Video From Hrodno

Hi, I visited Hrodno (Grodno) some days ago and captured this video. The quality is not so high cause I did it using my mobile phone. The girl is my classmate, her name is Kate. She is very beautiful girl and good friend. Pay attention on Drama Theatre architecture. Enjoy :)

Boruny

Just 10 km from Golshany there is a small but interesting township called Boruny. Its name is Turkic and translated as “horseman”. In the outskirts of Boruny a legend explaining the name still survives. The first owner of the settlement was an evil and cruel man who was buried outside of the cemetery plot and his grave covered with stones. Unusual flowers grew through the stones which people named “boruny”. The name of the flowers transferred to the township.

Boruny’s history is also tightly linked to a legend about how in the 18^th century the local forester Yakub found a miracle-working icon of the Blessed Virgin. The icon appeared here in this way: in 1692 a supporter of the Uniate Church, Catholic priest Nikolai Peslyak laid the foundation of the Uniate church in Boruny and invited 7 monks from the St. Basilian Order. Monks brought with them a miracle-working icon of the Blessed Virgin, built a stone church and a monastery. Very soon both the township and the icon turned into a place of piligrimage.

St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church

Built by architect Osikevich in 1747-1757 as a Uniate Church, today it is the most typical example of so-called Vilno Baroque style. Best craftsmen from Minsk and Vilno were invited to decorate its interiors. Its wooden altars were made by famous masters Frederick Kvechura, Pavel Yakovitsky and Simon Vrublevsky.

At the present time the church has three altars finished with the stucco technique and a rostrum in the Rococo style. After liquidation of the Brest Union in 1839, the church was handed over to an Orthodox parish. In 1919 the church was handed over again – this time to Catholic followers and since that time it work has gone on without interruptions. In 1923 this Catholic church was blessed in the name of the Aposteles Peter and Paul.

St. Basilian Monastery

In 1778-1793 a two-story brick house for monks of the Uniate Church was built. In the 19^th century it was stylized to imitate Classicism. The house’s structure is of a gallery with many cylindrically arched rooms. At the beginning of the 18^th century secular school were set up to run in the monastery. In the first half of the 19^th century it was reorganized into a public six-grade educational institution and until its closing in 1833 the place was the biggest Uniate center in Belarus.

A chapel was built in the square in front of the church during the first half of the 18^th century for students of the St. Basilian School. The icon of the Blessed Virgin of Boruny titled the “Consoler of Sores” is a work of an unknown master. In 1692 the icon was bought to Boruny for placing in its wooden church. In 1715 the icon was proclaimed as miracle-working. After that the church received its present name: “Guardianship of the Blessed Virgin”. A festival to honour The Blessed Virgin of Boruny takes place every year on 29 August.

Golshany

Golshany is the first mentioned in chronicles of the 13^th century. It is considered that the founder of the settlement and of the famous royal family of Golshanskys was the legendary Duke Golsha. For quite a long time Dukes Golshanskys held high posts in the Great Lithuanian Principality and later in the Rzecz Pospolita. Duke Algimut is the first representative of this family certifiably recorded by history. He was part of the council sent by Duke Yagailo in 1385 to ask for the hand of the Polish Queen Yadviga. Algimut’s son Ivan was the closest associate of Duke Vitovt who was married to Ivan’s sister – Ulyana Golshanskaya. Ulyana was included in the pantheon of Belarussian saints, along with the most famous female saints of the country – Euphrosinya Polotskaya and Sofia Slutskaya. Relics of the St.Ulyana are in the Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra (a monastery in Kiev). Another representative of the Golshansky family, Sofia (1405 - 1461), after marrying the Polish king Yagailo in 1422 in Novogrudok, founded the royal Yagellon dynastry.

Golshany was an area where many craftsmen, merchants and military people settled. At the intersection of the main roads leading to Vilno (now Vilnius) and Krevo, Rynochnaya Square (‘Market Square’) appeared. Small kamenitsa houses, standing there still, and shops were built around the square. The square was surrounded by churches of the three main religions wide-spreaded in Belarus: a Catholic church and St.Francis monastery, a St.George Orthodox church and a synagogue. Trade stalls and inns were also situated in the locality. The town also boasted water mills and four taverns famous for their excellent and original beer. Golshany enjoyed brisk trade and many fairs were held there.

St. Yan the Baptist’s Catholic Church

The construction of this church is connected with the outstanding representative of one of the most prominent belarussian families - Pavel Sapega (1565-1635). He was a courtier of a King Stefan Batory and Sigizmund III, equerry of the Great Lithuanian Principality and starting form 1623 – the Lithuanian Vice Chancellor. At the same time from the beginning oh the 17^th century, Pavel Stefan Sapega commenced the construction work, wich turned Golshany into a flourishing medieval “Holland”. He invited minorities to settle in the region and in 1618 constructed a new Catholic church and a monastery for them. The splendid church built in an early Baroque style was a kind of beacon for travelers as it could be seen from a dozens kilometers away. The main ornamental detail of the interior is an 18^th century fresco over the altar. Another fresco of the Sapegas family coat of arms hangs over an altar on the right hand side of the church. The church also contains the ancestral burial vaults of Dukes Sapegas. His last years Pavel Stefan spent in Golshany, where he died in 1635 and was buried in the church along with his three wifes.

St.Francis’ monastery is a residential building constructed in the 17^th century and attached to the north-west side of the church. The building has two storeys and a gallery. The first floor accommodated a dining hall, the second – the dormitory cells of monks and a libray stocked with around 1000 rare theological texts.

One of the many ghost tales the town has accumulated over the years is connected to the construction of the monastery. Pavel Stefan Sapega decided to build monastery as quickly as possible. The first three walls of the monastery were put up with speed and stood unstintingly, but the forth one fell down again and again despite any amount of effort. Craftsmen decided the reason for this was the presence of evil forces. According to the old beliefs, it was necessary to make a sacrifice to disperce the spirits. Being afraid of the Duke’s anger, craftsmen decidde to immure into the “damned” wall the first woman coming by the construction site to bring dinner for her husband. The first girl happened to be the wife of a young bricklayer.

Though the construction was completed peace has never reigned in its grounds. Even nowadays inexplicable events take place nearly every night and female whispers, crying for mercy are reported to be heard. Local people believe them to come from the soul of the immured young woman and they have named the ghost “White Lady”.

For those interested, Golshany monastery is open to visitors and is now a branch of Belarus Fine Arts Museum.

Castle

Zamkovaya street leads from Rynochnaya Square to the ruins of a one time beautiful medieval castle built in 1610 by Pavel Sapega. Along the castle, flows the Karabel stream. Formerly the stream was filled deep with water as one of the castle’s fortifications. The castle was a rectangular building with a square courtyard. The castle has hexagonal corner towers and a pentagonal tower with an entrance tunnel in the middle of the north-eastern building. In front of that building stood the castle chapel. The buildings had tiled roofs, and floors were covered with ceramic tiles. There were plenty of rooms in the castle decorated with frescos and artistic designs.

The place was filled with fancifully decorated fireplaces, ceilings, window openings, stoves with glazed tiles baring the heraldic monogram. On the walls hang portraits of the Sapegas family, as well as paintings and weapons. Stained-glass windows faced the inner courtyard, stone floor tiles were kept in harmony with expensive furniture and bronze candlesticks. There was a store of secrets kept in the underground vaults of the Sapegas family. One legend tells of a love between a young girl from the Sapegas clan and a handsome but poor castle gardener. Young lovers were doomed to die in the deep dungeons of the castle as soon as the girl’s parents discovered the “criminal” love.

Every evening since – according to local people – the soul of the young Marylya Sapega, who was eventually immured together with her lover in the vaults, turns into a white bird and flies all over the castle accompanied by a black shadow of a medieval cavalier dressed in a clock and a hat.

In th 17^th century, Golshany’s castle was unique in the Great Lithuanian Principality because it was the only construction in the Holland architectural style. Unfortunately, due to wars, poor maintenance and other circumstances it did not survive. The ruins of its walls and a tower are the only reminders of the bygone greatness Golshany’s owners once enjoyed.

Gorodishche

If you are archaeology enthusiast, don’t miss out on visiting the site of Golshany’s settlement on the banks of River Karabel, 1.5 km east of the township. Stone stoves, arrow-heads, amulets, hatchets, glass, household goods and decorations were found on this location. The site dates back to the 12^th century. According to legend, it was here that Duke Golsha established the first Golshanskoe Principality and built a wooden castle. Until the 16^th century the residence of Golshanskys dukes was also situated here.

St. George’s Church

The exact date of construction of the first Orthodox Church in the old castle of the Golshanskys Dukes’ castle is unknown. The Golshanskys were patrons to local Orthodox believers and belonged to this branch of Christianity until the 15^th century. The church is first mentioned in a text in 1536 as already active. After the Brest Union of 1596 it was handed over to members of the Uniate Church. In the first half of the the 19^th century Uniate believers were exiled from Golshany and the wooden church disassembled. In 1901, tanks to the efforts of the Orthodox priest Vladimir a new Orthodox church was built in its place. Today the church houses many miracle-working icons of from the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Ivye

Pass through the main square and turn right – you will see an imposing Catholic church, one of the very few surviving here. This town was first mentioned in chronicles of the 15^th century as the residence on the Great Duke. In 1444 Ivye was given to a Novogrudok head of the local community, Petr Montigerdovich, who commenced construction of the first Catholic church here around 1495. In the second half of the 16^th century, Ivye established itself as a center for Protestantism in the Great Lithuanian Principality. Printing houses and school were founded. The rector of the school between 1585 and 1593 was a progressive thinker, educational specialist and poet, yan Namyslovsky. During the next three centuries, ownership of the town often changed hands. Among the prominent families who at one time controlled the area were the Slushkas, Glebovichs, Oginskys, Sapegas. Tyzengauzs and Zamoiskys.

Ivye construction was formed throughout its history and affected by the location – it lies at the intersection of roads leading to Minsk, Lida and Novogrudok. At the cross-road there’s the main square. In the central part of the town stand buildings from the beginning of the 19^th to the 20 th centuries, the so-called “Jewish houses”, decorated with ornamental design.

St.Peter and Paul Catholic Church and St.Bernard’s Monestry.

Around 1600 Stanislav Kishka founded in Ivye a Catholic church in the fashionable early Baroque style. In 1631, voevode (the military head) from Mstislavl, Mikolai Kishka, founded the St.Bernard’s monastery. All these buildings were burnt to the ground during th 1656 war. The church was rebuilt and sanctified in 1787.

Nowadays, the architectural ensemble consists of the St.Peter and Paul Catholic church and residential buildings (only western and part of the eastern outhouses remain). The monastery is slightly away from the street, separated by an earthen mound that in the old days was of defensive significance. In the 19^th century a chapel was attached to the north wall of the church. St.Peter and Paul Catholic Church has six 18^th century altars.

Mosque

Tatars settled in Ivye around the 16^th century, separately from the Christians, in area called Muravsgchizna. In 1884 the owner of the township, Elvira Zamoiskaya, made a donation for the building of a mosque. In 1922, emigrant Tatars donated money and a minaret was added. Local Tatars are followers of the Sunni school of Islam. The mosque has never been closed and operated even during the most difficult days of the Soviet antireligious struggle.

Grodno and the outskirts

If you wish to experience real Belarusian hospitality, if primeval nature, clear lakes and rivers, pleasant forests and picturesque landscapes attract you, if you would like to see living history on ancient city streets, near legendary castles and palace walls, if you are interested in a rich and original culture and works of master craftsmen, you are welcome to visit the Grodno Region in belarus, the place where I born.

There are 14 towns, 17 townships, and around 4,500 villages. The main towns are Grodno, Lida, Slonim, Novogrudok and Volkovysk.

Grodno oblast is situated in the north-west of Belarus, by the basin of the River Neman. The region borders with Vitebsk, Minsk and Brest oblast of Belarus as well as with Lithuania and Poland. In the center of the oblast are the Neman lowlands: a plain landscape dotted with Grodno, Volkovysk, Novogrudok, Slonim and Oshmyany hills. The highest point in the locality is Zamkovaya Hill in Novogrudok, 323 metres above sea level. Local climate is mild and humid, the average winter temperature starts -5 degree Celsius, rising to 18 degrees in the summer, however, temperature can reach as high as 30 Celsius, dropping to a massive winter low of -25 Celsius on ocassion.

Rainfall figures:530 mm to 660 mm a year.
Grodno oblast occupies a territory of 25,100 square kilometres.

Its population, as it stood on January 1, 2004, is around 1,146,000. Belarussians make up more than 62% of the region's population, with Poles being the largest minority. Other nationalities living in the Grodno oblast are Russians, Ukranians, Lithuanians, tatars, Jews and more.
The official language are Belarussian and Russian.

A LAND OF RIVERS AND LAKES

The locality is rich in lakes, small but scenic. The biggest of them are Lakes Beloye, Rubnitsya, Svir, Vishnevskoye and Svityaz. Most of them are used as water reserves and have grown famous for their clear water. Leafy groves, coniferous and mixed woods cover around one third of the area. Amazengly, parts of ancient virgin forests have survived on the territory. The biggest and most famous of these is Belovezhskaya Pushcha, listed as Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

The northern part lies inside the Grodno region. A number of biological reserves have been created especially to protect the great variety plants and trees in the forest: currently there are 1,500 types of vegetation.

TRAVELLING IN THE GRODNO REGION

The Prineman area grants a traveller a wide choice of interesting routes. For boat-enthusiasts, there is a famous Avgustovski canal. It runs inside the Grodno Oblast for 21.2 km and includes four sluices; part of the canal also passes through Poland. Once a year at the end of August, near the Dombrovka sluice, a tri-nation Culture Festival takes place. Art groups and craftsmen from Belarus, Poland and Lithuania take part in the activity.

Rout Grodno-Slonim-Zhirovichi is full of amazing discoveries. In Slonim, splendid Baroque Catholic churches, as well as M.K.Oginsky's manor and local museum, all well worth a traveller's attention. Zhirovichi is a center for pilgrimage not only for Orthodox Belarussians but also for many believers from afar. Its ocal monastery is well-known for encompassing an ensemble of ancient churches and for its miracle-working, healing icon of the Blessed Virgin. Should the traveller stray from the set path, and come upon the small village Synkovichi, he would not regret it. A church-fortress has stood there, its faceted towers pointing to the sky, for the last 500 years. Its sister fortress and church, Malomozheikovo (also known as 'Muranovka') can be seen during as you drive along the Grodno-Minsk motorway. The road passes through plenty attractive sites: ancient towns and townships of Skidel, Schuchin and Lida, the ancestral nests of gentry's families, old parks, and Catholic and Orthodox churches.

If you come to visit Grodno area, you can not bypass the capital. Thes pearl in the crown of Belarussian cities will surely charm with its cosy atmosphere of ancient narow streets and green courtyyards. Royal castles, imposing Catholic churches, a unique Kalozhskaya church, museums, the only zoo in Belarus, exhibition and concert halls, theatres - Grodno has them all. You can easly spend a couple of days here and every one of those will be packed full with discoveries and impressions.

For nature lovers the Grodno region has a store of treasures - sanatoriums, recreation areas, beaches, rivers and lakes full of fish, and forests full of berries and mushrooms.

In the nest few days I will put some imortant information about the main beautiful places in Grodno Region...

Six magical petals

During april to may Amsterdam turns into flower paradise. It inflates with millions of tulips making it the most colorful and mixed city on the Earth. You can see tulips everywhere: on squares, canals, lamps and showcases etc.

The most popular colors are red and white, and the most rare are black and blue. The red tulip with white edging is a classical harmonious flower combination stimulating a sense of gladness.

And black and blue bells you can see more often at the pictures then in the real life.

Blue tulip presents just in mind of floriculturists but there are a lot of sorts including the words in their names such as blauw. It is considered that there is no DNA responsible for blue color.

The first tulips came to Holland from Turkey 400 years ago. Exotic flowers with sharp long petals decorated the sultan’s castles and has been in respect in people minds.

Nowadays Holland exports hundreds of sorts of tulips abroad. Only men can cultivate tulips!

So, I think that you enjoy finding any useful information about history of tulips. And as usual you are welcome to add something that you know. Please feel free to post comments. But I ask you to post only relevant comments NO SPAM allowed! Thank you.

Amsterdam - the symbol of enterprise, freedom and cosmopolitanism

Amsterdam… This city absorbs smell of the sea and flowers, cheese and fresh milk, Amsterdam has been poetized by poets and artists, it has been built up by famous architects. From this place a flotillas are gone to uncertainty, they conquered continents and won many sea battleships.

The origin of Amsterdam wrapped around legends.

The city where temptations are at every step. The cult of light drugs and easy of access sex gave to Amsterdam the glory of the city with the most free dispositions on the continent. Night begins here at 6 p.m. There are a lot of hippy with guitars and bear “Heineken” near the canal. Public hurry up to night shows and it sounds a music from restaurants. Whores open curtains inside the showcases at the “Red Lights” district. The day is finished but the life is continuing. Night life is very rich and various: every day there are approximately 40 concerts and theatre shows, thousands of disco and bars.

Starting from the Old Part of the city you can choose two ways: going to Ladeseplane and Rembrandtplane. You can find a huge variety of restaurants there. But most part of tourists prefer Rembrandtplane because there it can be found very unusual establishments. Striptease bars can be placed here too. Teenagers prefer disco and pop bars with techno, house and rap styles of music. Please do not surprised if you here the whisper “Coca..coca” and please be very carefully to buy heroine from street people – it is prohibited by the law! But at the local coffeeshop you can try light drugs – for instance hashish – absolutely legally.

Further you can reach the district of Red Lights. Oh… There is the biggest condom shop in Europe. In the center is situated famous “Sex Theatre” Next – showcases with pretty girls for cash. Night walks over the Amsterdam are safe. Till the early morning the doors of the bars are opened…

To be continued…

Please leave some comments here and tell what ware your impressions of visiting the Amsterdam. You can also ask any question you like. Thanks.