All Saints Memorial Church, Minsk, Belarus

Mir Castle, Belarus

The Mir Castle complex (Mirsky zamok) is an outstanding example of 16th-century fortification art. It’s located in the town of Mir in the Grodno region of Belarus.

The construction of this Belarus’ Gothic stylecastle was started in the 1520s by Duke Ilinich.

In 1568 the castle came into the hands of Mikolay Radziwil, who completed it in Renaissance style.

A three-storey palace was built along the eastern and northern walls of the castle which had forty fretted rooms. Earth walls were built around the castle with bastions at the corners, surrounded by a water moat.

An Italian garden was laid to the north of the walls and an artificial lake was established to the south. The Radziwills owned the castle for several centuries.

During the Napoleonic wars the castle was severely damaged.

In 1891, the castle is bought by Nikolai Svyatopolk-Mirsky who started bringing order to his new property. His son continued his father’s work, led by renowned architectTeodor Bursze.

A subsidiary of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus was located in the castle in 1992.

Minsk, The Capital of Belarus

Minsk is located on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills, a region of rolling hills running from the southwest (upper reaches of the river Nioman) to the northeast – that is, to Lukomskaye Lake in northwestern Belarus. The average altitude abovesea level is 220 metres (720 ft). The physical geography of Minsk was shaped over the two most recent ice ages. The Svislach River, which flows across the city from the northwest to the southeast, is in the urstromtal, an ancient river valley formed by water flowing from melting ice sheets at the end of the last Ice Age. There are six smaller rivers within the city limits, all part of the Black Sea basin.

Nesviazh Castle, Belarus

Nesvizh Castle or Niasvizh Castle  is a residential castle of the Radziwiłł family in Nesvizh, Belarus. It is situated at an elevation of 183 meters.

Prior to 1939 the complex was located in Poland and was considered one of the most beautiful Polish castles in the Kresyregion.

Castle of Mir, Belarus

 The construction of this castle began at the end of the 15th century, in Gothic style. It was subsequently extended and reconstructed, first in the Renaissance and then in the Baroque style. After being abandoned for nearly a century and suffering severe damage during the Napoleonic period, the castle was restored at the end of the 19th century, with the addition of a number of other elements and the landscaping of the surrounding area as a park. Its present form is graphic testimony to its often turbulent history.

Fauna of Belarus

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Greetings from Belarus

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Kreva Castle, Belarus

Kreva Castle is the ruins of a major fortified residence of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (Gediminas and Algirdas) in the village of Kreva, Belarus. Algirdas's brother Kęstutis was imprisoned and murdered in the Kreva Castle in 1382. Kreva Castle is situated at an elevation of 220 m. The Union of Krewo (Act of Krewo), the first step towards the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was signed in the castle three years later. The castle was sacked by the Crimean Tatars in the early 16th century and stood unoccupied for a long time. By the 19th century, much of the walls had crumbled away. The World War I dealt a final blow to the decaying structure, since the castle stood on the front line between Russian and German armed forces. In 19th and 20th centuries, the ruins were partially conserved, particularly by Poland in 1929. However, the monument crumbles further.

Flora of Belarus

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St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Grodno, Belarus

 St. Francis Xavier Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Grodno, Belarus. Originally a Jesuit church, it became a cathedral in 1991, when the new diocese of Grodno was erected.

The construction of the church started in 1687. The completed building in Baroque style was consecrated in 1705 to St. Francis Xavier. The monastery was dissolved in 1773 and the church became a parish one. The church survived the second world war with no serious damage.

In 1960 it was officially closed for a public religious services (for 27 years). The communist authorities tried to convert the building into a museum or a concert hall. Despite this the people attended the church every Sunday for a common player, songs and rosary. The religious services were restored in 1987. In 1990 the church was granted the title of minor basilica, and a year later it became a cathedral for a diocese of Grodno.

Castle of Mir, Belarus

The Mirsky Castle Complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Belarus. It is located in the town of Mir, in the Karelichy District of the Hrodna voblast, at 53°27′4.46″N 26°28′22.80″E, 29 km to the north-west from another World Heritage site, Nesvizh Castle. Mir Castle Complex is situated at an elevation of 164 meters.

Prior to 1939 the castle was located in Poland.

Central part of Minsk, Belarus

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Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, Belarus

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Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park is a national park within parts of the Brest Region (Kamyanyets and Pruzhanydistricts) and Grodno Region (Svislach district) in Belarus adjacent to the border with Poland. It is a preserved part of the UNESCO WHS Białowieża Forest, the last primaeval forest fragment of the Europe's woodlands, that once stretched across the European Plain. It is home to a large population of European bison the continent's heaviest land animals. The border between the two countries runs through the forest, the Białowieża National Park is on the Polish side of the border. There is a border crossing for hikers and cyclists within the forest.

Minsk City Squares, Belarus

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Minsk, Belarus

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Minsk  is the capital and largest city of Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers. It is the administrative centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region (voblast) and Minsk raion (district). In 2013, it had a population of 2,002,600.

Belarus map

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus. Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Hrodna (Grodno), Homiel (Gomel), Mahilyow (Mogilev) and Vitsebsk (Vitebsk). Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested, and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing.

Nesvizh Benedictine Monastery, Belarus

Benedictine Monastery - Baroque monument. It was built in the XVI century (1590 - 1596) in the south-eastern outskirts of Nesvizh brick architect D. Bernardoni instead of wooden. Fundator it was Prince Radzivill and his wife Orphan Eufimiya. This was the first female Catholic monastery in Belarus.

           The monastery was built on one of the high places of the city and in the XVII - XVIII centuries was part of a system of fortifications, guarding the approaches to Nesvizh by Kleck (right) and Slutsk (left). To date, the remains of the once powerful earth dams. It also housed the most significant in the defense system of the city Bastion. For shafts stretched moats. monastery lasted until 1877. Preserved tower-gate, residential building with a church, outbuildings. 2-story E-like in terms of different-sized building with side wings. Main entrance to the monastery is rectangular in plan three-tiered tower, completed shaped dome with a spire.

The building of the monastery is now situated Teachers College.

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus. Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe^] bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Hrodna (Grodno), Homiel (Gomel), Mahilyow (Mogilev) and Vitsebsk (Vitebsk). Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested, and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing.

Minsk, Belarus

Minsk  is the capital and largest city of Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers. It is the administrative centre of theCommonwealth of Independent States (CIS). As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region (voblast) and Minsk raion (district). In 2013, it had a population of 2,002,600.

The earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century (1067), when it was noted as a provincial city within theprincipality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers. In 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499.

From 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, as a consequence of the Second Partition of Poland. From 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union.