The history of the appearance of the Traditional Polesye village of Kudrichi

A unique village Kudrichi is located in Pinsk district at a distance of 30 km from the city of Pinsk. It became a bright example of island-plan settlements. The village arose in the middle of a swampy area of Polesye lands in the 16^th century. The history of appearing this settlement in such a swampy place remains a mystery, but some historians suggest a theory that someone could have been sent to live in this region as a punishment. For example, criminals or people who displeased the local authorities. But even this kind of “punishment” could not prevent them to establish life and successfully be engaged in farming. Also among the local inhabitants here was well established fishing and beekeeping.

The village was developing utterly slowly and in isolation because for a long time it had been “cut off from the world”, until a road was built in the 80-ies of the 20^th century.

One of the reasons for the mysteriousness of the village of Kudrichi has become the fact that no war touched this region. Even during the Great Patriotic War the Germans had a desire to burn the village to the ground, but for unknown reasons they changed their minds and burned villages in the neighborhood.

Another no less mysterious event was the death of a tractor driver who by the order of Khrushchev demolished the local Church, built in the 18^th century. After the demolition in the same winter the tractor driver died – he frozen on the swamp. 

The description of the Traditional Polesye village of Kudrichi 

During the best times of prosperity of the village here were as many as 125 homesteads. But nowadays we can see here not so many houses and sheds which were covered with reeds by a special technology, lost for the Belarusians.  

In addition to original and unique buildings of the village, here is a whole cluster of nests of storks, but the most interesting feature of this region is the locals. Only they can tell about the life in this “lost world” as fully as possible and in all colors. Most of the locals have typical for the Polesye lands names.

This unique “village on the swamp” is quite popular with travelers who are looking for secluded and concealed corners remote from civilization. Among all the places included in the tour over the Polesye lands, tourists consider Kudrichi the most interesting and main place of the whole program.

Not so long ago it was planned to develop the village as an object for tourism, but the plan was never implemented. Kudrichi has not received a protected status, so those who are wishing to find this obsolete, elusive more way of life should hurry to the area. Every year the locals modernize the village with some elements of civilization that, of course, entails the loss of the spirit of those times. In the near future nothing may be left from these interesting and mysterious places, and the village will turn into a usual “ordinary settlement on the swamp”.