Polotsk Old Town Walking Tour
You're looking at the oldest stone building in Belarus — and it rose as a statement of Polotsk’s power and dignity
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Tour Stops
Saint Sophia Cathedral
Saint Sophia Cathedral, Polotsk, Belarus
Stand still for a second and look up at those white walls and green domes rising over the river.
Lower Castle Rampart (Ivan the Terrible's Wall)
Lower Castle Rampart (Ivan the Terrible's Wall), Polotsk, Belarus
It looks like nothing more than a long grassy mound, a quiet grassy slope.
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Epiphany Cathedral & Museum of Belarusian Book Printing
Epiphany Cathedral & Museum of Belarusian Book Printing, Polotsk, Belarus
The building in front of you is baroque and handsome, finished in 1777, with frescoes on its dome dating back to 1836. But the real story here isn't the architecture.
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Freedom Square & Monument to the Heroes of 1812
Freedom Square & Monument to the Heroes of 1812, Polotsk, Belarus
This open square has gone by several names over the centuries — Parade Square in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Korpusnaya Square later on, and today, Freedom Square.
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Monument to Francysk Skaryna
Monument to Francysk Skaryna, Polotsk, Belarus
Here's a strange fact to sit with: this five-and-a-half-meter bronze figure in front of you, standing on a pedestal that brings the whole monument to twelve meters, was the very first statue ever…
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"Geographic Center of Europe" Marker
"Geographic Center of Europe" Marker, Polotsk, Belarus
Take a look at the monument in front of you: a compass rose beneath a globe showing the Northern Hemisphere, with a relief map of Europe wrapped around it, and on top, a small carved boat.
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Spaso-Euphrosyne Convent & Church of the Transfiguration
Spaso-Euphrosyne Convent & Church of the Transfiguration, Polotsk, Belarus
This is where the tour ends, and fittingly, it ends with the most important person this city ever produced — a woman who refused the marriage expected of her to build the place you're now standing in.
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