Experience ancient Belarus

This year, the country is celebrating two important anniversaries on a grand scale — the 1160th anniversary of the Principality of Polotsk and the 1030th anniversary of Orthodoxy in the Belarusian lands. What secrets do the oldest cities keep and where to look for unique evidence of common Slavic history?

Find out the cold-blooded plans of the prince

Everyone knows the names of the first Russian saints — princes Boris and Gleb. However, few know who caused the bloody family drama at the dawn of time. The best place to remember this is the town of Turov, located on the banks of the fast-flowing Pripyat River. Today it is a quiet province, but a thousand years ago it was the centre of one of the largest and richest principalities in Russia.
A sweet spot went to the adopted son of Vladimir the Red Sun — Sviatopolk. He could just reign for his own glory and for the joy of good people, but his wife intervened — a young princess from Poland. It was she who advised Sviatopolk to kill the brothers Boris and Gleb: it was cruel, scary and against the Christian dispensation. For fratricide, Svyatopolk was nicknamed Sviatopolk the Accursed during his lifetime. After all, he could go down in history simply as the ruler of Turov.
Archaeologists have proven that the city was rich in economical and spiritual terms. Here they created one of the oldest monuments of Slavic writing — the Turov Gospel.

Know the wisdom of Saint Euphrosyne

Ancient Polotsk is the cradle of Belarusian statehood. The local principality was one of the strongest in Ruthenia and was baptised almost immediately after Kyiv. Transfiguration Church of the St. Euphrosyne monastery of the 12th century is considered to be the true masterpiece of the Polotsk architectural school. The monastery was founded almost nine centuries ago by Princess Predslava, the great-granddaughter of Prince Vladimir, who preferred ordination to marriage. It was a leap of faith, given her singular beauty and astounding wisdom.

PHOTO: WWW.TRAVELING.BY

She went down in history under the name of the enlightener Euphrosyne of Polotsk — she built churches, opened monasteries and schools, copied and translated books. Even during her lifetime, she gained fame as the patroness of the Polotsk land. She is revered both in Belarus and in Russia as an Orthodox saint. The relics of the Reverend remain in the Transfiguration Church. There is also a nun’s cell, and unique frescoes flaunt on the walls of the temple, which were made by her order.

Learn to read birch bark manuscripts

Three messages from the past were found on birch bark in Belarus: one in Vitebsk and two in Mstislavl. The last one was found more recently — in 2014. The manuscript turned out to be the most ancient — the 12th century. A rare find is kept in the local history museum of Mstislavl, but it is something to be proud of for the whole Belarus: some schoolkid drew his or her first letters on birch bark about eight centuries ago! This indicates a high level of education in our lands already in the period of Kievan Rus. While in Western Europe only bishops could write, and the princes signed with crosses then.

Photo: www.livejournal.com

Mstislavl land is generous with archaeological gifts. Castle Hill and its surroundings have been studied by historians for decades. Jewellery, household items and even knightly armour were found here. The hill has already become a kind of open-air museum, where the remains of the ancient city were hidden under a wooden palisade. However, modern Mstislavl gathers thousands of reenactors from different countries for the famous Knights Fest on the first weekend of August.

Get into Zamechak

Just twelve kilometers from noisy Minsk, the city-museum Zaslavl hid. Its centre is recognised as a historical and cultural reserve. Here, the western border of christianised Kievan Rus passed at the end of the 10th century.
 According to legend, the fortress was built by Prince Vladimir for his eldest son Izyaslav of Polotsk. He also named it after his son. Two ancient hillforts have been preserved here: Zamechak, where at first Princess Rogneda lived with her little son Izyaslav, and Val Site, where a large Zaslavl Castle stood for centuries. What were they like in their prosperous years? This will be told in the museum on the Rynochnaya Square.

Imagine what the capital looked like in the past

The capital of ‘a blue-eyed country’ is eighty years older than the Russian one. At the same time, its first chronicle mention is associated with very bleak events — an internecine battle on the Nemiga River. For seven days the troops of Vseslav the Sorcerer and the squads of the descendants of Yaroslav the Wise stood against each other in deep snow, and then clashed in a terrible battle.

Photo by Aleksandr Kulevsky

The author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign described these events: ‘…On the Nemiga sheaves are spread like heads; they thresh them with damask flails. On the threshing floor they lay down life and winnow souls from bodies…’. It is difficult to imagine the past walking around modern Minsk: the Nemiga River gave its name to the street and the metro station, and itself has long gone into the underground chamber. On rainy summer days, it reminds of itself: it breaks to the surface sporadically, paralysing the historical centre of the city. And the ancient Minsk castle was located in the area of the current Pobediteley Prospekt. A busy highway, shiny skyscrapers, the Sports Palace literally stand on a mothballed archaeological site.

By Sofia Arsenyeva