03 Aug 2010

Re-Discovering Belarus

As much as people like going abroad to see Europe or even farther if they are lucky (and no visas can stop that urge!) it seems to have become popular to travel around Belarus, discovering our own country. And though tourism infrastructure leaves much to be desired; and very often what you find is just another small soviet town with the statue of Lenin on the central square named after him, or remainders of an old palace which is falling apart because of careless neglect – sometimes you get to see a small piece of old mosaic on a half destroyed wall or a cross carved on an ancient stone and that makes you feel like touching the history and being a part of it. These moments help us reinforce our identity as Belarusians, a people with things to be proud of, things we want to keep for the future. One could say that such trips could be a recepy for our soar
many people take the adventurous approach and jus
I often told my foreign friends that due to the wars and the soviet rule in the XX’s century many of architectural monuments in Belarus disappeared forever. Apparently it is not true and besides a few old churches in Minsk and regional capitals one can find such beautiful cathedrals as the one in Herviaty on the boarder with Lithuania

As much as people like going abroad to see Europe or even farther if they are lucky (and no visas can stop that urge!) it seems that is becoming  popular for Belarusians to travel around Belarus. And though tourism infrastructure leaves much to be desired; and very often what you find is just another small soviet town with the statue of Lenin on the central square named after him, or remainders of an old palace which is falling apart because of careless neglect – sometimes you get to see a small piece of old mosaic on a fallen wall or a cross carved on an ancient stone, and that makes you feel like you’ve travelled back in time and that you are part of history. These moments help us reinforce our identity as Belarusians, a people with history and culture to be proud of, things we want to keep for the future. One could say that such trips could be a prescription to cure the chronic national identity deficiency of Belarusians.

Continue reading…