channels. There is also the Island of Love. So choose where to go first — for happiness or for love. I advise you not to miss either. Finally, one more fact: regardless of the weather in Radomyshl, inside the castle, behind the thick walls, almost the same temperature is maintained throughout the year — about +18 degrees Celsius. And this is no coincidence or whim, but a technological necessity: a constant temperature is extremely important for paper production.
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