Architectural and historical monuments of Smorgon. Family smorgon. Prices in Smorgon

The city that saw Napoleon is ready to show tourists many beauties: unique Catholic churches, castles and even the only place in the country where coffee is harvested.

This one is completely small town I saw the most dramatic moments in Napoleon's life. It was here that the French emperor handed over command of the retreating troops to his comrade-in-arms and left for Paris. Smorgon was founded two centuries before those days as a private settlement, which was owned in turn by several large families, among which were the Radziwills. They even once organized a bear academy here, which is reflected on the city’s coat of arms.

The origin of the toponym is dissonant. According to the most common version, “Smorgon” is a derivative of the Baltic “smurgo” - “slob, hack.” In 1842, the city became state property and was almost completely destroyed during the First World War. The line of the Russian-German front passed through it. Smorgon held its defense for more than 800 days, but paid too high a price for it. By the end of the battle, 154 people survived in the city. In those days, a remarkable event happened here. It was near Smorgon that the women’s battalion of death of Maria Bochkareva fought for the only time.

Now a little more than 37 thousand people live in the city. The main attractions, as history has decreed, are located not within the city, but in its immediate surroundings.

The most beautiful church in Belarus

“Little Switzerland” and “Belarusian Notre Dame” - these are the nicknames people gave to the Church of the Holy Trinity in the agricultural town of Gervyaty, which is very close to Smorgon. A number of surveys have shown that this church is considered the most beautiful in the country. And official data shows that he is also one of the three highest. The bell tower ends at 61 meters from the surface of the earth.

This church is not as old as its Smorgon counterpart - St. Michael the Archangel. Construction was completed in 1903, and its distinctive feature is the neo-Gothic style. Actually, until that time there was a small wooden temple here, and it had stood virtually without incident since the middle of the 16th century.

There is a big one around the church landscape park with rare plants and figures of the apostles. In front of the building itself are several richly carved wooden crosses. The interior decoration matches the external claims.

Witness of eras

This place has seen many events of different centuries; key historical figures stayed here. In Krevo Castle they worked out the Krevo Union, which united Poland with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was besieged, but the Tatars could not take it, but the Muscovites captured it. The fugitive Russian prince Andrei Kurbsky lived here for a long time.

In the 18th century, the gradual destruction of the castle began. Natural processes were aided by the First World War. Kreva also found himself on the front line. After the Germans captured a village near Smorgon, they placed shelters and observation posts in the castle, which, in turn, were subjected to massive shelling.

From the unique building made of stone and red brick, only ruins have survived to this day. They are an architectural monument and are protected by both the state and several volunteer organizations.

Birth of Polonaise

In another agricultural town – Zalesie – there is a manor, of which there are many throughout Belarus. But this one is notable for the owner's name. Once upon a time, Zalesie was privately owned. The great-nephew of the head of the family once became the sole owner of the estate, but did not attach any special importance to it.

However, years later he took part in the failed Kosciuszko uprising, was captured, but was given an amnesty and decided to take refuge in the territory Russian Empire. This is where the land in Zalesye came in handy. He ordered the old estate to be demolished and built a new one, with stone palace. This revolutionary’s name was Mikhail Oginsky, and he lived on the family estate for more than 8 years, and then lived periodically for another 13.

Historians believe that the famous polonaise was written and performed for the first time within these walls. The composer could almost have been inspired to create it by a huge park with a picturesque topography near the river floodplain, cozy chapels, gazebos and a nice water mill.

The estate was restored this decade. A museum and cultural center will soon appear there.

Coffee plantations in Belarus

The winter garden at the local polytechnic lyceum is a place that is not so popular among tourists. It was left after the Smorgon boarding school for orphans. In the late 90s, for psychological relief, a greenhouse was organized for them. A decade and a half later, it turned into a huge garden covering an area of ​​a thousand hectares! There are even more strange plants here – 2.5 thousand!

The most amazing thing is that this place is not only for beauty, but also for harvest. The lyceum employees boast that they collect coffee by the bucketful, bananas by the kilogram, and pomegranates by the dozen. Lemon trees bear fruit almost all year round. U local residents There is a tradition of coming here on your wedding day.

Official excursions in the winter garden are not that frequent, but guests here are treated quite friendly.

What else to see

The Church of St. Michael the Archangel is the oldest church in the city. It managed to be a monastery not only for Catholics, but also for Orthodox and even Calvinists. He was repeatedly seriously injured, but each time he carefully recovered. Built, according to various sources, between 1503 and 1612.

In the city itself there is a unique rock garden and a monument to the Bear Academy, and several other remarkable places are scattered around the area: a former pagan temple in Krevo (Yuryeva Gora), a monument to soldiers of the First World War in Danyushevo and the Trinity Church in the village of Voistom.

Veniamin Lykov

Take a photo with the bear, eat ice cream and be silent at the war memorial. We tell you why Smorgon was called “ dead city"and why you should come there at least once.

1. Visit a Renaissance monument, a rarity for Belarus

Monuments of the Renaissance in Belarus can be counted on one hand. And the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Smorgon is the most famous among them.

After the Reformation came to the Belarusian lands in the 16th century, practically no new churches were built: most often, older Catholic churches were remodeled for Protestant gatherings. But the Church of St. Michael in Smorgon is an exception. It was originally built precisely as a Calvin gathering (Calvinism was the most widespread reformation movement in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The church's donor, Kristof Zenovich, a prominent statesman of his time, was also a Calvinist.

But the temple did not serve Protestants for long. In the middle of the 17th century, the Catholic Church finally regained its lost positions and the gathering in Smorgon became a church. The temple is still Catholic today - it belongs to the monastic order of the Salesians. And only the discreet interior decor reminds of its Protestant past.

2. Find out the military history of the “dead city”

During World War I, the city desperately defended itself from the German army. Due to the fierce battles that took place here in 1915, Smorgon is often compared to Stalingrad. It was also hellish here: among the soldiers of those years there was even a saying: “Whoever has not been near Smorgon has never seen war.” After an 810-day defense, the city was deserted. Newspapers of the time dubbed it the “dead city.”

Here, on the Eastern Front of the First World War, future writers Mikhail Zoshchenko and Valentin Kataev fought. And in Zalesye, near Smorgon, the youngest daughter of Leo Tolstoy, Alexandra Tolstaya, nursed the wounded.

Story " dead city» is immortalized in the Memorial Complex to the Heroes and Victims of the First World War, opened here in 2014.

3. Take a photo with a bear at the “bear academy”

Yes, yes, you heard right. There was such an educational institution in Smorgon in the 17th - 19th centuries. "Bearish" in in this case- not an allegory, bears “studied” at the academy. The most real ones. Bears in Smorgon were trained for various fun. Four-legged students could perform the most complex tricks - bowing, dancing, marching, looking in the mirror.

The academy in Smorgon reached its greatest prosperity in the 18th century, under Karol Stanislav Radziwill Pan Kokhanku. The same thing that I went sledding in Nesvizh in the summer. On roads made of salt. He was also a merry fellow and a jokester. The students of the Smorgon “academy” were known far beyond the boundaries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Trained Smorgon bears could be found at fairs in Prussia, Schleswig, Bavaria and Alsace.

True, Greenpeace would not approve of the training and teaching methods at the institution. But Academician Pavlov might have appreciated it. On the site of the current district hospital, deep pits with brushwood were dug, on which cages with copper bottoms stood. When brushwood was set on fire in the pits, the bottom heated up, and the bears began to dance from the heat. At this time, the trainers were banging on the tambourine. After several months of “training,” the bears were released from their cages. After such training, the animals always began to shift from paw to paw as soon as they heard the sound of a tambourine.

Today, of course, bears are not trained in Smorgon: the educational institution finally ceased to exist back in 1870. But the academy was sung in stone relatively recently – in 2013.

4. Try Smorgon ice cream

The Bear Academy in Smorgon no longer exists, but the bear's glory remains. In addition to the sculpture in the park, there is an installation with a bear in the local local history museum, the bear appears on the city’s coat of arms and… on the packaging of local ice cream.

But if the Smorgon ice cream had been packed even in a gray, nondescript container, it would probably have been no less popular. It is so tasty and natural. The good old Soviet GOST guarantees the absence of chemical additives and a rush of nostalgia for those born before the 1990s.

Ice cream can be bought in almost any grocery store in Smorgon and in several more nearby cities. This divine delicacy cannot be found in Minsk and other regions. So eat up for good measure. Or take a pack or two with you in your cooler bag.

Today Smorgon is famous for its ice cream, but in the 17th-19th centuries bagels were the culinary specialty of the city. By the way, these delicacies were originally intended for bears with a sweet tooth. And they were not rings, but sticks. And only over time was the recipe adapted for people. The bagels “rounded up” and they began to add poppy seeds, honey and Cahors into the dough. In the sources you can find different names for the Smorgon delicacy: abvaranki, smargonki, and (our favorite name) - abarzhanki.

5. Take a walk through the rock garden

Stone faces in Smorgon are not about the hospitality of the Smorgon people, no. It's about stone slab with bas-reliefs in the form of women's faces.

This and other interesting sculptures appeared in central park city ​​not so long ago, during the plein air of young sculptors. The artists worked outdoors for a month to master such a complex natural material as stone. The result is impressive. And even though some of the sculptures are abstract and conventional, the result of creative impulses fits unusually organically into the urban environment.

Here, in the central park, there is a monument to Frantisek Bogushevich, a poet, one of the founders of new Belarusian literature. If you have time, visit the Bogushevich Estate in Kushlyany - here the poet spent the last years of his life. It has been restored and perfectly conveys the atmosphere late XIX century. And in the Smorgon region there is the village of Krevo, with ruins ancient castle. It was here in 1385 that Vytautas and Jagiello signed the Union of Krevo. The same one that served as the beginning of the unification of Belarusian lands with Poland.

You can get acquainted with Smorgon, as well as look into Oginsky’s estate in Zalesye and see 5 unique churches of the Grodno region within excursion route“Ostrovets Around the World” by contacting one of the travel companies in Belarus.

The editors of the site thanks the National Tourism Agency for the opportunity to get acquainted with the monuments of Smorgon.

The city of Smorgon is the center of the district of the same name in the Grodno region of Belarus. It is located on a river called Oksna, which is a left tributary of a river called Viliya, as well as its tributary, a river called Gervyatka.

It is located 110 kilometers from Minsk and 260 kilometers from Grondo. About 37,000 people live on its territory. This number includes not only Belarusians, but also Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, and many other nationalities.

History of Smorgon

The very first mention of a place called Smorgon was in the documents of the Vileika diocese. At that moment, the territory of the city was owned by the princes Zenovich. In 1533, the first Calvinist cathedral was founded in the city, and in 1590 the first school, hospital and paper factory were built. Find out which one here.

In the 17th century, the territory became the property of Radzillov, who created a bear training school here, which was called the “Smorgon Academy”. In 1795 the city became part of the Russian Empire.

Through the territory modern city Napoleonic troops retreated in 1812. City status was granted by Nicholas II in 1904. During the 1st World War the city was completely destroyed; only in the period 1960-1980 was it built in Smorgon a large number of largest industrial enterprises.

What is the best way to get to Smorgon

Transportation of goods and passengers is carried out entirely by the branch of Car Park No. 17. From the bus station located in Smorgon, 7 international routes depart (to Minsk, Komarovo, Baranovichi, Svir, Grodno, Molodechno), as well as 33 suburban ones. The route from Postava to Grodno also passes through the city. In addition, 12 routes operate in Smorgon public transport: 3 express routes, as well as 9 regular services.

Prices in Smorgon

It cannot be said that in the city of Smorgon there are too many shops or shopping centers. Trade in this city is basically at the same level as throughout Belarus. In addition, it cannot be said that prices here are noticeably different from other cities. In principle, we can safely say that in none of the Belarusian cities there are prices that are very different from each other. Throughout the country, prices remain at the same, certain level.

The same can be said about room prices in numerous hotels and hotels. That is why you can safely choose any hotel or inn you like, only based on its location in the city center.

What interesting places can you see in Smorgon

On the territory of the modern city of Smorgon there is a Church named after St. Michael the Archangel. This church was built during the Renaissance. The thickness of the church walls ranges from 1.8 to 3 meters. It was built back in 1552. And in 1866 the church became a church, and was converted back into a church in 1921. In 1947, the church was closed, and then was turned first into a store, then into an exhibition hall, and then into a museum. Only in 1990 the church was again returned to the ownership of believers.

Under the church there is a dungeon, which since ancient times has been considered the tomb of the Zenovich family. Since the tomb has not yet been explored, there are legends that there are a large number of passages in the dungeon as far as Kreva and Vilnius. In 2003, cosmetic repairs were carried out over the church, thanks to which it acquired an attractive appearance. Despite the fact that the city has a long history, very few historical sights have been preserved here.

Nature and climate

The main part of the territory in the region is located in the Narachan-Vileya lowland. And her South part located on the Oshmyany Upland. The most high place in the area there is a city called Milidavskaya, the height here is about 320 meters. The city territory contains a large amount of mineral resources: peat, sand for construction, sand and gravel material, loam, and clay.

In the month of January average temperature is about 6.2 degrees below zero, and in the month of July it is about 18 degrees above zero. The city receives about 6 hundred millimeters of precipitation per year. In addition, not only the river itself, called Viliya, flows through the entire region, but also a large number of its tributaries.

About 38 percent of all areas of the city are forested. A biological reserve called Dubatovskoe has also been created in the city area, as well as - local significance biological lakes Blue.

Smorgon Photos

REPEATING WHAT HAPPENED 1. List the common features of military-political alliances. 2. Name their differences. Military-political alliances on the eve of the First World War Entente 1907 England, France, Russia, and 30 other countries Triple Alliance 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary Italy.

The 100th anniversary of the beginning of one of the bloodiest and largest armed conflicts in human history, the First World War, is coming up. It is already known that the main events dedicated to this event will be held in Smorgon. And it’s no coincidence. It was this corner of the Grodno land that was one of the epicenters of the past; it was here that the Great War (as it was called in the interwar period) left one of those traces that will never be erased from people's memory. However, despite numerous losses, Smorgon survived and did not submit to the enemy... LET'S LEARN ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE IN SMORGON. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT OUR TODAY'S LESSON IS DEDICATED TO.

SMRGON: BACKGROUND During the First World War, the front line literally passed through Smorgon. Local chronicler of history Vladimir Nikolaevich Liguta says: “Smorgon was the only city on the front from the Baltic to the Black Seas, which was defended so long and stubbornly by the Russian army for 810 days in the First world war..." Yakov Matveevich Liguta (right)

The city of Smorgon is located in the north-west of Belarus within the Narochano-Vileyka Plain, two kilometers southwest Viliya River. From September 1915 to February 1918, the Russian-German front line passed through Smorgon. As a result of positional battles, the city of 16 thousand turned into ruins. After an 810-day defense, it practically ceased to exist. Newspapers of the time called it a “dead city.” The first gas attack of the Russian army was carried out in the Smorgon region on September 56, 1916. In memory of the battles near Smorgon, composer Herman Blume wrote the “Smorgon March”.

Formed in Russia in 1917, the Women's Death Battalions took part in hostilities only once, in July 1917, near the village of Krevo, near Smorgon, the “First Women's Military Death Command of Maria Bochkareva” steadfastly repulsed the attacks of the Germans who went on a counter-offensive. The following took part in the battles near Smorgon: the future Marshal of the Soviet Union and the Minister of Defense of the USSR, machine gunner of the 256th Elisavetgrad Regiment Rodion Malinovsky, the future Marshal of the Soviet Union Boris Shaposhnikov and Alexandra Tolstoy (daughter of Leo Tolstoy), as well as the staff captain of the 16th Mingrelian Grenadier Regiment shelf Mikhail Zoshchenko (world-famous satirist writer). Tens of thousands of soldiers and officers gave their lives defending their homeland, hundreds of unknown and 847 named heroes of Smorgon became Knights of St. George in those battles. Several documentaries by domestic and foreign directors have been made about that terrible time.

THE MOST TRAGIC PAGES IN THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR GAS ATTACKS. They launched their first gas attack on the territory of Belarus on the night of June 20, 1916 in the area of ​​the city of Smorgon on the front sector occupied by the 253rd Perekop and 254th Nikolaev infantry regiments of the 64th Infantry Division of the 26th Army Corps.

READ EYEWITNESS MEMORIES OF GAS ATTACKS AND THINK: WHAT IS THIS DANGEROUS MEANS OF WAR? From the memoirs of Leo Tolstoy’s daughter Alexandra (she was in charge of the front-line hospital in Zalesye): “Through narrow communication passages we reached a deep, low dugout. It was possible to enter it only by bending over. The general was sitting at a table covered with papers. He confidentially told me that our army was preparing to attack before dawn. He asked me about the medical personnel, the number of ambulances, the hospital. We waited tensely. At two o'clock in the morning we noticed that, when exploding, German shells released yellow smoke. It spread out across the ravine and smelled of chlorine. Masks! Wear your masks! Half an hour passed. The gas-filled shells continued to explode in a thick yellowish fog. Something smelled like cherries, brothers! Potassium cyanide! Again this terrible animal fear! Jaws trembled, teeth chattered..."

Local historian Vladimir Liguta, events of July 1916: “... - On July 2 at 3:15 a.m., German artillery opened hurricane fire on the trenches of the first and second lines, along communication routes, on the artillery positions of the 64th brigade and throughout the rear, including chemical shells. A few minutes later the Germans released the first cloud of bluish gases. Gases escaped from the cylinders with a strong hiss. As soon as the cloud was noticed, the signalmen played the prearranged signal on their horns, the fighters rushed to their places, put on their masks and prepared for battle. Immediately after the first, a second wave of gases was already approaching the forward trenches, denser, 6-8 meters high. Behind the gas cloud there was a smoke screen, and behind it four chains of German infantry appeared... During the 1.5 hours of the attack, the gas penetrated to a depth of 19 km and caused great damage to the troops of the 26th Corps. 40 officers and 2,076 soldiers were poisoned. Carts carried away the blackened bodies of the dead, and ambulance carts were filled with poisoned ones. The fallen were buried in mass graves in the villages of Belaya and Zalesye... Almost to Molodechno, the forest and fields beyond Smorgon stretched in lifeless yellowed stripes..."

READ AN EXTRACT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH LOCAL HISTORIAN VLADIMIR LIGUTA AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS Smorgon during the First World War is sometimes compared to Stalingrad during the Great Patriotic War. What unites these cities and is it worth putting them next to each other? Smorgon is similar to Stalingrad in terms of the degree of destruction and fury of the autumn battles of 1915. But as for the duration of the confrontation, it is better to compare Smorgon with besieged Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. On Smorgon soil, the Russian army stubbornly resisted the enemy for 810 days! This is what I read in the memoirs of German officers who were captured: “How can this be? The Russians surrendered Brest, Grodno, Vilnia, and near this small town they are fighting to the death...” It is known that, under the impression of the battles at Smorgon Krevo in the summer of 1917, in our time the German Bundeswehr wrote the “Smorgon March”, which sounds there and to this day. It turns out that really “whoever was not near Smorgon did not see the war”? This statement is tragic soldier's folklore. That's what they said about others terrifying places that war. However, there is certainly a reason in these words. The battles for Smorgon were very terrible. Our military received the order: “Fight to the death!” No step back! Russia is behind us." On one day alone, September 25, 1915, 5.5 thousand Germans and 3.5 thousand Russian soldiers of the guard regiments died. In violation of all orders, a truce was concluded in order to collect the dead and wounded from the battlefield near the Viliya River. Smorgon will later be called a “dead city”: it will be completely destroyed and burned. After the war, out of 16 thousand inhabitants, only 130 people will return here... And who are the heroes of Smorgon? I adhere to the point of view that heroes are those who fought the enemy in Smorgon. And the enemy were the Germans. The Russian imperial army, faithful to its oath and military duty, stood to the death on Belarusian soil, holding the front until 1917, thinking about Victory. The names of 838 soldiers, non-commissioned officers, officers and generals of the Russian army, Knights of St. George, awarded for their exploits in the battles near Lake Vishnevo, Smorgon and Krevo in the years are already known.

WOMEN'S DEATH BATTALIONS On June 19, 1917, the Provisional Government formed the first women's death battalion. No other army in the world knew such a female military formation. The initiator of their creation was serviceman Maria Bochkareva. On June 21, 1917, on the square near St. Isaac's Cathedral, a solemn ceremony was held to present the new military unit with a banner with the inscription “The first female military command of the death of Maria Bochkareva.” On June 29, the Military Council approved the regulation “On the formation of military units from female volunteers.” The main goal was considered to have a patriotic impact on male soldiers through the direct participation of women in combat. As M. Bochkareva herself wrote, “soldiers in this great war they are tired and need to be helped... morally.” Strict discipline was established in the women's battalions: waking up at five in the morning, studying until ten in the evening and simple soldier's food. Women had their heads shaved. Black shoulder straps with a red stripe and an emblem in the form of a skull and two crossed bones symbolized “an unwillingness to live if Russia perishes.”

WOMEN'S DEATH BATTALIONS On June 27, 1917, the “death battalion” of two hundred people arrived in the active army. And he was sent to the rear units of the 1st Siberian Army Corps of the 10th Army of the Western Front. The women's battalion, commanded by M. Bochkareva, was located in the area of ​​Molodechno, near Smorgon. In the offensive battles near Smorgon, the battalion suffered serious losses in killed and wounded. M. Bochkareva herself was seriously shell-shocked. Perhaps, given the sad fate of this battalion, a special commission on staff reductions in the army expressed its negative attitude towards female formations to the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in August 1917.
The reports said that “Bochkareva’s detachment behaved heroically in battle,” it became clear that female military units could not become an effective fighting force. After the battle, 200 female soldiers remained in the ranks. Losses were 30 killed and 70 wounded. M. Bochkareva was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and subsequently to lieutenant. In January 1918, the women's battalions were formally disbanded, but many of their members continued to serve in units of the White Guard armies. Maria Bochkareva herself took an active part in the White movement. On behalf of General Kornilov, she went to the United States to ask for help to fight the Bolsheviks. Upon returning to Russia on November 10, 1919, M. Bochkareva met with Admiral Kolchak. And on his instructions, she formed a women’s sanitary detachment of 200 people. In November 1919, after the capture of Omsk by the Red Army, she was arrested and shot.

A FORGOTTEN WAR... FORGOTTEN HEROES... Hundreds of thousands of documents from this terrible First World War are gathering dust in the archives. More than 35 states were drawn into this war; the war took place in Europe and Asia. Ships were sunk on the oceans and seas, including peaceful ones that had no military personnel on them. The terrible war claimed many millions of human lives. Smorgon fought to the death, as there was an order “Not a step back! Fight to the death! Russia is behind us!” 582 officers, 24 thousand guardsmen and 1100 cavalrymen received such an order. Add to this 90 machine gun crews, 145 artillery pieces and 5 airplanes. These forces were deployed to stop the advance of the German military machine. And the Russian army coped with its task. The enemy didn't get through. Smorgon defended itself for 810 days. It was "Stalingrad" of the First World War!

1. Ludendorff, E. My military memories of the war of 1914–1918: in 2 volumes / E. Ludendorff. – T. 1. – M., Soviet military encyclopedia: in 8 volumes [chap. ed. A.A. Grechko]. – T. 2. –M., Military Publishing House, Ludendorff, E. My memories of the war of 1914–1918. / E. Ludendorff. – M.; Minsk, Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA). – Foundation – Op. 1. – D RGVIA. – Foundation – Op. 1. – D RGVIA. – Foundation – Op. 1. – D RGVIA. – Foundation – Op. 1. – D Liguta, V.N. At Smorgon, under the sign of St. George / V.N. Liguta. – Minsk: Publishing house V. Khursik, De-Lazari, A.N. Chemical weapons on the fronts of the World War 1914–1918. / A.N. De-Lazari. – M., Kersnovsky, A. History of the Russian Army: 1881–1916. / A. Kersnovsky. – Smolensk, Rusich, 2004.

Smorgon was first mentioned in acts of the 14th century as a town of the Zenovich princes, which served as their residence. But Smorgon gained special, sad fame during the First World War, which today is called still unknown.

"Unknown War"

By 1914, more than 16 thousand people lived in Smorgon. But the Russian-German front line passed through the town, and until 1917 the so-called positional war was waged. In the Smorgon region, 67 concrete pillboxes have been preserved. One of them is located right next to the road and is designated as an excursion site. Another, more thorough one, is in the village of Khodoki.

Tourists coming to Smorgon are told about the heroic 810-day defense of this small town. In September 1915, retreating Russian units near Smorgon managed to stop the enemy for the first time during the war. The civilian population was ordered to leave the city within three hours. After fierce battles, Smorgon practically ceased to exist. At the end of the war, only 154 people returned here.

One of the most tragic pages of military events in these places was the use of poisonous gases. Gas attacks were first tested by the Kaiser's soldiers on June 19, 1916, near Zalesye. Soldiers unfamiliar with these terrible weapons died in the thousands. In order to provide medical care to the wounded, a mobile hospital was deployed on the railway tracks near Zalesye, headed by Countess Alexandra Tolstaya, daughter of Leo Tolstoy. But many could not be helped, so up to 1,200 soldiers were buried a day. There were six mass graves in total.

...Today about 40 thousand residents live in Smorgon. In this small cozy town Antiquity and modernity are perfectly combined. On the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, a memorial dedicated to the events of 1914–1917 was built here.

An excellent addition to the excursion is a visit to the exhibition “Belarus during the First World War” at the Smorgon Museum of History and Local Lore.

Dancing bears

During a tour of Smorgon, guests are told fascinating stories from the past. One of them is about the Smorgon Academy, a bear training school. It became especially widely known under Karol Stanisław Radziwill, nicknamed “Pané Kohanku” (1734–1790). During its heyday, up to 10 bears were trained at the “academy”. Their training lasted about 6 years and was carried out in several stages. At first, young bear cubs were taught to “dance”, for which they were placed in a special cage, the metal bottom of which was heated.

Having taught them to stand on their hind legs and shift from one paw to the other to the sounds of a tambourine and horn, they moved on to the next stage of training: they taught them to fight, bow, etc.

In the spring, the guides, together with the scientific bears, went to work at fairs in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia, Hungary, and Germany. In the fall we returned back to Smorgon. Until the 30s of the 20th century, on the territory of Belarus, wandering gypsies with a bear were called “Smargonski vuchytsel z vuchnem.” The fact of the existence of the “Smorgon Academy” formed the basis of the city coat of arms. It is an image on a silver field of a Spanish shield standing on a red lattice on the hind legs of a black bear, in the front paws of which is the Radziwill coat of arms “Trumpets”. Today in the city center you can see a monument to dancing bears...

Famous bagels

Another story is connected with... steering wheels. Smorgon is traditionally considered the birthplace of bagels. This fact was first mentioned by William Pokhlebkin in his cookbooks: “...The birthplace of bagels is the city of Smorgon in Belarus, where narrow flagella were first made from choux (boiled) dough and baked from them into scalded dough products.” It is assumed that the bagels were initially used as a “ration” for the students of the Bear Academy and their guides.

In the 19th century, Smorgon bagels became widely known in Belarus and abroad. Adam Kirkor in his work “Picturesque Russia” wrote: “In Smorgon, Oshmyany povet, Vilna province, almost the entire bourgeois population is busy baking small bagels, or pretzels, which are very famous under the name Smorgon boiled eggs. Every passerby will definitely buy several bundles of these bagels; in addition, they are delivered to Vilna and other cities.” Today is the recipe for this delicacy - alas! – lost.

Sacred monuments

Despite its rich past in historical events, Smorgon nevertheless has virtually no major architectural landmarks preserved. The exception is the defensive church in the name of St. Michael, built in the Renaissance style. The walls of the structure are very powerful - from 1.8 to 3 meters in thickness. In 1866 the church turned into a church, in 1921 - again into a church. In 1947, it shared the fate of many sacred buildings and was closed, after which it was used as a store, exhibition hall and museum. In 1990 it was handed over to believers.

This is what the temple looked like during the First World War

Under the temple itself there is a dungeon, which is the tomb of the Zenovich family. The tomb has not yet been fully explored, but the legends that there are underground passages from it to Vilnius (Vilnius) and Krevo have not been confirmed. In 2003, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the first mention of Smorgon in historical chronicles, the Church of St. Michael was renovated.

Monument to Bogushevich

In September 2009, the grand opening of a monument to the founder of new Belarusian literature, Frantishk Bogushevich (1840–1900), took place in the Smorgon city park. The ceremony was timed to coincide with the XVI Day of Belarusian Literature. The monument is a 3.6 m high bronze statue of the poet, which rests on a block of light gray granite and a meter-long light gray granite pedestal. There is a bronze plaque on it with Bogushevich’s call to the people: “Don’t give up on our Belarusian language, lest they die.”