Belarusian Autumn: A visit to Nyasvizh

Being at the crossroad of eastern and western Europe, this country is full of influences from across the continent and has an incredible and unique heritage.

As I walked out of the hotel that was just outside the centre of Minsk and on to a bus, I took one more deep breath of gratitude to be able to just breathe such clean air. This should be a fundamental and universal human right that is guaranteed by every single country in the planet.

Our first stop on the journey to the historic city of Brest, which shares a riverine border with Poland, was Nesvizh. We left Minsk in the darkness of an autumn morning. At this time of year, the sun rises well after 8 am. As the earliest rays of dawn began to shine on the green and fertile earth of the Minsk region, I realised that a visual treat awaited me on this long trip.

Established in 1223, the town, which is also called Nyasvizh, has been contested for centuries by rival empires- once great and now in history textbooks. It has been Lithuanian, Polish Russian, Soviet and now it is an integral part of peaceful Belarus, a country that basically just wants to mind its own business and take care of its citizens.

My understanding of central European history is quite poor so I had no clue what to expect from Nyasvizh, but as our bus pulled into this town, I felt a sense of warmth and familiarity. In the heart of Nyasvizh, you can see red brick buildings that date back to the Tsarist era. These buildings look exactly the same as their cousins in distant Khabarovsk in the Asian end of Russia.

This small town reeks of character and feels like a nice and friendly place where everyone knows each other. It’s raison d'être now is the Nyasvizh Castle, now a Unesco World Heritage monument. Work on this magnificent castle began in the 1580s and it stands out like anything one reads in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

Before coming here to Belarus, I was told that this was the wrong season to visit the country and that the period just in between autumn and winter is cold, grey, rainy and ugly, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Approaching the castle, I walked past golden autumn forests and their distinctive woody fragrance. The castle surrounded by a moat really did not fail to impress. I honestly felt I was transported away to Poland, Lithuania or Germany. For someone who is used to the architecture of Russia, with its forts, monasteries and churches, the sight of such a castle in a Russian-speaking part of the world came as a surprise.

Maintained by the Radziwiłł family until 1939, the castle was occupied by Nazi invaders during the Second World War. It fell into disrepair but has been lovingly and tastefully restored now, giving a visitor a feel of what it must have been to be a guest of European nobility in the past.

The sun was out and warmed up the landscape and I saw pensioners and young people soaking in the weather and enjoying the beautiful autumn colours as they walked past the lake near the castle. The surrounding woods are also a favourite recreation spot for Belarusians.

Our last stop in Nyasvizh was the Corpus Christi Church, which was built around the same time as the castle. It feels like a piece of Italy in Belarus. When I walked in, a service was going on and the church was full of worshippers. The Jesuits who built the church over 400 years ago would have been happy to see it being held in such reverence!