Biała Podlaska

Biała stands on the Krzna River in the border country of Podlasia and Polesia. First mentioned in 1481, it became a residence of the powerful Radziwiłł family, whose castle, churches and schools shaped the town for more than two centuries. It belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The Radziwiłłs acquired Biała in 1569. Aleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł built a fortified residence in 1622, while the Biała Academy, founded in 1628, became a branch of the University of Kraków. Swedish, Cossack and Transylvanian attacks devastated the town in the mid-seventeenth century. Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł and Katarzyna Sobieska rebuilt it, and in 1670 he granted it town rights. Anna Katarzyna Radziwiłłowa later sponsored a faience works, established in 1738, as well as new work on the castle complex.