Belarusian town named Baranovichi is located 142 km away from the capital of the Republic of Belarus, on Baranovichi plain, in the area of the river Shchara and its small tributary Myshanka. The town was established back in 1871. Today this nice township is an administrative economic centre of the Republic of Belarus. Baranovichi is a town, which is known for its light industry’s enterprises far beyond the bounds of the Republic of Belarus. The town has a richest history and lots of entertaining places, which are seen with genuine interest by the tourists, who come here. 

The town of Baranovichi amazes many of its guests, as its heritage is important not only for the state’s history. Many of these values are quite funny and capable of cheering you up, as for example, the monument to the Sparrow. The opening of this monument occurred in 2003 on Kheynol boulevard. A well-known Belarusian sculptor Stanislav Tselyuk was the author of this project.

There is an inscription in the Belarusian language on a low pedestal, where a bronze sparrow sits: «2003 – the year of a house sparrow. I flew to you for good. Not the south beckons, but the homeland».

The local population claims that the town’s administration decorated a metallic tubing, that stuck out for some reason right in the middle of Baranovichi town’s main square. The bronze sparrow sits on a small tube indeed.

This peculiar, completely surprising decision was attracted so strong by the town’s residents, that they began to believe that the monument to the Sparrow is some kind of a town’s amulet. You can often notice as students on the verge of exams and individual superstitious town residents gather at this monument. It is believed, that should you pat a bronze little body, it surely brings you luck. Post-graduates go to the monument after the celebration, so-called the last bell so that to pat this sparrow for luck. They say that all of the made wishes really come true.     

Also, it is necessary to mention, that on March 31, 2003 a post stamp was released with a picture of this entertaining monument in Baranovichi, which is under the International bird protection organization and Belarusian organization “Belarusian birds protection”.

Near this monument the nature protectors’ campaigns are often run, aimed at helping city birds, especially, house sparrows, which live side by side with town dwellers and play an important part in urban green area protection against harmful insects.

It is worth noting, that it is not the only monument erected in this bird honour. The first monument appeared a little more than a century ago in the USA, in the city of Boston. The sparrow was awarded for it achieved a victory over harmful insects, which attacked the town at that time. Those were sparrows, which became the saviors of the town dwellers at those hard times. Today this sparrow species has happened to be on the verge of extinction. The population of sparrows rapidly started to come down, since 80s their number has reduced twice in the Republic of Belarus.