Owners

The Iliniches

Since 1486 Yury Ivanovich Ilinich (?–1526) was the owner of Mir. The castle was being built in a period of about 1522–1526. Yury Ilinich died in 1526. The castle was not completed. After the death of the father, one of his sons Mikolaj died before sharing the father’s legacy. The eldest son Jan was deprived of inheritance rights because "he inflicted his father great sorrow and trouble".
Since 1527 the third son of Yury – Stanislav (about 1500–1531) – was the owner of Mir Castle. In 1531 he died young and childless. He was poisoned by the servant’s wife Novitsky. The court awarded the guilty be burned, and Schasny (Felix), the brother of Stanislav, made the sentence.
After the death of Stanislav his brothers Jan (about 1495–1536) and Schasny (about 1505–1542) started to quarrel over property. Mir Castle itself was granted to Schasny, other possessions were given to Jan.
Since 1542 Yury Ilinich Junior (about 1535 – about 1569), a son of Schasny Ilinich and Sophia Radziwill, was the owner of the castle. Before the death he handed it to his cousin Prince Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill nicknamed the Orphan.

The Radziwills

Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill the Orphan (1549–1616) 

Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill was an outstanding statesman and public figure. He studied in Strasbourg and Tubingen, travelled a lot. In 1583 he went pilgrimage to Jerusalem, wrote a book about his impressions. Mikolaj Krzysztof took part in siege of Polotsk and Pskov (1579–81). 1579 – grand marshal, 1586 – castellan, 1590 – voivode of Trakai, 1604 – voivode of Vilna. He seconded the Brest Union. In 1579 he allowed Mir self-government. In 1586 Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill with his brothers founded ordinations of Nesvizh, Olyka and Kletsk. He rebuilt Nesvizh, founded Jesuitical Collegium and a number of cloisters. Three-storey palace along the North and the East walls was built in the Mir Castle. Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill was married to Eufimia Wisniowieckaya (1569–1596), had six sons and three daughters.

Jan Yury Radziwill (1588–1625)

Jan Yury Radziwill was the eldest son of Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill the Orphan. He studied at the Jesuitical Collegium of Nesvizh and Augsburg. He traveled to Germany and Italy. In 1613 Jan Yury became castellan of Trakai. In 1619 he went on a trip to Europe, during which visited the University of Bologna and the University of Padua in Italy. He was married to Eleonora Ostrozhskaya. In the last year of his life the epidemic of plague was in Belarusian lands. A year after the chapel was build in memory of these events in the Marketplace in Mir. This chapel was destroyed in 1940. Probably Jan Yury also died of plague, because at that time he was only 37 years old.

Zygmunt Karol Radziwill (1591–1642)

Zygmunt Karol Radziwill was the son of Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill the Orphan. He studied in Bologna. In 1612 Zygmunt Karol joined the Order of Malta, there by his father founded a base of the Order in Stolovichi. Zygmunt Karol Radziwill took part in the battle of Hawtin (1621), in the war of Rzeczpospolita (The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) with Sweden (1600–1639), with Moscaw (1632–1634), Thirty-Years War in Germany. He was an ambassador to Seims many times. In Mir he was last time in February, 1635. In 1636 Zygmunt Karol Radziwill went abroad to take treatment. He died and was buried in Assisi (Italy).

Aleksandr Ludwig Radziwill (1594–1654)

Aleksandr Ludwig Radziwill was the younger son of Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill the Orphan. He was educated in Nesvizh and in Germany. Aleksandr Ludwig held the positions of Brest voivode and the Grant Marshal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1621 he took part in the defeat of the Turkish-Tatar army in the battle of Hawtin. In 1632–1634 he took part in the war against the Russian state for Smolensk.
Of the 13 children who gave birth to his three wives, three daughters and sons Michael and Dominic Casimir Nicholas survived. Alexander Ludwig died in the 59-year-old in Bologna, where he was treated. His son Michal Kazimierz moved the body to his father and buried in the family vault.

Michal Kazimierz Radziwill (1635–1680)

Michal Kazimierz Radziwill was the son of Ludwig Radziwill. He was educated in Nesvizh. Since 1648 Michal Kazimierz participated in the political life of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After receiving his first public office – Lithuanian Grand Steward – he and his father traveled to Europe, spent a long time in Bologna, where he studied at the university. In 1654 Michal Kazimierz inherited Nesvizh ordination and began strengthening of Nesvizh and the castle. Two years after the death of his childless great-uncle, Albrecht Stanislaw Radziwill, he inherited Olyka ordination.
Michal Casimir was a Catholic, studied the tenets of religion, had a penchant for science. In 1658 he was married to Katarzyna (Catherine) from the Sobiesky family, the sister of King Jan Sobieski, had seven children. 

Karol Stanislaw Radziwill (1669–1719)

Karol Stanislaw Radziwill was the son of Michal Kazimierz. He studied in Lublin, visited to Austria, Italy, France, England and Portugal. Ambassador to Seims. In 1689 Karol Stanislaw Radziwill became the head of Nesvizh ordination. Since 1690 – vice-chancellor, since 1698 – chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During the Northern he war tried to manoeuvre between August II and Stanisław Leshchinsky. Karol Stanislaw tried to be neutral in the conflicts of the magnate groups. He supported Uniat Church, founded several parish churches and Basilian cloister in Mir. Karol Stanislaw Radziwill was married to Anna Katarzyna from the Sanguszko family, had 16 children.

Michal Kazimierz Radziwill nicknamed the Rybonka (1702–1762)

Michal Kazimierz Radziwill was the son of Karol Stanislaw. He was the owner of entailed estate of Nesvizh and Olyka. Polnjy hetman (1735–44), since 1744 hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, castellan (1735–37) and voivode of Trakai (1737–42), castellan of Vilna (1742), since 1744 – voivode. He was the richest magnate of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was elected ambassador to the General Sejm. Michal Kazimierz Radziwill was awarded the Order of St. Hubert Order (1722), the Order of the White Eagle (1729), the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (1758). He and his mother founded weaving manufactories in Nesvizh, Slutsk and Korelichi, glass-making manufactories in Naliboki and Uruchye, faience manufactory in Sverzhan. The chambers of the upper floor were replaned in Mir castle. The Stateroom, Portrait and Dance Halls were created there. 
Michal Kazimierz Radziwill was married twice: 1^st wife was Franciszka Urszula Wisniowieckaja (1705–1753), 2^nd wife was Anna Mytelskaya (1729–1771).

Karol Stanislaw Radziwill nicknamed Panie Kochanku

Karol Stanislaw Radziwill was the son of Michal Kazimierz Radziwill and Franciszka Urszula Wisniowieckaja. He studied at the Jesuitical Collegium of Nesvizh. Karol Stanislaw Radziwill was elected an ambassador to Seims many times. Marshal of Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1755), sword-bearer (1752–62). In 1762 he inherited not only father’s property but also his position of voivode of Vilna. But soon lost everything, having opposed the new king Stanislaw Poniatowski. Karol Stanislaw Radziwill was defeated by the Russian troops twice, left the country. He lived in exile for many years, then reconciled with Catherine II and King of Poland and returned to his homeland. Karol Stanislaw Radziwill differed unbalanced character and extravagant antics. He was married twice: 1^st wife was Maria Lubomirskaja, 2^nd wife was Tereza Rzhevuskaya), had no children and died in Biala. Entailed estate was inherited by his four-year old nephew Dominik.

Dominik Hieronim Radziwill (1786–1813)

Dominik Hieronim Radziwill was the son of Hieronim (1759–1786), the youngest brother of Karol Stanislaw Radziwill Panie Kochanku, and the princess Sophia Turn de Taksis. He was married twice: 1^st wife was Isabella Mnishek (1790–1852), 2^nd wife was Teofiliya Morawskaya (1791–1828), who bore him the son Alexander (1808–1859) and the daughter Stefania (1809–1932). During the war of 1812 he took the side of Napoleon. Lethally injured in a battle, Dominik died in France in 1813. 

 The Wittgensteins 

Lev Petrovich Wittgenstein (1799–1866)

Lev Wittgenstein, a son of the hero of the War of 1812 Peter Wittgenstein, married Princess Stefania Radziwill (1809–1832), a daughter of Prince Dominik Radziwill, in 1828. The dower of the bride was large estates. The ongoing legal proceedings between the Wittgensteins and the Radziwills in regard to the ownership of the Mir estate came to end only in the 1840s. The Mir estate was obtained by Lev Wittgenstein. 
Lev and Stefania Wittgenstein had two children – a son Peter (1831–1887) and a daughter Maria (1829–1898). After the death of Stefania Radziwill Lev married to Leonilla Baryatinskaya (1816–1818). He and his wife lived in Germany, where engaged in the revival of the ancient patrimony of their ancestors.

Peter Lvovich Wittgenstein (1831–1887)

Peter Wittgenstein, a son of Lev Petrovich Wittgenstein and Stefania Radziwill, was born in Florence May 10, 1831.
In 1854 he began to manage the estate Mir and other lands that belonged to his mother. After his father's death in 1866, he received two ordinations: Druzhnoselje (Petersburg Province) and Kamenka (Podolsk Province). Peter Lvovich was the owner almost 1 million acres of land.
Peter Wittgenstein was married to French actress Rosalia Leon, who died a year before his death, and she could not participate in the division of the estate.
Peter Wittgenstein died in France in August 1887 and was buried in the family burial-vault in Druzhnoselje next to his mother.
His sister Maria Hohenlohe and his half-brothers, the sons of his father's second marriage, received large estates.

Maria Lvovna Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst (1829–1897)

Maria Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst was a daughter of Lev Petrovich Wittgenstein and Stefania Radziwill. After the death of his brother Peter she received 171 estates in Minsk, Vilna, Kovno and Vitebsk provinces. Princess Maria with his family was residing abroad permanently. Her husband, Clovis Hohenlohe, was ambassador to Paris in the 1874–1885. Then he was the deputy of Alsace and Lorraine, since 1894 – German Chancellor.
Pursuant to the Russian law of 1887, foreigners were not allowed to possess property on the territory of the Russian Empire. They would accept Russian citizenship or sell ownership within three years from the adoption of the law. These circumstances have forced the Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst family renounce Russian possessions. The Mir estate was sold the Svyatopolk-Mirskys.

The Svyatopolk-Mirskys

Nikolay Ivanovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (1833–1898)

In 1891 Nikolay Ivanovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky, a Cossack chieftain of the Don troops, purchased the Mir estate and the castle from Maria Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst. Apparently, the prince was attracted by the name of the estate. When he came to Mir he immediately got down to work with great enthusiasm. A two-storey palace were built opposite the castle. A water reservoir was made in front of the new palace. Nikolay Ivanovich died on July 15, 1898 at his estate Mir. Land ownership and all estates passed to the heiress – the widow of the prince – Cleopatra Mikhajlovna with which Nikolaj Ivanovich lived 30 years. 

Cleopatra Mikhaylovna Svyatopolk-Mirskaya (1845–1910)

Cleopatra Svyatopolk-Mirskaya from the Hanykov family was the wife of Prince Nikolay Ivanovich Svyatopolk-Mirsky. After her husband's death in 1898, she became the ownership of the lands in Minsk, Podolsk, Kutaisi, Novgorod provinces, as well as stone house in St. Petersburg. Princess Cleopatra chose to live in the estate Mir. From 1904 to 1910 at the behest of Cleopatra Svyatopolk-Mirskaya the church and burial-vault was built on the territory of the English landscape park.
In six years before her death she wrote a will in St. Petersburg. The eldest son Michael became the owner of the Mir estate in 1910.

Mikhail Nikolaevich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (1870–1938)

Mikhail Svyatopolk-Mirsky was born in 1870 in Tsarskoye Selo. He studied at the cadet school in Yelisavetgrad. From 1897 to 1916 he devoted his life to a diplomatic career. Mikhail Svyatopolk-Mirsky worked at the embassies in Constantinople, Beijing, Stockholm, Munich, Sofia and London. In 1920–1930 years he restored Mir Castle. Mikhail Svyatopolk-Mirsky guided a secluded life, was not married. He died in 1938 in Warsaw. Mikhail Svyatopolk-Mirsky is buried in the church and burial-vault in Mir.

 Alexander Dmitrievich Svyatopolk-Mirsky (1899-1984)

After the death of Prince Mikhail Svyatopolk-Mirsky in July 1938, the castle was inherited by his nephew – Prince Alexander Svyatopolk-Mirsky. On June 9, 1937 he has been adopted by his uncle. He with his wife Katarzyna Bnin-Bninskaya came in Mir. However, Alexander Svyatopolk-Mirsky was the owner of the lands not long. On October 15, 1939 he was arrested as a socially dangerous element and was imprisoned in a  camp for 8 years. In January 1942 was released from custody as a Polish citizen. After a few years he with his family emigrated to Turkey and then to Spain, where he died in 1984 at the age of 85 years. Daughter of Alexander and Katarzyna died at the age of 5 in Spain, where she was buried. Alexander's son, Andrew, died in 2001. He and his parents are buried in Poland.