Beryoza

So Young And Ancient Bereza

A quiet town with a lovely name Bereza is situated on the bank of a small river Yaselda which flow in Brest region.

The entire history of this beautiful and cozy town is ancient and ambiguous. It was founded in 1477 and belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Rzeczpospolita; later it became part of the Russian Empire, it was a Polish town and finally it was part of the BSSR in 1939.

If you walk along streets of Bereza, you can feel the atmosphere of Medieval times. You can see unique monuments of culture only in this town. For example, the ruins of the 17th-century Cartesian monastery. Lev Sapieha, the chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, began to build this monastery in 1648; later he invited the Cartesian monks fr om France. By the way, the Cartesian monastery in Bereza was the only monastery of this order in the GDL. Another reason of admiration is Peter and Paul’s church, a magnificent monument of architecture which belongs to the so-called Russian-Byzantine style. It is important to mention that the Uniate church existed in Bereza since 1618. According to some sources, its construction is also attributed to Lev Sapieha. You can see the famous “Red Barracks” in Bereza, built from red brick in 1870.

It is highly recommended to visit the Bereza Museum of Local History, which occupies two buildings with halls over 422 square meters. The total number of exhibit items is more than 32000. They are placed in 3 permanent and 6 temporary mobile expositions. There is also a gallery of art in Bereza, opened in 2004, which occupies the “Red Barracks”.  

There are 114 historical and cultural monuments in Bereza district today, 15 of them are listed in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of Belarus. While travelling in this district, you can see St. Nicholas’ Church in the village of Chernyakovo, built in 1725; the Staropeskovsky estate and park complex, dating back to the 19th century; Roman Catholic church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Signevichi. You can also see “Zditovo defense” memorial complex wh ere combats took place in 1944.

Even though Bereza is located 120 km from Brest, it is rather easy to get to the town. You can get there by train or bus – railway and highway Moscow-Minsk-Brest lie through Bereza.

In addition, there are unique places for recreation: quiet lakes such as Beloe, Chernoe and Sporovskoe, reservoir Selets, tracts such as Budy, Golovutsky, Bronnaya Gora. After all, Bereza district occupies part of the Sporovsky forest reserve and part of the Buslivka reserve.

It is necessary to know that despite its small population - only about 30 thousand inhabitants live in Bereza today - the local industry of the town is well-known in the republic and abroad. More than a dozen large enterprises are located in Bereza, but meat-packing and cheese-making plants are the most famous for their products. One more significant enterprise is worth mentioning: Bereza State District Power Plant, which provides electricity not only to the entire Brest region but also directs it to the needs of the entire republic.

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