Adam Kisiel is considered to be a protector of Orthodoxy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He actively participated in the political life of the country. He was the last voivode of the Commonwealth residing in Kiev. A dozen or so kilometres from the border Bug River, in the village of Niskienicze, there is a valuable, though somewhat forgotten monument documenting the interpenetration of peoples, religions and cultures co-creating the historic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

On the edge of the village of Niskienicze (Ukr. Низкиничі), on a hill, stands the Uspienski Orthodox Male Monastery. It was founded in 1643 by the Kiev voivode, Adam Kisiel (1600-1653), who after his death was laid to rest in the basement of the monastery's Dormition of the Mother of God (Uspienska) church. His gravestone monument was placed inside the church.

A short biography of A. Kisiel
Adam Kisiel was descended from the Russian family of Svyatopoldych-Svyatopoldych Kisiels from Brusilov of the Svyatopoldych v. Namiot coat of arms, settled in Volyn (of which Niskienicze was a family nest). He received his education at the Zamojska Academy.

He took part in King Ladislaus' expedition to Moscow (1617-1618), the battles of Cecora (1620) and Chocim (1621), and distinguished himself during the Polish-Swedish War (1626-1629). At the head of a small number of Cossack troops, he successfully defended the eastern frontiers of the Republic during the Smolensk War with Moscow (1632-1634).

At the same time, he actively participated in the political life of the country. Between 1624 and 1641, he was a deputy at eleven sejms. In 1632, out of conviction, he abandoned the Uniate confession and returned to the Orthodox Church, henceforth becoming an ardent advocate of its interests. During the reign of Władysław IV, Adam Kisiel became one of the monarch's closest associates in the circles of the Orthodox elite, increasingly marginalised in the political life of the Republic. The King introduced him into the Senate, appointing him successively as Castellan of Chernihiv (1639), Kiev (1646), and finally as Voivode of Braclaw (1648). As an MP, he successfully negotiated the anti-Tatar alliance in Moscow (1647).

His consistent, fervent defence of the interests of his co-religionists, including in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, meant that Adam Kisiel enjoyed great authority in the Ukrainian lands of the Crown, especially among the Cossacks. After the outbreak of the Khmelnytsky uprising (1648), he faced dramatic choices. Completely loyal to the King and the monarchy, he was at the same time a consistent supporter of an agreement with the Cossacks and unsuccessfully attempted to mediate with the insurgents and pacify the mood. Appointed by Jan Kazimierz as Voivode of Kiev (1649, he was the last representative of the Commonwealth to reside there), he participated - as a royal commissioner - in negotiations with Bohdan Khmelnytsky, to whom he brought the mace of Zaporizhzhya. He was later a co-author of the Zborivsk (1649) and Bialystok (1651) settlements. However, Adam Kisiel, to whom the term gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus is uniquely fitting, suffered a complete failure of his politics at the end of his life.

Niskovnik Monastery
Founded by a Kiev voivode, the Uspienska church in the Nizhnitsky monastery is a temple with a central foundation, built on a Greek cross plan, five-domed (in the Eastern tradition - five-headed). The chancel and side aisles are closed with a semicircle, except for the babynch (square in plan); they are covered with hemispherical domes resting on the walls. Central dome supported on a relatively high tambour and wide pendentives.

Tombstone of Adam Kisiel
. The monumental (height 4.27 m, width 1.9 m) tombstone of the protector of the Orthodox Church in the Republic is a work maintained entirely in the style of Latin art. Today it is located on the south-west pillar of the church nave and consists of three parts. In the central part, there is a statue of the founder (height 1.1 m, width 0.87 m), placed in an arcade niche framed by a marble frame. The deceased is depicted from thigh height, with his hands resting on his hips, in a realistic convention, facing slightly to the left. His face has an expression of calm and solemnity. The figure wears ornate plate armour with armlets and plate gauntlets, and holds a mace in his left hand. The sculpture was made of grey-green alabaster and the smooth panel behind the bust was forged from black marble.

The central part of the tombstone is enclosed on the sides by two symmetrical volutes, from behind which spars with pennants protrude. On both sides of the cornice crowning the central niche there are two alabaster details, a kind of panoply, in the form of shields, around which elements of armament are placed. Above is also an alabaster finial with the Swiatołdycz (Kisiel) coat of arms.

The lower part of the commemoration consists of two slabs of black marble. The upper rectangular panel, flanked by alabaster rafters, contains the text (in Polish) of a rhymed lament by the widow, Anastasia of Bohuszewicz Kisiel, distraught at the loss of her husband. The lower one (in Latin) praises the deeds and merits of the voivode Adam Kisiel, 'the ornament and support of the Republic'.

The exact date of the execution of the gravestone monument is not known; it probably took place shortly after the governor's death. The monument was probably re-built into the wall in its present location. The monument was partially damaged in 1915, during the First World War, by Hungarian soldiers who also robbed the coffin and remains.

Conservation work
On the initiative of the Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 2017-2018, a Polish-Ukrainian team of conservators led by Andrzej Kazberuk carried out comprehensive conservation and restoration works on the tombstone monument, which was preserved in very poor condition. The Foundation's project was funded by the Programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Sites of National Remembrance Abroad".