So I'm revisiting the country of Belarus again at 53 N 31 E though not right back at my first stay over! Now what can I tell you about my stop over this time? How about some of the heritage sites?
Belarus has four World Heritage Sites:
The Mir Castle Complex began construction in the 15th century in the Gothic architectural style though one of the owners finished building the castle in the Renaissance style. It was also used in WWII by the Nazi who used it as a ghetto for the local Jewish population prior to their liquidation.
The Niasvizh Castle is a residential castle of the a local nobal family, the Radziwills. In 1706, during the Great Northern War, Charles XII's army sacked the castle and destroyed its fortifications. n 1770 the castle was seized by Russian forces and the Radziwill family was expelled. However, it was restored by the Radziwills and between 1881 and 1886.
The Belovezhskaya Pushcha is an ancient woodland straddling the border between Belarus and Poland which means the site is shared with Poland, my last weekend stop over. The forest is home to 800 wisent (known as the European bison) just like the Prince Albert National Park! Their wisent were reintroduced into the park in 1929 and our bison wandered into our park in the 1960s.
The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820 km. The chain was established and used by the German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve in the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth. (So I guess it's thanks to him that I know the distance I have to travel to get around the world!)
Please check out the wikipedia entries for more in depth information and pictures!
Keep up your excellent reading!
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