Museum of boulders in Minsk: description, location map, interesting facts and reviews

In the countries of the former USSR, one can meet the most unexpected museums. Some of them were created by enthusiasts to preserve the heritage, which contradicts the internal policy of the state. In Belarus, it was possible to save a lot of stone artifacts from destruction, collecting them in one place and organizing an open-air museum of boulders.

Historical value

In the Belarusian tradition, the stones have a special relationship. The country's territory is located in the place where a glacier passed several million years ago and brought with it many boulders. Over the millennia, metamorphoses took place with stones, they influenced the formation of the terrain, and with the advent of people began to acquire myths and legends. Now it is difficult to understand whether stones helped people or people themselves endowed them with the power of fulfilling desires or healing. But even today in Belarus there are beliefs associated with stones, their special properties, and many people resort to the help of rock magic.

The Soviet authorities had no respectful attitude to the stones with which the Byelorussians were associated with centuries-old traditions. In the 30s they were simply blown up, so many famous Borisov stones were stolen into oblivion, where Christian symbols were inscribed, as well as many worship artifacts were destroyed, stone-traces on which indentations similar to the footprint were formed in an unknown way. In Belarus, almost all large boulders have their own name: Kravets, Demyan and Marya, the Great Stone, Holy Stone and many others.

History of creation

The stones were of historical and scientific interest, therefore the most valuable specimens were decided to be collected from the whole country and placed in Minsk under the open sky. Under the patronage of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR in 1975 an expedition was created, which worked for five years. In total, 2134 boulders were collected, they were brought to Minsk and the creation of the museum began.

The place where they decided to found it, in 1985 represented the boggy outskirts of the city. The swamp was drained and land works were carried out to form the terrain. Under the open halls of the museum are allocated about 7 hectares of territory located between the Academgorodok and the metropolitan area of Uruchye-2. In 1989, the Museum of Boulders in Minsk received the status of a monument of nature of national importance.

Description of the museum

As in an ordinary museum, the exposition under the open sky consists of halls, there are only six of them:

• "Map of Belarus", the central hall of the museum.
• "Feeding provinces", the hall is dedicated to the place of formation of the glacier, which brought boulders to Belarus.
• "Alley of boulders."
• "Forms of boulders."
• Petrographic collection.
• "Stone in human life."

The entire collection of museum exhibits demonstrates the diversity of geological formations, is of cognitive interest to a wide range of curious excursionists, geology students and ethnographers. The exhibition halls also serve as a park where children play with pleasure and adults spend their time.

Map of Belarus

The Museum of Boulders is conceived as a landscape park, where the main characters were unusual representatives of nature. The most famous composition in the collection is the "Map of Belarus". On the territory of more than 4 hectares with the help of stones a map of the country was created. Groups of massive boulders denote large settlements, regional centers are marked with blue firs. On the map, except for the places where people live, the topography of the area is taken into account. Deepening with a concrete fringe is represented by the most famous water bodies: the healing lake Naroch and the Zaslavl water reservoir.

Bulging hills on the man-made map denote two known uplands of Belarus - Lysu and Dzerzhinsky mountains. On tops there are compositions from stones. The map was created on a scale of 1: 2500 km. All boulders located in the space of miniature Belarus, come from the places that they designate. This hall occupies more than half of the entire territory given to the museum of boulders. The park of stones in Minsk, according to the idea of the authors, was to be filled with fossil animals made of concrete, but the idea was not realized because of lack of financing.

Artifacts

On the territory of the exhibition complex are collected stone relics, which the people endowed with remarkable magical properties. The Museum of Boulders invites you to get acquainted with the famous stone "Grandfather". He was an object of attraction for several generations of people who came to him for the fulfillment of their desires. As early as the beginning of the last century it was the center of a pagan temple located near Minsk. The caretakers with him consisted of two generations of priests, father and son. Rituals around the "Grandfather" were made on the bank of the river Svisloch under the shadow of the ancient mighty, in four arms, oak.

In the "Stone in the life of man" hall, stone crosses can be examined in detail. One of them, carved from pink granite, was brought from excavations conducted on a medieval burial ground. In the center of the cross there is an image of a knight, and at the bottom there is an inscription RSB. According to historians and archaeologists, the letters denote the name of Stefan Batory, the Polish king. In ancient times crosses were considered life-giving, people flocked to them, begging for health and happiness.

This exposition includes stone millstones, used for flour production. Fans of ancient Slavic runes will be interested in boulders with inscriptions, also here you can see "Borisov stones", on which, according to legend, crosses and inscriptions were carved out on the orders of Tsar Boris Vseslavich.

Reviews

Visitors to the park museum of boulders in Minsk respond to the time spent in it as a pleasant and useful event. Almost all note the originality of the idea, which collected artifacts in one place. The large territory of the park zone is equipped with benches, the territory is well-groomed, and the exhibits themselves are of cognitive interest. On the exhibition area you can meet schoolchildren who came to nature excursions. Often there are university students in the halls who have decided to study geology in detail using examples of specimens collected in a single boulder museum. Site address: Minsk, Uruchye microdistrict, Kuprevicha street, 7.

From negative reviews it becomes clear that the exposition does not have enough guides and notations explaining the origin, uniqueness and history of the stones. Infrastructure in the form of common areas, there are no tents with food. Among the tips that most often sounded for those who are interested in visiting the museum, the main thing is preliminary preparation. It is worth reading the information on what is presented in the exposition, to stock up with provisions and only after that it will be possible to fully appreciate the museum of boulders in Minsk. The work time is unlimited, there are no walls and caretakers, an entrance for everyone is free 24 hours a day.

How to get there

You can reach the complex by several routes.

By public transport:

• By metro to the stations "Uruch'e" or "Borisov tract", then you need to walk a little to the museum or get on public transport.
• Ground public transport: by trolleybus (2, 41 61, 62) or by bus (№ 37, 31, 33, 63, 63д). Stop "The Museum of Boulders" in Minsk.

Address: m. Uruch'e, ul. Named after Academician Kuprevich, 7.

The car can be reached by navigating to the GPS coordinates: 53.931870, 27.691079.