Editing Napoleon Orda (section)

==Biography==
Napoleon Orda was born in the village of Varacevičy in the [[Pinsky Uyezd]] of [[Minsk Governorate]] (now in [[Ivanava District]] of [[Belarus]])<ref>[https://docs.rferl.org/be-BY/2020/11/07/96247f72-a7e0-4382-ad1c-ec68459cf6b7.pdf Уладзімер Арлоў «Імёны Свабоды» (Uladzimer Arloǔ “The Names of Freedom”] pp 82-83 (in Belarusian)</ref> in his father's manor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://landofancestors.com/famous/artists/203-napoleon-orda.html|title=Land of Ancestors: Napoleon Orda|date=June 6, 2013|access-date=2013-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407021955/http://landofancestors.com/famous/artists/203-napoleon-orda.html|archive-date=April 7, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> His father, Michał Orda, was an impoverished [[szlachta|noble]] of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuanian ancestry]] and the marshal of the [[powiat]] of [[Kobryn]]. His mother was Józefa (nee Butrymowicz). After finishing [[Svislach]] gymnasium in 1823, he started [[mathematics|mathematical]] studies at the [[Imperial University of Vilnius]]. However, his university career came to an end on 27 August 1826, when he was arrested by the [[Okhrana|Russian secret police]] for taking part in a secret student society "Zorzanie",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.belarusguide.com/culture1/visual_arts/Mastactva.html|title=Belarusian Art - icons, paintings, artists bio, links to galleries and artists' pages|website=www.belarusguide.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://czasopis.pl/villa-sokrates/annus-albaruthenicus-2010/art-2 |title=Members of secret societies of grammar-school boys and students in Wilno educational district: The Polish or Belarus heroes? - Villa Sokrates |access-date=2010-08-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814051740/http://czasopis.pl/villa-sokrates/annus-albaruthenicus-2010/art-2 |archive-date=2011-08-14 }}</ref> which was active in Svislach and [[Białystok]] gymnasiums.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.istmira.com/istoriya-belarusi/218-xronologiya-vazhnejshix-sobytij-i-dat-2-stranica.html|title = ХРОНОЛОГИЯ ВАЖНЕЙШИХ СОБЫТИЙ И ДАТ. XVIII век-XIX век}}</ref> Although he was released soon{{Clarify timeframe|date=July 2023}} afterwards, he was expelled from the university and was not allowed to continue his studies.

[[File:Mirski zamak. Мірскі замак (N. Orda, 1877).jpg|thumb|left|[[Mir Castle Complex|Mir Castle]], [[Belarus]], 1876]]
Orda took part in the failed [[November Uprising]] of 1830 against Russian Empire and served with distinction in the famous [[4th Regiment of Line Infantry|4th Regiment]] (''Czwartacy''). For his bravery he received the highest Polish military decoration, the [[Virtuti Militari]]. After the uprising his manor was confiscated and Orda had to flee abroad in order to avoid being imprisoned and sent to [[Siberia]].

He travelled through many European countries, including [[Italy]] and [[Switzerland]]. Finally in 1833, he settled in [[Paris]], where he became one of the prominent members of the [[Polish diaspora]] there and one of the close friends of [[Frédéric Chopin|Fryderyk Chopin]]. He learned to play the piano under the guidance of Chopin and [[Franz Liszt]] and wrote several [[mazurka]]s, [[waltz]]es and [[polonaise (dance)|polonaise]]s. While in Paris he also studied painting briefly with [[Pierre Girard (painter)|Pierre Girard]] and started to portray his long lost motherland in countless sketches.

[[File:Orda Troki.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Trakai Island Castle|Trakai Castle]] on the [[Trakai Lake]]'', pencil and watercolour, ca. 1877]]
In Paris, Orda married Irene Bougle and worked as the head of ''Maison de Commission'' shop. He was also the head of the Italian [[Paris Opera|Opera in Paris]], until it was closed due to the [[February Revolution]] of 1848. He was also an active member of various Polish political and social organisations, including the [[Committee of Polish Emigrants]]. Most of his spare time he spent travelling. He visited France, [[England]], [[Scotland]], [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]], [[Spain]], [[Portugal]] and [[Algeria]].

During the [[Post-Sevastopolian Thaw]] in 1856 he was pardoned by tsar [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] and was allowed to return home. He was also restored the rights to his village of Varacevičy. In 1859 he requested from tzar and had received back his money that were confiscated together with his estate. In 1862, he moved to Wierzchownia where he served as a manager of general [[Adam Rzhevusky|Adam Rzewuski]]'s domain.

[[File:Orda Kazimierz.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins of the castle in [[Kazimierz Dolny]], watercolour, ca. 1870]]
In 1872, Orda started to travel through the lands of the partitioned [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and document its historical landmarks and architecture. During his summer trips throughout the country he made more than 1,000 sketches depicting various towns, cities and historical landscapes. He also depicted landscapes, urban and rural architecture, churches and palaces of the partitioned Commonwealth, which included the regions of present-day [[Belarus]], [[Lithuania]], [[Poland]], [[Ukraine]], as well as several regions of France, [[Germany]], Portugal and Switzerland. His works are pencil [[sketch (drawing)|sketch]]es tinted with [[watercolour]], [[gouache]] and sepia. Between 1872 and 1874 he visited most of the notable [[castle]]s, manors and towns in [[Volhynia]], [[Podolia]] and [[Ukraine]]. Until 1877 he documented the historical heritage of Lithuania, [[Samogitia]], [[Livonia]] and Belarus. In 1878 and 1879 he made a trip to [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]], [[Greater Poland]] and [[Royal Prussia]] and finally in 1880 he portrayed the [[Congress Poland]]. Approximately 260 of his sketches were turned into [[lithographies]] by Alojzy Misierowicz and published in [[Warsaw]] by Maksymilian Fajans in a series of eight albums under the collective title ''Album of Polish Historical Landscapes'' ({{langx|pl|Album widoków historycznych Polski}}) between 1873 and 1883.

In his testament he bequeathed his sketches to the Polish people and currently most of his works are kept in the [[National Museum, Kraków|National Museum]] in [[Kraków]] and [[National Museum, Warsaw|Warsaw]]. Besides their artistic value, they are a priceless source of information on the history and architecture of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, whose historical heritage was largely destroyed by the Germans during [[World War II]].

Orda died on 26 April 1883 in [[Warsaw]], but according to his [[last will]] he was buried in his native land, in [[Ivanava]] village, near [[Kobryn]] in his family crypt. In the 1980s, the cemetery was destroyed by Soviet authorities in order to build a kindergarten in its place. After some time the gravestone from Orda's tomb was found and moved to a museum in [[Pinsk]].

Orda's niece was the artist [[Helena Skirmunt]].