What to see in Belarus, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest of this nation born from the disintegration of the USSR.
Tourist information
Belarus, whose full name is the Republic of Belarus, also commonly known as White Russia, is an Eastern European nation bordering Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and Latvia, with no landlocked but several navigable rivers.
This state became independent after the disintegration of the USSR, the former Soviet Union, in 1991.
Wide plains, picturesque villages, ancient castles and monasteries, deep forests, panoramic landscapes, and thousands of lakes await nature lovers, culture and sports enthusiasts.
A third of Belarusian territory is covered by forests with the presence in particular of birches, oaks, maples and pines, with a diverse fauna that includes European bison, moose and deer, wild boar, wolves, bears, foxes, beavers and lynx, together with many species of birds.
Belarus also has a unique history with a rich cultural heritage comprising hundreds of architectural monuments dating back to the twelfth century.
In the Belavezha Wood natural park it is possible to see rare animals such as bison, bears and wolves, live in their natural habitat.
In the Berezinsky nature reserve, which extends from the source of the Beresina to Palik lake, there are scenic trails, also virgin forests, swamps, deep rivers, fauna and flora, dominate this unique region that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a natural park located in the countryside surrounding Brest, where time seems to have stood still for hundreds of years, with an abundance of centuries-old trees and bison wandering the area.
There are 60 types of animals and 900 types of plants.
The Braslav Lake District, located in the north and north-east of the country, near the borders of Lithuania and Latvia, is ideal for boating holidays.
Recommended readings- Minsk (Belarus): what to see in the capital
- Belarus: what to see in the Republic of Belarus
- Grodno (Belarus): what to see in the ancient city
Many of the 30 lakes, located in a suggestive forest, are connected by navigable canals.
Along the lake shore there are small dachas, or typical country houses where to find accommodation for a holiday.
What see
In Brest it is interesting to visit the fortress, a fortification used during the Second World War to repel German forces.
Inside the fortress there is a museum with historical documents to which are added the objects exhibited in the Museum of History and Archeology.
In the town there is a famous puppet theater, whose shows are worth attending, and the elegant White Tower, Belaya Vezha, of the fourteenth century.
For cross-country skiing enthusiasts, there are excellent slopes in the Raubichy Olympic Sports Complex, about 22 km from Minsk, while for alpine skiing enthusiasts, there are two modern resorts, Logoysk and Silichy, located 30 km from Minsk.
Skating is also very popular.
The Museum of Material Culture Dudutki is located 40 km from the capital Minsk and is the only private museum in Belarus dedicated to the exhibition of crafts and traditional ways of life.
The fifth largest city in Belarus, in Grodno the main places to visit are the center of the Old Town, the Kalozh Church and the Old Castle.
The Khatyn memorial commemorates its destruction by the German army during the Second World War.
The onion domes of Russian Orthodox churches dominate the landscape throughout the country, but especially around Logoysk, 40km from Minsk, Krasnoe, 60km from Minsk, and Molodechno, 80km from Minsk.
Minsk, the capital of Belarus located 340 km north-east of Warsaw and 120 km south-east of Vilnius, is a city with ancient origins that date back to the 11th century but nothing remains of that era due to the destruction that occurred during the bombings of the second world war.
The older buildings are from the 17th century.
The rebuilt Minsk is designed symmetrically, with the wide banks that line the Svisloch river.
Not far from Raubichi is the idyllic Lake of Minsk, dotted with numerous islets and surrounded by a thick pine forest.
The cultural scene of Minsk is very varied, with different types of museums including the Belarusian National Museum of History and Culture, the National Museum of Arts, the Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War and the Museum of ancient Belarusian culture.
Located 120 km from Minsk, Mir is a small city where you can see the Jewish cemetery and the Mir Castle from the 15th century, a Unesco world heritage site.
The Museum of Popular Architecture is located in Ozerto, about 15km / min from Minsk, where original pieces of centuries-old buildings from different regions of Belarus are exhibited.
In thirteenth-century Belarus, Novogrudok was the capital of the great principality of Lithuania, with the fourteenth-century castle where Adam Mitskevich, a great Belarusian poet, was born.
Pinsk, 300 km south of Minsk, is the second largest city in the Brest region, with a great variety of historical, architectural and cultural monuments.
To see the Belarusian Polesye, a low land of waters and mists.
The center of Christianity during the time of Rus, the first Russian state, resided in the Slavic city of Polotsk, the oldest of the Belarusian cities founded in 862.
An excellent example of period architecture is the 11th century Church of Santa Sofia.
Also worth visiting are the two nearby castles, San Efrosinia di Polotsk, a 12th-century convent, and the Epiphany Monastery of the seventeenth century.
About 22 km from the capital Minsk is the picturesque village of Raubichi, with an interesting ethnographic museum housed in a deconsecrated church.
The village of Troitskoye Predmestye is characterized by nineteenth-century houses, with colorful facades along the streets.
There are also splendid examples of Baroque architecture, including the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, from 1642, the Cathedral of San Pietro e Paolo, from 1613, and the Mariinsky Cathedral, rebuilt respecting its original appearance.
For tourists looking for political history, the village of Viskouli is the place where the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine signed the famous agreement that provided for the final disintegration of the Soviet Union.
In Vitebsk, located 270 kilometers from Minsk and the birthplace of the painter Marc Chagall, there is a cultural center and a museum.
The village of Zhirovitsa, located 190 km from Minsk, is renowned for the beautiful 15th-century Assumption Monastery.
The complex includes a convent and a theological seminary built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
