TEN REASONS FOR VISITING VORONOVO LAND

Representatives of tourist business of Belarus visited Voronovo land during a three-day cross-border  seminar “Belarus – Lithuania”. The aim of the seminar is to strengthen old tourist routes and determine the new ones for the inhabitants of Belarus and Lithuania so that people could get acquainted with the attractions of two countries.

    After visiting Ivye district the leaders of tourist operators, employees of tourist Department of Ministry of sport and tourism, National tourist agency in the Republic of Belarus were met by Andrey Karpovich, vice-chairman of Voronovo executive committee, Liliya Sidorovich, ideological leader and Svetlana Nemera, chairperson of executive committee in Bastuny.

   After short information of representatives of local authorities Yuri Begansky, priest of the catholic church of Mother of God in Trakeli spoke about the history of the cathedral which is known far away from the borders of our country. Thousands of pilgrims from all the regions of Belarus and also from Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Italy and other countries gather to worship the miraculous icon. This year, for example, 10 thousand believers visited the cathedral. The participants of the seminar could also see the miraculous icon. Inspired and with the hope that Virgin in Trakeli will fulfill all their requests (there are a lot of such facts), they set off further – to the agritown of Kanvelishki.

  Here far away from big cities in a beautiful corner of Voronovo land – there is a monument of wooden architecture in neo-gothic style with modern elements – the catholic church of the Heart of Jesus. It is not surprise that representatives of tourist business took photographs of this unique architecture building and its inner interior.

The participants of the seminar also took great interest in the only surviving in Belarus house – the fortress of the XVII century in the village of Gaytunishki.

    Built in 1612 for personal living by Peter Nonhart the house-fortress withstood the siege of the Swedes during the North War. 400 years passed but the architecture masterpiece still attracts tourists by its simple beauty. The surrounding untouched landscape is also beautiful: the cascade of lakes, life-giving source, remains of the wooden mill…

  Unfortunately positive emotions from  seen and heard are spoiled by the building of the Republican Psychiatric hospital…

   Then we move to the agritown of Benyakoni. The cathedral of Saint John the Baptist appeared in all its glory before the participants of the cathedral. They were struck not only by its majestic sight but also by its inner decorations.

   The tour of the employees of tourist firms in our district was finished by visiting the mansion of count Putkamer in the agritown of Boltiniki. This place is connected with the name of Adam Mitskevich – a poet of many peoples. Here he met his love Marylya Verashchaka, here many stories of poetry were born. That’s why meeting of the guests from Minsk was held in the atmosphere of that time: count and countess Putkamer, poetic performance “Adam and Marylya”, and also songs by the folk group “Lyavony”, exhibition of souvenirs of crafts department and traditional culture, pictures of the pupils of art school… “You can become very rich if you organize such performances for tourists”, — the capital specialists of organized tourism were greatly impressed.

The head of the National tourist agency Valery Parashchenko and Larisa Hmelnitskaya, an employee of the tourist firm “Travel” said that Voronovo land possessed a great tourist potential. There are a lot of attractions for Lithuanians in different corners of the district. Our people have a lot in common in history and relations. By the way, the following days of the seminar employees of Belarusian tourist firms got acquainted with attractions of Shalchininkay district and Vilnus, met  the representatives of Ministry of economy and innovations and colleagues of tourist industry of Lithuania. They discussed common tourist routes on the territories of neighboring countries. The number of tourists must be increased after the entry into the force of decree 300 about the  inclusion of Voronovo district into visa-free zone.

 And we have much to show. Besides the above mentioned places there is a geodesic point of Arc Struve “Daukny” on the territory of the district. Not far from the agritown of Trakeli in the village of Shnurovichi. The town of Radun, the village of Nacha are rich in their history… Hafets Haim, the Narbuts, Shukevich, the museum of glacial boulders. The guests from Minsk were right that we should show not only architecture but also nature monuments, which Voronovo land is rich in. It’s a pity but we didn’t save the fragrant lilac grove.

In general all the tourist objects demand great attention, creation of necessary infrastructure and good access roads. Short information about the date of building, names of architects are also needed. Not only local authorities but also historians must get interested in the history of their small motherland. Otherwise a good tourist perspective will remain only a perspective.

Vikentsiy Yakovich

Translated by Zinaida Tsyarpitskaya.