EN
The article investigates the participation of the Nieswiez (Neshvizh) branch of the Radziwill family in erecting and furnishing churches and monasteries in the 18th c. The first part is focused on the financial and material participation of the patron in the refurbishment of sacred buildings. The following section is devoted to employing craftsmen and artists to build and decorate churches and monasteries, and to the very process of construction. The next part highlights the issue of furnishing sacred buildings with altars, pictures and paraphernalia such as tabernacles, reliquaries, bells, candle holders, chandeliers, crystals, organs. The Radziwill family were also donors of numerous chasubles, tapestries, antependiums, copes and lace tablecloths, which they lavished on churches and clergy. Most donations of various sorts went to the churches and monasteries located in Nieswiez, the centre of their estates; much less attention was paid to the religious institutions in other parts of the huge latifundium. The final part of the article touches the issue of the function of such foundations, concluding that apart from demonstrating the founders' religious devotion they also served to manifest their power and to add to their prestige.