'The King can live as he pleases - I shall live like a Radziwill!' Such proclamations give you some idea of how powerful this clan was back in the day. For a time, the Radziwills (Radvilos in Lithuanian) were not only the most powerful family in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, they were amongst the richest families in Europe itself. Besides supplying a string of historic statesmen, the Radziwills are also renowned for opulence on an unheard of scale, with all kinds of bison-flying and boozing exploits coming to the fore during the eighteenth century. This palace has over a hundred portraits recalling this lost world, as well a collection of European art from the Renaissance to the 20th Century. Savour oils by Salvator Rosa, Ruisdael, Goya and Levitan, as well as prints by such masters as Piranesi, Canaletto, Durer, Rembrandt and Goya.
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