Ruzhany Gate Festival

Ruzhany Palace in Brest region, rebuilt in the late 1700s by Alexander Michal Sapieha into a Classicist complex with its own theatre and opera house, lost most of its residential wings to decline and war, but its monumental triumphal-arch gate survived and now anchors a summer festival built around the restored courtyard and grounds. Expect exhibitions, craft demonstrations and performances staged around the arch, plus the market and food stalls typical of Belarusian heritage-site gatherings.

Ruzhany Palace, another Sapieha family seat, once rivaled the grandest residences of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Alexander Michal Sapieha rebuilt it in the late 1700s into a Classicist palace complex complete with its own theatre and opera house, an ambition that briefly made Ruzhany a genuine cultural capital in the region.