Date :
Saturday, December 10, 2022
We offer to go along an entertaining route for lovers of history and authentic architecture, as well as beautiful nature. There is a long journey, that’s why we recommend that you plan an overnight stay in Brest or Belovezhskaya Pushcha in advance. Although you can arrange your journey as a day trip. Let’s go!
Our first stop will be in the Starye Peski village in the Berezino district. Once there was a gentry family seat of the Puslovsky family.
Let’s focus on the estate house, rebuilt after a fire from the former stables, and a beautiful park with preserved rare tree species. The snow-white northern gate of the middle of the 19th century impresses with its beauty, but the half-ruined western gate is no less interesting. You can’t help but visit the old wooden Holy Trinity Church of 1827 and the distillery building of the late 19th century.
We return to the highway and hold on for the city of Brest. This is an authentic city with a rich history, the hallmarks of which are the railway station with the unique architecture; pedestrian Sovetskaya street with old gas lamps - the local “Arbat”; St. Nicholas Garrison Cathedral in the Byzantine style; the Cathedral of St. Simeon the Stylite - the oldest Orthodox church in Brest; Winter garden with the exotic plant kingdom; local history and art museums and many other interesting things, including the Brest Fortress.
Next, we recommend visiting the Nemtsevichy estate in the village of Skokie. It was built in the 1770s by Marcelius Stanislav Kost Ursyn Nemtsevich. This is an old family that has been known in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the 16th century. Its representatives held important positions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in the Russian Empire. The reconstructed Baroque Nemtsevich Palace today houses a similarly-named museum.
Do not forget to visit the village of Sychi. This place belonged to the Troyanovsky family since 1565, when King Sigismund II Augustus himself gave Sychi to Polish landowner Stanislav Troyanovsky for life. And it passed to the Vysotsky family at the beginning of the 19th century, after the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was under them that the stone Church of St. Paraskeva was built here in 1822. Unfortunately, the estate itself has not been preserved, and you can see the former, but now abandoned park on the edge of the village.
The next stop is in the village of Volchin. This is the birthplace and burial place of the last Grand Duke of Lithuania and the King of Poland - Stanislaw August Poniatowski. He was reburied in the Trinity Church, considered the hallmark of Volchin, in 1938, when his remains were secretly transferred here from Leningrad. After the Second World War, the church was turned into a granary, and the grave of the monarch was violated. In 1992, Poniatowski’s remains were transferred to Warsaw for reburial. The Orthodox St. Nicholas Church of 1841 is also located here.
Through Kamenets, we head for Kamenyuki to Belovezhskaya Pushcha. In Kamenets, we will definitely look at one of the oldest tourist attractions of our country - the Kamenets Tower.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a National Park listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that will surprise you with its hospitality, cleanliness and, most importantly, pristine nature.
You can see here majestic trees, open large animal enclosures, a flora and fauna museum that will show you all the variety of the animal world of our country, the Father Frost and the Snow Maiden’s estate in the depths of the forest, pure air and incredible landscapes. All this will touch your feelings and energize you to continue our journey!
Leave for Minsk along the popular route Ruzhany - Kossovo and be sure to visit the most magnificent castles.