Bobruisk (Belarus)
According to The Religion FAQs, Bobruisk is located 110 km southwest of Mogilev. The first mention of Bobruisk dates back to 1387. In the 16th century, the famous Bobruisk Castle was built in Bobruisk, rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century, which did not succumb even to Napoleon’s army. Exiled Decembrists were serving their sentences in Bobruisk. In the 19th century it was one of the spiritual Jewish centers. During the Great Patriotic War, fierce battles took place here.
The current view of the Bobruisk fortress acquired in 1836, after in 1810 Alexander I signed a decree on the construction of a powerful fortress on the site of ancient fortifications on the banks of the Berezina River. Already by 1811, the Russian flag was raised over the fortress. It consisted of 5 bastions, surrounded by ramparts and deep ditches, and was considered one of the most powerful in Russia. After the Patriotic War of 1812, when the fortress did not surrender to the French, new fortifications were completed here. At the end of the 19th century, the fortress lost its defensive significance and turned into a warehouse. In 1919, a Polish concentration camp was located in the fortress. In 1941, Bobruisk ended up in the hands of the Nazis, and prisoners of war were kept in the fortress. In 1944, an operation was carried out here to liberate the city, which went down in history under the name “Bobruisk Cauldron”. Today in Belarus only the Brest fortress can be compared with the Bobruisk fortress. Various fortifications have been preserved on its territory, and many tunnels have been laid under the fortress.
On the outskirts of Bobruisk, in a picturesque park on the banks of the Berezina River, there is a balneo-mud resort – a sanatorium named after V.I. Lenin. It was opened in 1946 as a climatic health resort. The sanatorium specializes in the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, peripheral nervous system, digestive organs, chronic diseases of the respiratory and genitourinary organs, and metabolic disorders. In the treatment, sulfate-chloride calcium-sodium mineral waters are used, extracted from 4 sources. The sanatorium offers drinking cure, tubage, irrigation, various types of baths (pearl, turpentine, carbonic, iodine-bromine, dry carbonic baths, as well as baths with medicinal herbs, foamy, vortex and contrast) and showers (ascending, circular, “Charcot”, underwater shower-massage). Also magnetotherapy, laser therapy, ultrasound, solarium, acupuncture, psychotherapy, barotherapy, mechanotherapy, massage, physical therapy and manual therapy. For mud therapy, sapropelic mud of the lake “Sudobl” with a high content of organic substances is used.
Braslav, Vitebsk region (Belarus)
The city of Braslav is the center of the National Park “Braslav Lakes”. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Drivyaty in the Vitebsk region near the border with Latvia. The first mention of an outpost on the Polotsk-Baltic border dates back to the beginning of the 11th century. Today, the remains of the fortifications on the Castle Hill are one of the main attractions of the city. Other sights include the neo-Romanesque city church of the 19th century and the Church of the Transfiguration of the late 19th century. There are hotels in the city to accommodate tourists traveling through the national park.
National Park “Braslav Lakes” was established in 1995 to protect one of the largest groups of lakes in the Belarusian Lakeland. Its area is about 700 sq. km, of which 183 sq. km falls on lakes. All the local lakes are of glacial origin, so in addition to reservoirs, here you can see a variety of glacial landscapes. The largest lakes in the park are Drivyaty, Snudy, Voiso, Severny Voloso, Nedrovo, Berezha, Daubli and Potekh.
Half of the protected area is occupied by mixed forests, in which there are about 800 plant species, 20 of which are listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus. The southern border of the range of relict invertebrates such as limnokalyanus, mysida, pontoporea, Pallas amphipod, broad-toed crayfish passes along the Braslav lakes. The presence of such ancient inhabitants indicates the purity of the water of the lakes. Also, several dozen species of fish live in the lakes: pike, bream, smelt, tench, vendace, carp, carp, silver bream, ide, chub, grass carp, silver carp, burbot, golden carp, silver carp, perch, dace, roach, rudd, bleak, verkhovka, gudgeon, loach, stickleback and eel. 35% of all nesting birds in Belarus are found on the territory of the park birds, 45 species of birds are listed in the Red Book of the Republic. Of the animals in the forests, there are elk, bear, wild boar, roe deer, wolf, lynx, badgers and flying squirrels. About 30 tourist camps have been built in the park, the most famous tourist bases are “Slobodka”, “Drivyaty”, “Zolovo” and “Leoshki”.
Braslav region offers hiking, horseback, car and water routes that can last from one to several days, tours to observe the animals of the park in their natural habitat, fishing tours, which include both spearfishing and hunting outside the park.
