Travelling in Belarus III: Grodno/Гродно

I visited this nice little town on 18^th May, last Sunday.

My train arrived quite early, at 6AM. I rested for a while in the train station, then I spent the day walking around and taking photos. It was the day when my stomach ache started, so it overshadowed my experience a bit, but in spite of this, Grodno became one of my favourite cities in the country.

I visited a couple of churches and it was interesting that everywhere they seemed to have a holiday. All the churched were stuffed. At one of the churches children had their first Holy Communion. At one of the Orthodox churches people were shouting. Maybe it is part of the Pentecost period.

Photos of Grodno 

Now let’s talk about the history of the region and the city.

The region is situated on the northwest part of Belarus and has borders with Poland and Lithuania. Here lives the majority of the Polish minority of the country. Very often you can see Polish writing on the streets.

The region is famed for its classical architecture. The centre of Grodno is even considered a special architectural zone by law. The city was first mentioned in 1127 in the Primary Chronicle. By 1280 the region became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the coming centuries the city, - as well as the rest of the country - saw many battles and fierce fights. The 20^th Century was yet another busy period. The area “changed hands” many times and finally The Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 incorporated Grodno region into Poland. The Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, then when the country was divided up by Nazi Germany and the USSR under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of Non-Agression, an important engagement took place in and around Grodno between the Red Army and the Polish troops, as the Russian troops marched to protect the borders of the SU. One word to sum up the rest: Bloodshed! Grodno fell once more for the Germans in 1941. The liberating Soviet troops came too late to save the local Jewish people. The majority of them died in the concentration camps.

After having survived the ordeals of the 20^th Century, Grodno became one of the most major cities in Belarus.

It is a very calm and appealing city, with a population of ~ 277,000.

I think that it is quite easy to see all the sites just walking around in the city. I did not take advantage of the public transport. There are many churches in town, of which the Jesuit Farny Cathedral, the Bernadino Church and Seminary, and the Church of St. Christmas and the Blessed Virgin is absolutely worth checking out. My personal favourite was the last one. It is an Orthodox church with beautiful frescos. The oldest building in town is the Kolozhskaya Church of St Boris and St Hleb. I did not manage to get there unfortunately.

In the centre you can find Sovietskaya Square and Street. The street reminded me of the little town where I went to high school (Háromszoros hurrá Szentendrének!), so I particularly enjoyed walking around there.

There is a tank in the roundabouts nearby, which is nice and just a stone's throw away you can find on the riverside the rather strange and stunning building of the Drama Theatre. A must see!

It’s a buzzy little town! I enjoyed my stay there and it was yet again lovely to enjoy the benefits of platzkart. :)

Source: Nigel Roberts: Belarus