The first reason to travel to Zaslavl is that it is very easy to get here. It takes only half an hour by car. And the train ride from the Central Station will also not be much longer (31 – 44 minutes). It is more difficult to get to some districts of Minsk from the center than to Zaslavl. Therefore, if you suddenly get bored in the city, feel free to come here.
There are:
- Beautiful templesand ancient castles;
- A museum with forest spirits and unique art objects that reveal the history of Belarus.
And next to Zaslavl there is the Minsk Sea and beautiful forests with cold springs; elite villages with cottages for $ 1,000,000 and a “sports” village where Domracheva and Alexander Gleb live. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves too much. In this article I will tell you about Zaslavl, a quiet suburb of Minsk and at the same time one of the most ancient cities of the Republic of Belarus.
How to get to Zaslavl, and why is the local station called “Belarus”?
As I said before, there are several ways to get to these places.:
- By car;
- By minibus;
- or by train.
The schedule of suburban minibuses can be viewed on the website ticketbus.by . The ticket price is about 4 BYN. Travel time is 40 minutes or even a little less.
You can also get to Zaslavl on regular “urban” minibuses No. 1499 TC. They also stop at the Central bus station, but (!) they make a lot of stops on the way. That’s why it takes almost 2.5 times longer to travel to Zaslavl.
However, my personal favorite is still rail transport.
Modern trains of “City lines” run to Zaslavl. And tickets are as cheap as possible – 1.6 BYN (in old trains) and 2.5 BYN in those very Stadlers of the “City Lines”.
You can view the schedule and buy tickets in advance on the website.RW.BY .
At the same time, it’s quite funny that the station in Zaslavl is called “Belarus” (that is, it refers to the country, not the city). This name appeared in 1926, whenThe Belarusian lands were divided between the USSR and Poland. At that time, the border was just passing in the area of Zaslavl. And the station was both the last and the first in the BSSR. Therefore, such a name was assigned to it.
Reason No. 1. Ancient history and ancient temples
In general, the history of Zaslavl goes back to the years of Kievan Rus. The city was founded in the 10th century! Once there was a separate principality here, and in the Middle Ages there was a fortified castle on the local hills.
However, there are few reminders of the long history of Izyaslavl today. In the city center there are models of lost buildings and miniature copies of ancient castles
The walls of the houses are decorated with images of historical figures. But the castle itself has (alas) not been preserved to this day.
In the place where it once stood, there are ramparts, remains of an entrance gate and The Transfiguration Church has loopholes and a 30–meter tower that once served as an observation post. Today it is one of the main symbols of Zaslavl.
In a sense, this temple perfectly reflects the entire history of Belarus. The complex was built in the 16th century as a Calvinist cathedral. Almost a hundred years later, it was converted into a church and handed over to the Dominican Order. Another century passed, and in 1833 the church turned into a Uniate church. And six years later, the complex was given to the Orthodox.
Today it stands absolutely alone, surrounded by the high ramparts of that lost fortress. There is a small river next to the temple, in which ducks are peacefully swarming.
And just 500 meters to the south there is another landmark of Zaslavl – the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1774).
There is also a historical museum near the central square. But to be honest, I haven’t been there myself.
Reason No.2. Unique museums and spirits of the forest
Despite the fact that Zaslavl today is a very small town (with 17,000 inhabitants), there are at least three very important museums here.
The first of them is called “Mlyn” and consists of several wooden houses of the early 20th century.
The main exhibit here is a 100–year-old steam mill. There is also an original blacksmith shop, a barn and a “zavoznik hut” (a traditional guest house for peasants who brought grain to the miller). The ticket price is 7 BYN. The museum is small, but the guests usually praise it.
Another important museum is located on Dachnaya Street – in the former building of the wing of the Pshezdetsky estate. It has only a few halls, but many researchers call it one of the most interesting and unique in the Republic of Belarus. The thing is that the country’s largest collection of “malyavanok” is kept here. – special painted carpets that became very popular in the 30s of the last century.
Their authors were poor wandering artists. They literally earned a piece of bread by painting carpets, creating idyllic plots in a world of total poverty.
Despite the fact that many prominent artists of those years died in obscurity (such as Alyona Kish), today their creations are considered the cultural highlight of Belarus and included in the list of the country’s historical heritage. Their style is copied, and special workshops are even dedicated to carpet painting.
Photo source luch.by .
In 2019, the Luch watch factory released a limited edition “Paradise on the wrist”, inspired by the works of the same Alyona Kish. And in the malyavanka museum itself there are a lot of very cute postcards, boxes and magnets with her works, which are sold at a ridiculous price (starting from 0.8 BYN).
Concluding the museum theme, it is worth writing a couple of lines about the main mythical place on the map of Zaslavl. It is located in the forest (a couple of km from the city center). And it’s dedicated to the various spirits our ancestors believed in. The complex is called The Museum of Mythology and Forests (7 BYN) consists entirely of various mermaids, brownies and wolfmen.
There is an eco-trail next to the museum, where there are also sculptures of forest spirits everywhere and special stands warning of the danger of meeting with a zazovka or a forester.
It all looks very nice. By itself, this museum is a worthy reason to travel to Zaslavl.
Reason No. 3. Outdoor recreation
However, you can go to Zaslavl not only for the sake of ancient monuments, but also for a relaxing vacation in nature. There are:
- Beautiful Canadian-style chalets;
- Barnhouses right in the middle of the forest;
- And inexpensive recreation centers with wooden cottages for one family.
Zaslavl itself is a quiet one–story town where Minsk residents simply come for a reboot. If you miss something like this too, consider it a sign.
I even know foreign tourists who came to Belarus and settled in Zaslavl, not Minsk. As I said, half an hour by train – and now you are in the center of the capital. Half an hour on the way back – and here you are again surrounded by nature.
Reason No.4. Alpaca Park and frog forest
If you have a car, then you can build a great route around Zaslavl for the whole weekend. A half-hour drive from the city is…
- The village of Vyazinka – with a picturesque pond, wooden huts and the Yanka Kupala house Museum;
- And the cozy village of Radoshkovichi, where the ancient church of the Holy Trinity (1859) and the large Alpaca Park are located, which my daughter really liked.
Another informal attraction is the Belkhudozhkeramika factory, where for 4 rubles you can buy beautiful plates at home and go to a master class on creating souvenirs from clay. I told you more about these places here. Read it if you’re interested.
A separate story is the Holy Krynitsy nature trail, located just 20 minutes away from Zaslavl.
In essence, it is a beautiful moist forest with steep banks, streams that gush out of the ground, and tiny frogs that jump underfoot. Entrance to the eco-trail is paid (2 BYN per person). But the payment takes place independently and, rather, resembles a voluntary donation for the improvement of bridges and gazebos in different parts of the forest.
Reason No.5. Minsk Sea
Another natural attraction of Zaslavl is located 8 kilometers from the city limits. It is marked on maps as the “Zaslavskoye reservoir”, but it has long been popularly called “By the Minsk Sea“.
You can come to this place for many different reasons. For example…
- For the sake of film screenings on the beach “Friends” (40 BYN);
- Or evening DJ sets at the Port Art Park (15 BYN).
You can view the poster on social networks @port_minsk and @druzya_beach. Both of these places are located on the shore of the Minsk Sea.
Photo from the social networks of the art park Port.
Of course, there are also ordinary beaches here – with free sun beds, food trucks and manicured paths by the water. And there are also closed locations, like the Miroir quarter with expensive cottages and prices above 1,000,000 dollars. If you want to see what a “Belarusian” looks like, then go here. Well, or to the neighboring village of Laporovichi, where Gerard Depardieu once built a house, and now Alexander Gleb, Daria Domracheva, Viktor Goncharenko and other famous representatives of the world of Belarusian sports live.
And if you want to feel like a star yourself, then here are some ideas on how to do it.
- For example, you can rent this unusual “Houseboat” for parties;
- Or just go sailing on a warm evening.
The rental price starts from 200 BYN per hour. You can view all the details on the websites of riviera yacht club or zezet-charter.by .
Photo from @riviera_yacht_club social media. The author of the photo is @zhenya.pankevich
And with these words, I will say goodbye. I hope that after this article you will seriously think about a trip to Zaslavl. They say Vladimir Korotkevich made Belarusians fall in love with Belarus. I’ve been trying to do the same thing for 10 years now.
