Four interior exhibitions are being prepared at the former residence of King Stefan Bathory: The Chapel, the Royal Bath, the alabaster hall and the royal secretary's dwelling. Work is now nearing completion on the interior finish of the new rooms. Specialists have begun to decorate some parts of the interior.

 - The fourth stage of the first phase is nearing completion. This is a total of six rooms and four interior expositions. Museum exhibitions devoted to the history of the construction of the Old Castle, the life of the ancient city, the era of Stefan Bathory and other topics have been open to visitors for a year. In the new rooms special attention is paid to the interiors, which presumably could have been in the Old Castle in those old times. Specialists from "Belrestavratsiya" work at the site, said Yury Kiturko, director of the Grodno State Historical and Archaeological Museum.

 The specialists had to take into account many historical and artistic nuances while reconstructing each room and decorating the premises. This process is delicate and painstaking: each detail is important in the restoration of a unique historical site.

The Kaplitsa is almost ready. Its windows are decorated with bright stained glass, just above, in the semicircular niches there are twenty paintings that tell about the life of St. Stephen. Perhaps, as Yuri Kiturko suggested, it was in honor of this saint that the chapel of the Old Castle was consecrated at one time.

 Perhaps one of the most unique elements of this room is fresco paintings with floral ornamentation, which remained from the XVI century. Experts have discovered it under several layers of plaster from the 20th century.

 - Prior to the restoration, we did not know about the existence of a fresco on the upper slope of the right window of the chapel in the window aperture. Its discovery was unexpected. Specialists from "Belrestavratsiya" carefully removed plaster, cleaned and preserved the preserved fresco paintings, said the director of the museum.

Another decoration of the chapel is a unique stove. By the way, there are six ovens in the Old Castle, and they are all different. The most unusual will be located in the Royal bath - it will have a special heating boiler. Works in the bath, by the way, are in full swing. The next step is to place interior furnishings, basins, jugs and other unique bath utensils.

 Meanwhile, in the alabaster room, where the king was resting after the bath, specialists have begun to paint the walls. In parallel, they are also installing some exhibits.

 It is expected that the doors of the four interior rooms will open to visitors in January next year. This event will complete the first phase of the reconstruction of the Old Castle.

 Total reconstruction project is divided into three construction stages. At the moment the second one is being designed at the same time.

- The second phase is the royal palace itself and the annex nearby. To date, the preliminary design has already been approved. The construction project is planned to be done next year. By the end of 2023, perhaps, we will begin work on the second stage, added YuriyKiturko. - The third stage is a work at external walls, yard, and underground pavilion.

 The start of large-scale reconstruction of the Old Castle was given in 2017. Since the opening of the first museum rooms, about 200 thousand people have visited the castle. The interest in it is so great that on some days there are more people willing to visit the new expositions than the museum halls can accommodate.

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