The visiting card of the sights of Grodno are the Old and New Castles, the Kolozhskaya Church, the Farny Church of Francis Xavier and other legendary monuments of architecture. There are in the royal city and less well-known, but no less amazing, original and beautiful places. It will be about the staircase of lovers, or staircase of love, its history and legends about it.

Story of the staircase of love

Trips to the sights of Grodno rarely do without visiting the stairs and stories about it. Although it appeared here not so long ago - less than 100 years ago.

An interesting fact from VETLIVA: the staircase of love was so often reconstructed and rebuilt that even in 1990 it was not at all the same as it is now.

So, the staircase of love leads from the New Castle to the Neman Embankment (Grodno, as you remember, stands on this river). In ancient times, there was just a descent, wooden steps that led to a private estate. Here everything was built up with the houses of the poor: every year the Neman overflowed its banks and flooded the dwellings. Despite the fact that the castles were on the dais, the problem of floods began to touch them. It all started with the fact that in 1926 a part of the roof of the New Palace collapsed, in 1927 - a part of the mountain sailed under the Old Castle. It was necessary to do something.

In 1928, the Grodno authorities decided to build a boulevard. The construction continued for a long six years: every year the Neman again and again flooded the coast, washing away the already constructed sites. Finally, in 1934, lanterns were lit on the boulevard, and a wide staircase became its real decoration.

After the war, the staircase of lovers was thoroughly rebuilt, and it became a prominent representative of the Stalin era in architecture. However, this did not really help, the sight of Grodno still looked rather neglected. That, however, did not prevent her from becoming the scenery of the film Rudobel Republic.

An interesting fact from VETLIVA: the Stalin era has left an imprint on the architectural appearance of many Belarusian cities. In particular, in the broader Independence Avenue, many buildings are monuments of the so-called Stalin's Empire. He combined elements of the Baroque, Empire style of Napoleon, Late Classicism, Art Deco, Neo-Gothic. And it was Minsk’s main street that played the role of Broadway in the movie Hipsters.

By the end of the twentieth century, the staircase looked pitiful. Only in 2005, finally took up its reconstruction. However, as a result, nothing remained of the historical appearance, only the number of steps was saved.

Legends of the staircase of love in Grodno

Such a number of legends goes about this place, that the Kossovskiy Palace with its tame lion and musical staircase is just right to envy! Netizens constantly express new and new versions of the origin of the staircase name. 

Among them you can find quite plausible, for example:

• The guy with the girl, going down the stairs, considered the steps. If the number below they have converged - the relationship will be long and happy, but if not - short and unhappy.

• The guy with the girl in his arms was supposed to climb to the very top of the stairs - only so the couple was expecting a happy marriage.

• Descending on it for the first time, many make a wish. And it is executed or not - a secret.

• In ancient times, negligent servants were driven down the stairs. On the passage they were expected by other servants with weapons in their hands. If the guilty man managed to reach the Neman and dive - he remained to live, if not - the stake was waiting for him ...

• Rumor has it that Catherine the Great herself walked up this staircase. More precisely, not for this (recall that the modern staircase appeared only in the thirties of the last century).

In any case, it is worth visiting a landmark place. Walk along the picturesque embankment of the Neman, go up to the New Castle, visit the museum in the Old Castle (by the way, another exhibition is planned to open soon). Grodno will surprise you with its European beauty and Belarusian hospitality!