Metravel city quest
City Zaslawye: free walking route “Zaslavl Quest: Rogneda, Izyaslav, and the Town Built for an Exiled Princess” along the sights. 10 points. Approximately 2 h
Zaslavl begins with a night told in the chronicle. Rogneda, the Polotsk princess and daughter of Prince Rogvolod, was taken as a wife by force by Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Prince of Kyiv. One night Rogneda tried to kill her sleeping husband with a knife, but Vladimir woke up and caught her hand. He ordered her to put on her wedding dress and wait for death. Then Rogneda put a sword into the hand of her little son Izyaslav and taught him what to say. The boy came out to meet his father and asked whether he really thought he was alone here. Vladimir threw down his sword, and the boyars advised him not to destroy his wife but to give her father's land back to her. That is how a town named after the boy — Izyaslavl — appeared in Rogvolod's land. Today it is called Zaslavl.
Nikolay Karamzin dated this story and the founding of the town to 985, and Zaslavl counts its age from that date. Traces of every turn of that fate are still visible here: a bronze princess in a new residential district, the castle rampart of the Glebovich magnates, a steam mill that ground grain for almost the whole last century, and the round hill where the very first Izyaslavl stood.
What to do: 1) Read the story and the task at each stop. 2) Find the place on the map. 3) Look around and answer the question.
The route runs from the northwest to the south: from the monument to Rogneda and Izyaslav, past the old mill and the castle rampart, to Market Square, the Children's Museum of Mythology and the Zamechak hillfort. As the crow flies the stops are about 4 km apart; with sightseeing, allow two and a half or three hours. The reserve's museums are open Tuesday to Sunday and closed on Monday.
There is no dedicated rest stop on the route. Coffee and desserts are served at the “Flower Cafe” by the “Univermag” bus stop on Sovetskaya Street, right at the start of the route, and you can have draniki (potato pancakes) for lunch at the “Gastinets” cafe at 30 Sovetskaya Street, a couple of minutes from Market Square. Still, it is best to bring water with you.
From Minsk, the easiest way is the suburban train to “Belarus” station — about half an hour from Minsk-Passazhirsky. From the station to the first stop it is about a kilometer and a half west along Sovetskaya Street, or you can take a bus to the “School No. 2” stop.
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
The bronze composition “Rogneda and Izyaslav” has stood since 1993 on the square in front of the “Svitanak” House of Culture, in the new district of Zaslavl. The princess has sunk to her knees, wearing a hooded nun's cloak, her feet bare, and beside her, with a stern face, stands little Izyaslav with a sword, ready to shield his mother.
The neat house on Dachnaya Street is an outbuilding, the only structure to survive from the Przezdziecki manor. Since 18 May 2023 it has housed the Museum of Belarusian Malyavanka, a branch of the Zaslavl museum-reserve.
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 9:00–17:30, closed Mon (hours sometimes change — check by phone +375 17 517-76-11) · Ticket: about 6 BYN, about 4 BYN for schoolchildren and students (January 2026 prices)
The steam mill was built in 1910 and for many decades ground grain for Zaslavl and the surrounding villages. In 1989 it was handed over to the reserve, and in 1990 it opened to visitors together with the neighboring buildings: the carters' house, the sviran and the smithy.
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 9:00–17:30, closed Mon (hours sometimes change — check by phone +375 17 517-76-11) · Ticket: about 6 BYN, about 4 BYN for schoolchildren and students (January 2026 prices); tickets at the ticket office of the complex itself
A white church with a tall western tower stands amid the earthen ramparts of the former Zaslavl castle. It was built as a Calvinist church at the will of Jan Glebovich, the owner of Zaslavl, and from the very start it was also a fortification: loopholes ran along the upper part of the walls.
At the southern edge of the rampart, the remains of brickwork rise from the ground — all that is left of the castle's main gate. The gate was two stories high, with stone walls about 2 m thick, and there was no other way into the castle.
The five-meter bronze Izyaslav on a granite pedestal was set up on the central square in September 2014, when Zaslavl hosted Belarusian Written Language Day. A few steps from it stands the sign «Я люблю Заслаўе» (“I love Zaslavl”), where the word «люблю» (“love”) is replaced by a red heart bearing the town's coat of arms.
The low boulder with a plaque by Market Square was set up in August 1985, when Zaslavl celebrated a thousand years since its founding. A message to the town's future residents is walled up inside the stone, and the inscription on the plaque is in Belarusian.
The stone Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, in the late Baroque style, was built in 1774–1779 on the site of a wooden church. It stands at the edge of Market Square, which for centuries was the center of the town.
The Children's Museum of Mythology and Forest occupies part of the Zaslavl forestry building by the Chernitsa river. The exhibition begins with a gallery of figures from Belarusian mythology, cut out in the vytynanka paper-cutting technique by the craftswoman Chervontseva.
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 9:00–17:30, closed Mon (hours sometimes change — check by phone +375 17 517-76-11) · Ticket: about 6 BYN, about 4 BYN for schoolchildren and students (January 2026 prices); tickets are bought at the ticket office of the museum and exhibition complex at 4 Rynochnaya Street
The round hill encircled by a rampart on the southwestern edge of Zaslavl is the Zamechak hillfort, the remains of a fortified settlement from the last quarter of the 10th century. According to tradition, this is the very fortress Prince Vladimir built for Rogneda and Izyaslav, and here the very first Izyaslavl stood.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.