The document summarizes information about several towns and regions in Gomel oblast, Belarus. It provides brief histories of Gomel, Loyev, Rechitsa, Yurovichi, Mozyr, Turov, Krasny Bereg, Chechersk, Vetka highlighting their founding dates and notable landmarks. Archaeological sites, churches, parks and museums are mentioned as important sights to see in these towns.

1. Golden Ring
of
Gomel oblast

2. GOMEL
Gomel (often mentioned in the chronicles by the
names Gomiy, Gomey, Gomin,Gom’ Gom'e) was
founded by a Radimichi tribe in the late 1st century A.D.
Its deditenets (old Belarusian word for a downtown)
appeared on the right bank of the Sozh River and the
left bank of the creek Gomjiuk flowing into the Sozh.
 From the north and west to the deditenets adjoined
the city, around which the suburbs were formed.
 Gomel was first mentioned in the Ipatiy chronicles as the lands of the
Prince of Chernigov and Prince Igor Olgovich. The archeological data
show that in the 11th-13th centuries the town’s trades were iron
working, jewelry making and bronze founding, pottery, wood
working, bone carving, armouring. Trade ways connected the town
with Kiev, Chernigov, Smolensk, Volyn, Northern Rus, Byzantium.
 Before the 18th century Gomel was one of the biggest towns in the
lands of the Radimichi tribe.

3.  What to see in Gomel?
 First of all, the park! It
was laid in the end of the
18th century by Duke
Rumiantsev around the
palace which was built on
his orders.
 The park serves the most
successful example of park
design in Belarus.
 The park on the steep
shore of the Sozh takes 25
hectares.

4.  Various species of the
trees are efficiently
arranged into groups
what enhances their
perception.
 Among the usual for
Belarus maples, ash-
trees and chestnuts
there is an eastern
white pine, Northern
white oak and
Manchurian walnut.
 The park made the
palace look unique.

5.  The palace’s construction began in 1785 and
finished in 20 years.
 The palace changed its looks just once – 60
years later when it was given to General
Paskevich.
 A new palace tower has made it even more
impressive.

6.  Gomel’s park is 200 years old. It is a part of the palace-park
ensemble which is associated with the names of
Rumiantsevs and Paskevichs famous in Russia in the 18th-
19th centuries. The center of the ensemble is the
magnificent palace, a specimen of the 19th century
classicism.

7.  The biggest bell in Belarus was installed in the
bell tower in Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in
Gomel. The bell was made at Minsk-based
company Splendid Castings. It was made in two
months. It is 2 meters high, 1,5 meters in
diameter weighing 2 tons. The bell features
Saints Peter and Paul and also the cross of
patron saint of Belarus Yefrosinya of Polotsk.

8. LOYEV
 Loyev is situated on the Dnepr River on the
border with Ukraine. It was founded in the
XV century.
Throughout the centuries the Dnepr played an
essential role in the town’s history as it connects
the northern seas with the Black Sea basin,
Scandinavia and Byzantium.
 In the old days it was a route which earned a
place in history as “the way from the Vikings to
the Greek”.
 It was the main reason why the lands along the
Dnepr were colonized.
 More so, the territory was the bone of
contention for many centuries between the
Moscow state and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

9. The major battle of the Cossack War 1648-
1651 between the forces loyal to Ukrainian
hetman Bohdan Khmelnitskiy and Polish
chancellor Yanush Radzivill took place on
June 31, 1649 near Loyev. It went down in
the history books as the Loyev battle. It
was the starting point of the historical
reunification of Ukraine and Russia.

10. The estate and the park dated
back to the first half of the 19th
century in the village Sutkovo,
Loyev region is on the list of
historical-cultural values of
Belarus. The building was
constructed in the early 19th
century (approx. 1810)
presumably by a Russian
architect since it reveals the
tendencies peculiar to the
Russian architecture school. At
the end of the century the
building was acquired by
countess Baranovskaya who
together with her husband
serving at the emperor’s court
used to come here “to take the
waters” preferring the Loyev
region to the then fancy Karlsbad
(Karlovy Vary).

11. The mansion of merchant
Naum Dolgin, built in 1874

12. The Loyev museum of the battle for
the Dnepr keeps 300 unique
exponents of the Great Patriotic
War. Among them are the pictures,
letters, wall newspapers and other
materials featuring the feats of the
heroes of the Dnepr forced
crossing.

13. RECHITSA
 Rechitsa is one of the oldest towns of
Belarus. First settlements in this region are
dated back to the epoch of mesolite (9-5th
centuries B.C.). Later on the area was
inhabited by the Dregovichi tribe. The town was first
mentioned in the Novgorod chronicle in 1213 as a town
of the Chernigov Principality. Rechitsa was also ruled
by Kiev and Turov Grand Dukes.
 At the time of Gedimin reign (1311-1341) the town was
annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Rechitsa
as well as Orsha, Shklov, Mogilev, Staryi Bykhov and
Rogachev formed a well-developed frontier defense
system at the River Dnepr.

14.  In Rechitsa’s district
Dneprovskiy, on the bank
of the Dnepr, there is a
chapel in memory of a
three-day stay of the vessel
which transported the holy
relics of Yefrosinya of
Polotsk from Kiev to
Polotsk in 1912.

15. YUROVICHI
 People started inhabiting Eastern
Polesye some 50 thousand years ago.
The settlement in the village Yurovichi
of the Kalinkovichi region which is
almost 25 thousand years old can be
cited as an excellent example. In 1929 local people
discovered strange bones that appeared to be
mammoth. The archeological dig in the place
discovered the settlement. In the 1970s five more
settlements were found: three are dated back to
the late Stone Age and settlements of the 6-8th
centuries A.D.

16. Settlement of primitive
man in Yurovichi, relates
to the Paleolithic period
of the Stone Age,
when primitive
man used crude stone
tools, engaged in hunting
and gathering.

17. The village Yurovichi , is the
oldest human settlement
on the territory of Belarus.

18. Museum on the place
of settlement

19. Later on the
archeologists
discovered the
remains of a big
medieval town
(9th -10th
centuries). It is
unknown why it
had not been
mentioned in the
chronicles.

20. Yurovichi is known
for their Jesuitical
collegium with the
monumental Roman-
Catholic Church of
the 18th century.

21. The construction of the
temple of the Nativity of the
Holy Virgin Mary in the
place where the icon was
found took 40 years. For a
long time pilgrims from
Belarus as well as from
entire Russia came to
worship the
wonderworking icon.

22. In the photo: icon copy of
the Nativity of the Holy
Virgin Mary, which now
decorates this
architectural monument.
.

23. 
MOZYR
Mozyr is one of the oldest Belarusian towns.
 There are two theories suggesting the origin of
the town’s name ‘Mozyr’. One of them runs that
the town received its name from an ethnic group
called ‘mazur’. The other theory pins the town’s
name to a term ‘mosyr’, which means ‘moisture’
(the town lies among the lakes, which form the
flood-lands of the Pripiat).
 The written sources first mention Mozyr in 1155, when prince of
Kiev Yuri Dolgorukiy granted the town to prince of Chernigov
Sviatoslav Olgovich as a gratitude for assistance.
 In various periods Mozyr formed a part of Kiev, Chernigov and
Turov principalities, since the middle of the 14th century – of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania and since 1569 – of Rzecz Pospolita.
 Trade and crafts were common activities in Mozyr while it was a
part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the time the town had a
status of a ‘gospodar’s town’. The term suggested that Mozyr
belonged to the state rather than to a private landowner.
 In 1577 Mozyr was granted the Magdeburg Law.

24. St. Nicholas Church in Mozyr

25. An ethnic museum
‘Paleskaya Veda’
regularly holds
exhibitions of its
stock.
The exhibition
A Paunchy Samovar.

26. ТUROV
 Turov - the oldest city in the chronicles of
Dregovichi tribe, one of the most developed
eastern Slav tribes, they reigned before
joining to the Ancient Rus with the
center in Kiev.
 Obviously it was the largest settlement in the territory of
Dregovichi and was its economic and political center,
the original capital of the principality that emerged in
the resettlement of the tribal alliance.
 In the "Tale of Bygone Years", it is first mentioned in 980,
yielding Polotsk, which is known since 862.

27. A fragment of the
Gospel of Turov was
found in Turov in
1865. It’s named for
the place of discovery
in Turov.

28. The East Slav
"Chrysostom" – Cyril was
born, lived and preached In
Turov.
About his creative
activity say a lot of
original works in the
form of self-prayer,
church teachings,
stories, and
celebrations "words".

29.  According to a legend, in
ancient times Turov had 75
churches for what it was called
the second Jerusalem.
 Another legend says that the
cross in the Boris and Gleb
cemetery is one of the three
crosses that had drifted first by the Dnepr
then by the Pripiat from Kiev after the
Baptism of the Ancient Rus.
 Two crosses preserved until these days and are
now kept in the wooden All Saints’ Church.
 It is noteworthy, that the three crosses were made of stone and
had drifted against the current.
 This is a strange and mysterious story like the history of Turov
itself.

30. All Saints Church was built in 1810.
Over 200 years of its history it has never been
rebuilt, having survived the Great Patriotic
War against the French, the first World War,
the Soviet atheism, and the Great Patriotic
War. All Saints Church keeps the icon of St.
Nicholas and two Christian stone crosses
covered with legends
and traditions.

31. 
KRASNI BEREG
Landowner Poplevskiy, who started to build the
mansion in such a picturesque place as Krasnyi Bereg,
paid peasants 5 kopecks for 400 bricks brought from
Bobruisk. Therefore those who wanted to earn some
money were in abundance (having delivered such
portion of bricks several times one could buy a cow).
 Lime for the brickwork was slaked beforehand in a special pit for a
year. People threw chicken eggs and bodies of dead animals in the pit
to improve the quality of the lime.
 The efforts resulted in a real architectural monument in the form of a
two-storied mansion with 36 rooms having absolutely different
finishing. The building hosted a small church.
 The construction ended in 1893. The building remained untouched by
the war due to hospitals it accommodated – first of the Red Army,
then – German.

32. There is a large gallery of
paintings in the palace
(mostly representing the
19th century art) by
Semiradskiy, Aivazovskiy,
Kondratenko.

33.  Near the palace there is an
“English park” of the
landscape-regular type and
a garden stretching for 10
hectares. A net of paths
divide the park into several
zones, one of which adjoins
the River Dobasna.

34. CHECHERSK
 The town of Chechersk was first
mentioned in chronicles in the
12th century. It is situated near
the confluence of the River
Chechera and the River Sozh.
 This territory was chosen for inhabitance as
early as in ancient times. The town was
probably founded at the site of an ancient
hamlet, which grew into a settlement with
planned structure, typical of the towns of
the 12-13th centuries.

35.  The post-restoration re-
opening of the town hall – a
specimen of the 18th
century architecture - came
as a pleasant surprise to
the citizens of Chechersk.
 In the photo: Ekaterina II
welcomes guests during
the grand opening of the
town hall.

36.  In September 2004 Chechersk celebrated its 845th anniversary.
Alexander Pushkin visited the town on his way from exile,
Ekaterina II participated in opening of the Saint
Transfiguration Church, and at a later date she also met here
with Count Rumiantsev. Nikolai II also visited Chechersk.
Chechersk Count Zakhariy Chernyshov even established a serf
theater at the town hall.

37.  Surviving architecture
monument of 18th century - the
Saint Transfiguration Church in
Chechersk, which was built by
Count Chernyshov in the
classicism style in 1783.

38. VETKA
 Vetka was founded in 1685 by Old
Believers who had fled Russia.
 In the 17th-18th centuries the
town was a center of Raskolniks.
Vetka of those times assimilated and
preserved traditions of the Moscow Russia.
Even the central square of the town was
then bearing the same name as that in
Moscow – Red Square. It preserved the
name until these days.

39. On November 1, 1987 a
folk arts museum was
opened there. Its
exposition demonstrates
historic and cultural
peculiarities of the
region. A unique
collection of various
items ranging between
ancient icons,
manuscripts and modern
patterned towels
attracts a great number
of tourists. The museum
was founded by Fyodor
Grigorievich Shkliarov
(1925-1988), a native of
Vetka and a fervent
promoter of the local
culture.

40. The exposition of the
Vetka folk museum
representing wood carving
and gilding, methods of
making icons which are
rooted in the 17th century
decoration of Moscow
cathedrals, a unique
legacy of Vetka’s Old
Believers. These craftsmen
preserved an ancient
technology on setting
each icon-case in a frame
of clusters of grapes, apple
trees’ flowers, roses and
leaves.

41. The Gospel of Piotr
Mstislavets published
in 1575 in Vilnya

42. Khalch is a village of the
Vetka region of Gomel
oblast, located on the
bank of the River Sozh.
The village is notable for
a 19th-century manor
house. Located on the
high steep it is well
observed from afar.