Belarus is an ancient Slavonic country situated in the East of Europe. It occupies the territory of 207600 sq. km and is populated by 10,37 mln people. Belarus stretches 650 km from the West to the East and 560 km from the North to the South. Belarus is about the same size as Great Britain (240.000 sq. km), with a population well in excess of Bulgaria, Portugal, Belgium or Sweden. Belarus borders on Russia in the North and the East, on the Ukraine in the South-East, on Poland in the West and on Latvia and Lithuania in the North-West.

The climate is continental temperate. Belarus has 6 regions, about 4000 rivers and 11000 lakes. The largest rivers are the Dnieper, the Western Dvina, the Nieman. the Bug, the biggest lake is Naroch. Almost the third of the country is forestland. Due to a great number of lakes and forests the Belarusian people call their country blue-eyed or a country of blue lakes and green forests.

The history of the Belarussian nation has been long and complicated. The first written documents of the Belarussian state go back as far as to 980 A.D. From the 14th till the 16th centuries the territory of modern Belarus was the center of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was one of the largest, most powerful and flourishing states in medieval Eastern Europe. Being situated on the crossroads of the commercial routes from the East to the West and from the North to the South. Belarus was doomed to get into the focus of infinite wars waged by European countries to control the strategic overland routes. Russians and Poles, Germans and Swedes, Danes, French and Ukrainians have invaded it. After one of such long-lasting and devastating wars Belarus appeared to have lost half of its population. More recently, during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 Belarus lost 25% of its inhabitants. It was only recently that Belarus reached its prewar demographic quantity of 10 mln people.Despite of all historic hardships the Belarussian nation has preserved its language and culture.

Today the Republic of Belarus is a well-developed agroindustrial sovereign state. Many world-recognized goods are manufactured here, such as MAZ lorries, BelAZ heavy-duty trucks, ATLANT refrigerators and freezers, motorcycles and bicycles, TV- and radio-sets, various agricultural machines, potash fertilizers and chemical Fibres.

Minsk is the capital of the Republic of Belarus and its industrial, political, scientific and cultural center. Its population is 1,7 million people. The city is situated in the heart of Belarus - on the crossroads of trade routes from the East to the West and from the North to the South. The city has an excellent geographical position (750 km to the East - Moscow, 900 km to the North - St.Petersburg, 550 km to the West - Warsaw, 650 km to the South - Kiev). Minsk was first mentioned in chronicles in 1067. The city has seen a lot during its history. Many conquerors have passed through Minsk. During World War II it was ruined almost completely. But it stood all the trials and revived like Phoenix.

RED STAR TRAVEL invites you to visit Belarus, the country with endless woodlands, deep rivers and lakes, vast fields and meadows of fragrant grass.

YUBILEYNAYA HOTEL

Located in the city center, close to Troitsky Estate. Nemiga Metro Station nearby. 5 km to the railway station and 70 km to the airport. Built in 1969. Partially renovated in 1996. 13 floors. All floors accessible by elevator. 220 rooms: 161 standard rooms, 23 upgraded rooms on the 4th floor, 36 superior rooms on the 6th and 12th floors. Upgraded and superior rooms feature private bathroom, satellite color TV, direct-dial international telephone, radio, refrigerator. Room service. Restaurant. 2 bars. Facsimile and photocopying facilities. Sauna. Currency exchange. Safety deposit box. Hair salon. Souvenir kiosk. Laundry. Baggage storage. On-site parking. English-speaking staff. Room rates - from $75.

PLANETA HOTEL

Located in the city center within walking distance to Frunzenskaya and Nemiga Metro Stations. 5 km to the railway station and 70 km to the airport. Built in 1980. 12 floors. All floors accessible by elevator. 201 standard and upgraded rooms. Upgraded and superior rooms feature private bathroom, satellite color TV, direct-dial international telephone, mini-bar. Room service. Restaurant (European and National cuisine). Bar. Banquet hall. Casino. Facsimile and photocopying facilities. Sauna. Currency exchange. Safety deposit box. Hair salon. Souvenir kiosk. Pharmacy. Laundry. Baggage storage. On-site parking. English-speaking staff. Room rates - from $82.

ORBITA HOTEL

Located in the western part of Minsk, not far from the Republican Exhibition Center. Pushkinskaya Metro Station nearby. 5 km to the railway station and 70 km to the airport. Built in 1992. Recently renovated. 12 floors. All floors accessible by elevator. 167 rooms: 144 singles and twins, 23 suites. All rooms feature private bathroom, satellite color TV, direct-dial international telephone, refrigerator. Suites have mini-bars. 24-h Room service. Orbita restaurant with 2 halls. 2 bars. Casino. Night club. Business Center offering a comprehensive range of services. Conference hall. Meeting rooms. Currency exchange. Safety deposit box. Hair salon. Beauty shop. Souvenir kiosk. Drug store. Post office. Laundry. Baggage storage. Towncar service. On-site parking. English-speaking staff. Room rates - from $70.

BELARUSS HOTEL

Located in the city center. Nemiga Metro Station nearby. 5 km to the railway station and 70 km to the airport. Built in 1987. 22 floors. All floors accessible by elevator. 372 rooms: 189 standard rooms, 48 upgraded rooms, 135 superior rooms. All rooms feature private bathroom, satellite color TV, direct-dial international telephone, mini-bar.) Room service. Restaurant. Bar. Cafe. Top-floor disco. Casino. Facsimile and photocopying facilities. Sauna. Currency exchange. Safety deposit box. Hair salon. Souvenir kiosk. Laundry. Pharmacy. Baggage storage. On-site parking. English-speaking staff. Room rates - from $70.

Minsk Museums

National Museum of History and Culture. Operating hours: 11am - 7pm, closed on Wednesdays. Founded in 1957. There are 11 halls in the museum and more than 250,000 displays in its stocks. The museum has interesting displays about the history and development of Belarus from the Stone Age to our time: things of life and art of the primitive, articles of medieval craftsmen, armor, numismatic collections, ethnographic materials of XVIII-XX centuries, documents about revolutionary events in Belarus and fight of the people against invaders, numerous collections of manuscripts, blackletter books, works of applied art, etc. For example, one hall is devoted to Belarus as it was a Soviet Republic: exhibits include an original pass to Lenin's funeral, posters urging workers to condemn priests who "help the capitalism", and the first tractor dating back to 1931. There is a large collection of treasures (105) in the museum. Stuffed animals, too.

Ancient Belarusian Culture Museum. Operating hours: 9am - 5pm, closed on Saturdays and Sundays. The museum was opened in 1979, when the fiftieth anniversary of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences was celebrated. Now the museum is a Branch of the Institute of Art, Ethnography and Folklore of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. There are more than 17,000 displays, including 600 works of painting, 4,500 works of decorative-applied art, 170 sculptures, 2,600 patterns of folk weaving in the museum. A delight for archaeology and ethnology fans, the highlights including a rich collection of folk garment and half an ancient boat uncovered a few years ago by a forester in the silt of the river Sozh.

Great Patriotic War Museum. Operating hours: 10am - 5pm, closed on Mondays. The first exposition was opened in 1944. There are 30 halls in the museum and over 120,000 displays in its stocks. The full horrors of the World War II are highlighted here. The most shocking and impressive part of the exhibition is the Black Hall, devoted to the Nazi concentration camps. The museum has original gallows and a diorama of the Maly Trostenets death camp, the largest in Europe after Auschwitz and Maijdanek where over 200,000 died. Light a candle in the foyer. The museum has two branches: the Memorial Complex "Kurgan Slavy" (Mound of Glory) and the Memorial Complex "Khatyn".

National Arts Museum. Operating hours: 11am - 7pm, closed on Tuesdays. It was founded in 1939. There are 5 permanent halls and 3 halls opened only for provisional exhibitions in the museum. The imposing, pillared state art museum has a huge collection of almost 25,000 works of Belarusian, Russian and foreign painters. There you can see unique collections of archeological monuments of XII - XVIII centuries, Belarusian icons of XV - XVIII centuries, patterns of ancient and modern decorative-applied arts, works of painting, statuary and graphic of Belarusian craftsmen of XVIII - XIX centuries. A wonderful place to escape for a couple of hours.

City tour

Cathedral of the Holy Ghost. Built in 1642 to serve Bernadine nuns, the convent's consecration was delayed for 40 years because of the Muscovite invasions. In 1741 the original structure was damaged by fire but later reconstructed. The convent was liquidated in 1852 and the building given to the Russian church for use as a monastery - but half a century later it was closed altogether by the Bolsheviks. Today after ongoing renovations, the church is a pleasant stop. Evening services 6pm except Mondays.

Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. Built in 1613, the "yellow church" is the oldest surviving church in Minsk. Though Orthodox, it was looted in 1707 by Peter the Great's Cossacks. The building was closed by the Bolsheviks at the beginning of this century, reopened by the Nazis, closed in 1944 and reopened in 1992. Evening services 6pm.

Catholic Church of St. Simon and Helena. An interesting agglomeration of red-brick towers, spires and pitched roofs known as the "Red Church" was built by the Belarusian aristocratic Vaynilovich family in 1908-1910 to commemorate the premature death of their two young children, to whose patron saints the church is dedicated. It became a symbol of inconsolable parents' grief and good memory for the children died untimely. The towers house three bells named after the church's founder, his father and his dead son: Edward, Michael and Simon. When the Bolsheviks came to power, the church became a cinema, then a film studio, and later a popular meeting place for the opposition in the 1980s. In 1990 the beautiful temple was returned to the believers-catholics. Evening services 7pm.

Maryinsky Cathedral. This Roman Catholic cathedral survived all the century's wars, but in the 1950s its two towers were knocked down and a Stalinist facade thrown over the front. The twin towers have been restored, with copper domes sparkling more impressively than the Holy Ghost across the road. Evening services 7pm.

St. Aleksander Nevsky's Church. A nice little red brick church with two golden onion domes. It was built in 1898 to commemorate the victory of the Tsar's armies over the Turks, closed by the Bolsheviks, reopened by the Nazis, then closed by the Soviets. During the war, a bomb crashed through the roof and landed in front of the altar, but did not explode. Evening services 6pm.

Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. It is one of the major buildings in Minsk constructed during the period of Soviet rule in 1935-1937 to a design by the leading architect Ja. Langbard. Founded to accommodate the Belarusian Studio for Opera and Ballet, which existed in 1930-1933 in Minsk, it was reconstructed and restored in the post-war period (1944-1948); the interior was refurbished in 1977-1981. The main auditorium contains 1.200 seats disposed as stalls, and three of tiers of dress circle, upper-circle and balcony with additional boxes; the stage is one of the most spacious in Europe. Sixty years of performances have made this one of the best ballets in the FSU, rated by many as good as the Moscow Bolshoi. The internationally famous Belarusian corps de ballet has been rated as second only to that of St-Petersburg. On specialists' opinion the ballet troupe of the theatre is one of the best in Europe. Beginning from 1974, it plays on tour a lot including the most prestigious stages of the world. Great dancers with a rich repertoire, amazing (often avant-garde) sets and an extremely competent orchestra. The opera troupe began to tour in 1993. Tickets (available from the box office, a separate door to the left of the main entrance) are still as less than a dollar for front row seats, which makes one feel sorry for those involved who are evidently not getting due recompense for their excellent work.

Tours around Minsk

Museum of Folk Architecture. Operating hours: 10am - 5pm, closed on Sundays and Mondays. Located 15km southwest on the Brest highway. A charming, tiny village situated on the picturesque banks of the river Ptich.

The Memorial Complex "Kurgan Slavy" (Mound of Glory). Junction of the Moscow and Minsk II highways, located 21 km from Minsk in the place of the breakthrough of 4 fronts, that liberated Belarus from fascists in 1944. It was founded in 1960. This hill, topped by four bayonets, was built from the scorched earth of the nine "Hero Cities" of the USSR and battlegrounds of WWII in honor of the Red Army.

Khatyn Memorial. Located 54 km north on the Vitebsk highway. The memorial was opened in 1969. On March 22, 1943, Nazis plundered the tiny village of Khatyn, burning alive 149 people including 75 children. A grief-stricken villager bearing his son in his arms greets you as you enter this eerie memorial to the 26 izbas so ruthlessly destroyed. An eternal flame burns between three silver birch trees, marking the one in every four Belarusians killed during WWII.

Naroch Lake. Situated 130 km north of Minsk. Head through the forests to the biggest (and probably cleanest) lake in Belarus, far from the crowd. Ice fish and reside at a sanatorium nearby. Other pleasant, lackey scenes include Selyava Lake near Borisov (100km north east of Minsk) and the Braslav lakes (250km north, near the border with Latvia).

Zhirovichi Monastery. 217 km southwest of Minsk, Brest highway. This 17th-century monastery is located in the woods where a small Madonna icon "miraculously appeared". A church was built but later burned down and the icon was thought to be lost. Years on, the icon "miraculously reappeared". It was found by children, supposedly bearing the hand and foot prints of the Virgin Mary. This stone is now part of the church altar. It was the only working monastery in Soviet times.

Nesvizh Palace and Town. Located 120 km south of Minsk, off the Brest highway. The small town of Nesvizh founded in the 13th century, is home to the 16th century Radvilli Renaissance family's castle. Today the castle is a sanatorium for kolkhoz farmers, but the grounds and courtyard are open to the public. If you arrive by bus, put your back to the bus station and head to your right-hand side for a pleasant twenty-minute stroll to the castle through town. A hotel and restaurants also operate here if you feel the need to stay overnight. (You shouldn't feel that need.) On the way to the castle also find the beautiful Farny Polish Roman Catholic church built 1584 - 1593.

Mir Castle. Located 100 km south of Minsk, off the Brest highway. The gorgeous red brick Mir Castle is currently being restored, but one tower and the courtyard is open to visitors. With a lake, a quaint village and an Orthodox church nearby, a visit can make a pleasant afternoon. The tower open as a museum features ceramics found during excavations as well as photos of the last owner. The Radvill family built the castle as a fortress in 1568 and it's an outstanding example of the rare Belarusian Gothic architectural style. Each of the formidable brick towers are decorated differently. Easily disassembled wooden floors were used in the towers so that soldiers could easily throw the burning planks out of the windows in case of fire. The castle was originally surrounded by a moat, an Italian-style garden and a lake. Today only the lake survives. After renovations and with the help of UNESCO, the castle will eventually house a hotel (for foreigners only we're told), a restaurant and a full-fledged museum.

Chernobyl. On April 26, 1986, at 01:21, the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, 12 km south of the Belarusian border, exploded. Yet, it was not until abnormal radiation levels were registered at one of Sweden's nuclear facilities that the world learned about the disaster, initially concealed by the Soviet authorities.

Belarus was hit the hardest. 70% of all radiation fallout fell on Belarusian land. In the first days after the explosion, the levels of gamma radiation exceeded natural values by 25 times in Minsk and 1,500 times in Bragin. Some 23% of the country was heavily contaminated with radioactive Caesium-137 above 37 kilo-bequerel/km?. It is estimated that today more than two million people in Belarus alone still live in contaminated areas and consume local farm produce.

Medical experts expect as many as 40% of children exposed to Chernobyl's radiation to develop thyroid cancer over the next 30 years. In 1988, 83 children were revealed to have pathology of the thyroid gland; in 1989, 807; in 1990, 9,924.

Today it is safe to travel through those contaminated areas but avoid eating the mushrooms or drinking the milk. Ukraine has pledged to close the plant by the year 2000 if foreign governments provide sufficient funds to build an alternative power facility.

Tour of Mirsky Castle, 7 hours

During this tour you will travel to Mir town located in Grodno Region, 100 km south of Minsk, off the Brest highway. The first mention about it dates back to 1345. It is famous its outstanding work of art of the Belarussian stone architecture - ancient castle, founded at the beginning of the 16th century by the prince Yuri Ilyinich. When M. Radzivill-Sirotka became the owner of Mir in 1568 the castle was completed.

The residence of the magnate - rich palace was protected behind the fortress walls with towers, surrounded by ground banks with bastions and a pond. The Gothic style prevails in the architecture of the castle The features of Renaissance are observed in the scenes and the forms of the palace part and in the Eastern towers. Re-built up to three stores in its time, the palace had about 40 rooms, decorated with marble, with luxurious inner decorations.

Nothing has been preserved up to now days: the castle was conquered not once. As Mir itself, it was burnt, rebuilt, destroyed many times. During the invasion of Napoleon the palace was burnt, the tower was exploded the fortifications was destroyed too much. After 1812 a part of the Eastern wing of the palace was reconstructed and three towers were restored. At the end of the 19th century the palace-park ensemble with variety of wood plants and the large pond with an island were formed. In 1904 the chapel-strewer of the princes Svyatopolk-Mirskys was included to the composition of the ensemble. It is an original construction with the beautiful mosaic panel.

The ruinous wars and social shakes of the last historical period brought much losses to Mir. When M. Radzivill-Sirotka was the owner of Mir, it was the period of flourishing for it: Troitski (Trinity) Church was given to the town.(It was re-built after the fair in 1865.); Farny Church of Nikilay Chudotvorets was erected from wood, and soon from the brick (rebuilt in 1970); also other beautiful constructions were built in the town square. From 1978 up to our days the monument has being reconstructed. It includes castle, palace (kept partially), park and chapel-vault. Mirsky Castle was built from the clay by the Illinichis in the beginning of the 16 centure. From 1568 it belonged to the Radzivills, after- the Vitgenshteins, the Svyatopolk-Mirskys.

The plan of the castle is close to the square with a side of 75m. By the coners it has five-floor tower (25-27m of the height), which are situated behind the walls. There is the fifth six-floor tower with entering gates in the middle of the western wall. Infront the gates there was a bridge and moat. There was belfry in the tower. On the first floor there was the chapel and in the basement - the prison.