In the realm of stones. Boulder Museum

Since ancient times, stones have played a significant role in the life of Belarusians. Our pagan ancestors placed stone images of their gods on temples and believed that some boulders were people who had angered higher powers and received punishment. If you hit such a stone, then blood will flow from it.

in Minsk microdistrict Uruchcha located the most mysterious Park-museum of boulders. There is a similar museum in Lithuania, but it is not as large and more primitive in structure.

Once upon a time in this place - at the end of the 19th century - a large forest rustled, which turned out to be in the center Minsk with the gradual expansion of the boundaries of the city. The idea to create a park-museum here was voiced by one of the first Belarusian academicians G.I. Goretsky, and it was supported by the Central Committee of the CPB, headed by P.M. Masherov, in the late 70s - early 80s. In 1985, thanks to the efforts of enthusiastic scientists from the Institute of Geochemistry and Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, a museum of boulders appeared in Minsk.

In 1989, it was declared a natural monument of republican significance. In the 90s, there was an idea to create a stone zoo on the territory of the museum from plastic and concrete images of ice age animals that once lived on the territory of our republic. However, financial difficulties prevented the implementation of this project.

The museum itself is miniature imitation of Belarus: a map of the country is laid out with stones here. Large settlements are groups of boulders, large points of Belarus (mountains Dzerzhinskaya and Lysaya) are the highest hills, the main rivers of the republic are marked with paths, a group of fir trees is the regional center, the borders of the map are marked with undersized shrubs. Small concrete troughs are Lake Naroch and the Zaslavskoe reservoir. The most interesting exhibits are located exactly in the places where they were brought from. And they collected them all over Belarus. Stones were brought here for 5 years. In total there are 2134.

The museum houses exhibits such as "Boulder Alley", "Stone and Man", "The Form of Boulders".

The map of our republic represents only 2/3 of the park, in the museum you can also find the famous cross of Stefan Batory, installed 450 years ago by the former Lithuanian prince. There is also a boulder "Dzed", the only reminder of the Minsk pagan temple, which was located on the banks of the Svisloch and existed until the beginning of the 20th century. The tsarist authorities forbade pagan services to be held here in 1880, the prophetic oak was cut down, and the sacred fire was extinguished. However, "Jedu" continued to be worshiped until the revolution of 1917, and even now you can often see coins and sweets under it.

Even in the park there are boulders on which Slavic runes are carved, millstones of ancient mills and Borisov stones (stones on which, by order of the Polotsk prince Boris Vseslavovich, images of crosses and inscriptions were applied).

When creating the park-museum, the scientists of Belarus were also guided by the scientific direction - they wanted to show us the existing variety of natural stones. Sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic, volcanic origin - they are all the result of the passage of a glacier that has changed our planet.

And, be that as it may, something mysterious and mysterious emanates from all these majestic blocks, I want to touch them, feel their warmth, recharge with energy.

For lovers of mysticism, this is the most cherished place.

The exact address Boulder Museum - Uruchche-2 microdistrict, the intersection of Shugaev and Kuprevicha streets.