Metravel city quest
City Novogrudok: free walking route “quest: the first capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania” along the sights. 9 points. Approximately 2 h. Quests and
In the history of Lithuania — that vast medieval Lithuania from which Belarus grew — there was only one king. His name was Mindaugas. Pope Innocent IV authorised his coronation, and on 6 July 1253 the prince who had gathered the lands of the future Grand Duchy of Lithuania under his hand became a king. Only the exact place of the coronation was never recorded by the chroniclers, and historians are still arguing about it: Belarusian tradition confidently names Novogrudok, the first capital of the Grand Duchy. Everything began here.
Five and a half centuries later, another story began nearby. On 24 December 1798 Mikołaj Mickiewicz, a Novogrudok lawyer, had a son, Adam — the future great poet, whom Poland, Lithuania and Belarus today share between them. He was most likely born at the Zaosie farmstead outside the city (the dispute over the exact place has not died down even after two hundred years), but his childhood and school years were spent on these very streets, and all his life, wherever he was — in Paris, Rome, Istanbul — he wrote about these hills.
Two threads — the royal crown and the poet's pen — are woven together in Novogrudok so tightly that we will not try to untangle them. We will follow both at once.
What to do: 1) Read the story and the task at each stop. 2) Find the place on the map and walk up to it. 3) Look around and answer the question.
The route is on foot, about two kilometres over the hills of the Old Town — Novogrudok stands on one of the highest points in Belarus, so the views are guaranteed. We begin on the eastern edge of the centre, at Mindaugas Hill — head for the intersection of Minskaya and 1 Maya streets. Onward!
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
Before you is a low green hill — Mindaugas Hill. For the city, this is the number one place for legends per square metre.
From Mindaugas Hill, walk west along 1 Maya Street to the foot of Castle Hill — the most distinguished church in the city awaits you there. The fara (parish church) was founded in 1395 by Grand Duke Vytautas.
From the church, climb Castle Hill — 323 metres above sea level, the highest point in Novogrudok and one of the highest in Belarus. Up here there is wind, open space for dozens of kilometres, and the ruins of the castle where the Grand Duchy began.
Opening hours: Summer (April–November): Tue–Sun 10:00–17:30; winter (December–March): Tue–Sun 11:00–15:00; closed on Monday · Ticket: Entry to the castle grounds: 1 rub.; children under 7: free
From Castle Hill you can see the neighbouring hill — Maly Zamok. On it rises a mound that did not exist even a hundred years ago: people heaped it up.
Go down from the mound to Maly Zamok Street — between the mound and Castle Hill you will meet the very man responsible for half of our route. This monument was unveiled on 12 September 1992, at an international festival in honour of the poet, and it is nothing like the usual monuments to the classics.
From the monument, walk a couple of minutes west to Pochtovaya Street — there stands the most venerable of the city's working churches. The Orthodox Church of Saints Boris and Gleb was built in 1517–1519, and not on an empty spot — right on the foundations of a 12th-century church, a contemporary of ancient Novogorodok.
From the church, go down to the main square of the city — formerly Market Square, now Lenin Square. For centuries this was the centre of the Novogrudok universe: fairs, shops, carts from the whole district, four languages in one row of stalls — Belarusian, Polish, Yiddish and Tatar.
An optional stop — just a couple of steps from the square, on the corner of Lenin Street, stands a white house with a mezzanine: the Adam Mickiewicz House-Museum. The poet's father, the lawyer Mikołaj Mickiewicz, built this house in 1806–1807.
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 9:00–19:00 (summer season); closed on Monday; cleaning day — the last Thursday of the month · Ticket: Biographical exhibition: adult 4 rub., schoolchildren and students 3.50 rub.; temporary exhibition — 1 rub.; children under 7 and concession categories — free
Walk another five or seven minutes south along Lenin Street — and among ordinary little houses you will see a building with a small minaret. Yes, in the first capital of the Grand Duchy there stands a working mosque, and it is no chance guest but one of the oldest neighbours.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.