Legends live in Geraneny

The ancient town of Geraneny, famous for its apple orchard, flower factory and a large lake with lots of fish, is included in the Golden Ring of Ivye district of Grodno region. Today the city attracts tourists with its past: the history of the tragic love of Belarusian Romeo and Juliet – king Sigismund II and Barbara Radziwill, as well as the ruins of the 15th-16th centuries castle, where they used to be happy.

At the time when we were travelling along the state border of Belarus (AprilAugust 1996) we even could not believe that in 25 years the places we walked through would become so attractive for tourists. And that a 70 km-long cycling route Ivye – Subotniki – Zhemyslavl – Geraneny – Lipnishki – Ivye (or maybe more, depending on the objects of visit) will be called the "Golden Ring of Ivye district". And we really covered most of it.

Today cyclists and those who prefer cars and buses (there is no special lane for cyclists on local roads yet) are invited to visit Ivye Museum of National Cultures, a mosque, the Church of St. Peter and Paul, the Church of the Holy Martyr Gabriel of Bialystok, a spring ( Ivye town), the church of St. Nicholas, the ruins of the castle of the 15th-16th centuries (Geraneny), the Church of St. Vladislav, the tomb of the Umyastovsky family (Subotniki), the estate of the Umyastovsky (Zhemyslavl), the Church of St. Casimir (Lipnishki). In short: there are many interesting places. After Zhemyslavl we went along the field road to the city of Subotniki, where we met the border guards and greeted them. They didn't even check our passports. Apparently, due to the fact that we showed interest in them, asked where the guys come from, whether they liked their service... We didn’t expect to have any problems while being in the border area as we had an official document signed by the

The Church of St. Vladislav in Subotniki is over 100 years old. Over time, this temple, as they say, has not changed at all and has not lost a single piece of its interior. This church was built at the expense of local rulers from the famous Umyastovsky family, and there is much to see here.

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then commander of the border troops V.F. Morkovkin. The document said that we, journalists, can freely move around the border area "to study the culture and traditions of the Belarusian people." The border guards advised us to visit a local 19-century catholic church of St. Vladislav. A little later, not far from it, in the center of Subotniki, we had a rest and drew in pencil in the diary beautiful stained-glass windows of this church. We learned from the locals that the temple with a high three-

tiered bell tower with a graceful spire that rises high in the sky was the main attraction of the town.

Now we know from the Internet that the church was built by Vladislav and Yanina Umyastovsky – the owners of the palace in Zhemyslavl. The building was consecrated in 1904, its founder was buried in its crypt, and later the remains of his relatives were also brought there. That was what the memorial plaque said which was installed in 1931 in the crypt of the church, where the family tomb of the Umestovsky is located. There is no name or date on the tombstone, which was intended for Yanina (she took care of it herself). As we later learned, the Countess died far from her ancestral nest – in Rome…

We did not stay in Subotniki, we decided to move towards Geraneny. On the way, we met a pleasant man who was returning home from work, his dusty overalls tiredness clearly indicated it... But the lively cornflower-colored eyes on his swarthy face shone... And it was impossible not to notice it. We also noticed some inner dignity, so to speak, intellectuality, which is inherent in many villagers, whom we met in those places. No wonder they say: nobility is passed down from generation to generation. Our acquaintance could be a descendant of those princes or their favorites, who used to ive in those places a couple of centuries ago. As it turned

out, our interlocutor worked at that time as a tractor driver of the collective farm "Subotniki" of Ivye district (now a communal village and an economic unitary enterprise Subotniki). The work, as you know, is not easy: dust, roar, stress… At that time tractors were very different from the modern ones.

After some time, we wrote in our diary: "We met a tractor driver with clear blue eyes from the village of Kvyatkovtsy. He wondered who we were and where we came from. His wife, he said, was a teacher and philologist. We asked what the tractor driver believes in. In the heart, he answered, and added: it won't let me down.

The other day (early November 2021) we got in touch with Kvyatkovtsy and found out: Ivan Stepanovich Vasilevsky and his wife Faina Viktorovna are now retired. They have three grown children – two daughters and a son, four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and the third will soon appear. "When 13 people gather at one table (and this is without grandchildren and greatgrandchildren), the heart rejoices," – says Faina Vasilevskaya. – All received education. But they do not live with us. The son settled in St. Petersburg, one daughter – in Grodno, she is a philologist, the other is also a philologist in Lida district, in the town of Dvorische, she is a school teacher. She visits us more often: she lives nearby. One granddaughter is

studying to be a doctor." In general, the Vasilevsky family, as was clear from the mood of my interlocutor, is good, parents are respected in it, although it is rarely possible to get everyone together, except on holidays.

We have repeatedly said that in addition to the castles and temples that we saw during the trip, acquaintance with people was very valuable. Hence Ivan Vasilevsky – one of those benevolent and modest Belarusian workers whom we remember from the time of the trip. We pay tribute to him not only for his hard work on earth, but also for his sincerity, cordiality, ability to hear, listen to, help.

Such people are like precious diamonds that were encountered on our way to the "Kingdom of Far Far Away".

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Geraneny today

We arrived at Geraneny late, having covered 30 km (as evidenced by the entry in the diary). We spent the night at the local high school gym. Principal Nina Gavraeva placed us there. We found her at home: we were told where the principal lived. She was in a cheerful mood and has a desire to show hospitality. Mrs. Nina told us that she had just parted with the guests after her birthday party. She even read poetry to us. However, we, listeners, were not very attentive, we were too tired... And we were ready to fall right on the sports mats, without sleeping bags. But we had to be patient so as not to look ungrateful, so we kept up the conversation with the principal in every possible way.

In the morning after breakfast we examined the school. This is what we wrote about it in our diary: "At that time there were 400 children in Geraneny school. Some of them have to cover 5-7 km to get to school. The village school works in one shift. There are 5 such schools in the region, 40 teachers." The principal was asked about the atmosphere at the school. She replied: "We are trying to create the one that would be to the liking of all of us. We are exploring the homeland. Zoya Vikentsevna is a traveler, she travels with children. We have traveled all over Belarus. Besides, the school has 2 dance and 2 folklore groups. We are writing down the history of our village. There is a large handwritten book." The subject "World Art" has been taught at the school since 1989. Pupils and teachers found the former coat of arms of Geraneny – it is in the book by Anatoly Titov "Coats of Arms of Belarusian Cities". On the coat of arms there is an image: a red heart pierced by a sword against green background. The town received its coat of arms on May 25, 1792. After the meeting, having talked with Elena Smolyanichenko, who at that time was responsible for the study of history of the region, we wanted to see the places where everything breathed antiquity. By the way, Elena Ivanovna is a writer and ethnographer. She was born in the village of Kudeishi in Ivye district. She is Grodno Yanka Kupala State Pedagogical Institute graduate. She used to work as a teacherorganizer at Geraneny school, taught World Art. Recently Elena Ivanovna has donated two of her books "Geraneny" to Ivye district library: "Reference and informational materials" and "The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in agro-town Geraneny", which everyone can read today.

We learned from Mrs. Elena in 1996 that the settlement had been known since the 13th century as Geraneny Muravanye or Gashtold. And the entire previous history of the town is associated with one of the most powerful noble families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There is a lot of information about it on the Internet today. Interestingly, the Magdeburg Law was granted to Geraneny by King August Poniatowski in 1752, and in 1792 Geraneny’s coat of arms was approved. We asked Mrs. Elena about this. She told us about a love story of Barbara Radziwill and the Grand Duke (later king) Sigismund. I remember us sitting at the desks in one of the class-rooms and listening with interest and excitement to the romantic-dramatic story. Then, at the ruins of the castle, where Barbara used to live for 4 years, made us think: the past does not go anywhere, it is always with us.

In short, the story was like this. In the fall of 1543, 24-year-old Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus, left his residence in Vilnius, and went to the possession of his vassals to consider the claims and

Fragment of the painting "The Ghost of Barbara Radziwill". Artist Jan Matejko. Barbara Radziwill and Sigismund II Augustus. Lithograph from the collection of artists Valentin and Lilia Varetsa.

complaints of the local nobility and at the same time enjoy the numerous balls and hunts arranged specially for him. During the trip, he had to decide on the huge legacy of the Gashtold family. The last male representative of this dynasty, governor Stanislav Gashtold, died in 1542 at the age of 35, leaving no heir. According to the laws of that time, the property of the family in such cases was taken over by the Grand Duke, and he was to decide its further fate.

A few hours that the Grand Duke planned to spend in Geraneny castle turned first into days, then into weeks... The reason for this was the beautiful Lithuanian Barbara from the famous princely family of the Radziwills. At fifteen, she married Stanislav Gashtold. That was a

marriage of political convenience and did not bring happiness to the spouses. They did not live in marriage for long, only five years, and for Barbara they were burdened by her husband's frequent infidelities. In 1542 Stanislav died, so she was a twenty-year-old widow. The Grand Duke was familiar with the Gashtolds, and more than once had met them at balls in Vilnius. Sigismund II Augustus himself was also married (since 1543), but initially he, just like his mother, Queen Bona Sforza, of Italian origin, didn’t accept his wife Elisabeth von Habsburg (Elizabeth of Austria), daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The queen died in 1545. His father Sigismund I the Old and some of the nobility who wanted rapprochement with the Austrian court, insisted on marriage. Sigismund II Augustus was decribed to be a noble brunette with a small beard, of medium height, who did not inherit his father's athletic appearance, but was excellent in weapons and was hardened i n knightly

tournaments and many hunting amusements. From his mother he inherited a fine artistic taste, an interest in art. He founded a library in Vilnius, for which books were bought from all over Europe.

When the Grand Duke came to Geraneny, he met not an unfortunate widow there, but a young, attractive person. According to the descriptions of contemporaries, Barbara was perhaps the most beautiful woman of the two states – Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Her perfect proportions, refinement of manners, grace, gentle looks and kind speech aroused admiration of men.

They spent the whole of October 1543 together... Their marriage (concluded in 1547) was kept a secret for almost a year… Only after the death of Sigismund I the Old, when the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus received the Polish crown in 1548, did it become clear that the young king had a Lithuanian wife. The news was disliked by the magnates of both states and the mother of the new king, who fiercely hated her daughterin-law. Bona Sforza demanded an immediate divorce, but the son was

adamant. On December 1, 1550, Barbara Radziwill was crowned and became the queen of the Polish state. The Polish nobility were forced to submit to the will of their king. But Bona Sforza did not submit to it… She hated the Radziwill family, did her best to prevent the Sejm from crowning Barbara. By the way, Nikolai Radziwill the Black went to Rome to see the Pope to successfully resolve the issue. The Queen Mother, failing to

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In 1519, Prince Albrecht Gashtold built a brick church of St. Nicholas. In its architecture elements of late baroque and classicism are used.It is still shrouded in the spirit of Belarusian medieval architecture with a strange and centuries-old history. It is surrounded with a brick wall. This temple attracts a huge number of both tourists and pilgrims who come to these lands. In the 19th century Stanislaw Januszewicz, Kanut Rusetski, and Napoleon Orda painted the church.

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Elena Smolyanichenko, ethnographer, writer always enthusiastically tells about love of Barbara Radziwill and King Sigismund, as well as the Belarusian artist Napoleon Orda, who in 1875 painted a picture of the castle ruins. And she is the author of the songs – "Come to Geraneny", "Our Corner".

achieve her goal, secretly left Krakow and went to her homeland, to Italy. She took her whole court with her, but left the agents with the task of poisoning the hated daughter-in-law. Among them was her personal pharmacist Monti, a poison specialist, a native of Florence. It is said that his slow-acting poison killed Barbara in six months, and she died in agony.

The king continued to love his Barbara for the rest of his life. After the death of his beloved, he decided to perpetuate her memory. And he succeeded. The famous icon of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn was painted from the portrait of Barbara Radziwill and was lyricized by Adam Mitskevich and other poets. This is confirmed by many researchers. You can read more about the tragic story of this love on http://www.poznaibelarus.by/ barbara_radzivill/.

According to a legend, since those distant times, the soul of Barbara has not found solace, roming the world. Why so? It is said that in Nesvizh Castle, the ancestral home of the Radziwills, the sorcerer Mr. Twardowski in the presence of King Sigismund with the help of a magic mirror performed the ritual of her return from the dead. And although the king was forbidden to touch the ghost that appeared, but seeing the face of his beloved, he could not help doing it. The ghost dissolved in the air and, and it is believed, the soul could not return to the other world and settled in Nesvizh Castle. She appears in black in front of the living: in mourning for her lost love. The owners of the castle had the impression that she warned when they were in danger, i.e. war, disease. From the middle of the XVIII century the Black Lady allegedly took on new responsibilities: to monitor the behavior of young beautiful girls and women. During the balls, she lay in wait in dark places for those beauties who had overly revealing outfits on. During the war, the Germans in occupied Nesvizh were very afraid of the Black Lady, and when they saw something black in the park, they shouted "Schwarze Frau!". fired in that direction and fled to hide.

Contemporaries compared the love story of Sigismund II Augustus and Barbara Radziwill with the story of Romeo and Juliet. It was lyricized both in the Renaissance and in later times. There were and are different opinions about this drama. However, no one can deny the depth of the feelings of Sigismund and Barbara, which have brought to the national and world history of mankind another confirmation: there is a great, true feeling of love in our world.

Ms. Elena also told us about the talented people living in Geraneny, suggested meeting folk musician Ivan Stankevich from the village of Sinyavschyna and his large family of singers in Geraneny, but we had to follow the route. We were very grateful for the enthusiastic story of the teacher, who said about herself: "I'm here as a chronicler Pimen: I keep a chronicle of the region."

In Geraneny not far from the ruins of the castle rises a majestic and beautiful church of St. Nicholas, which will soon be 500 years old. The stone Gothic church was built in 1529 at the expense of Vilnius governor Albrecht Gashtold, and in 1537 the marriage of his son Stanislaus and Barbara Radziwill was consecrated in that church. The church has a memorial plaque in honor of Oscar Corvin-Milevsky (1817-1906) – one of the owners of Geraneny, who is buried in the sacristy of the church, the construction of which he completed at his own expense in 1859. The stone bell tower was built in 1855 by the architect Tomasz Tyszecki.

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Today, in te place of the castle, where Barbara Radziwill used to live for 4 years, only earthen ramparts and small fragments of brick walls have survived. For the first time, the castle was badly damaged during the bloody war of 1654-1667. But after that, in peacetime, it was restored. During the Northern War (1700-1721), the castle was blown up by the Swedish army, and no one tried to restore its former glory. The ruins of the castle have survived to this day.

– The town got a powerful impetus for development at a time when the local collective farm "XXII Party Congress" was headed by the legendary Vladimir Baum, who received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, – Viktor Vershalovich, the chairman of Geraneny village executive committee, told our colleagues from Grodno Pravda in 2018. – The household sector also developed on a strong manufacturing base. The village received a new impetus in its development in 2006: houses were built here in accordance with the President's program.

All conditions for life, work, rest and development have been created in Geraneny. The infrastructure is urbanlike, ecologically friendly environment. There is a high school, children's art school, kindergarten, house of culture, outpatient clinic, pharmacy, bank and communications departments, canteen (where the celebrations are held), bathhouse, six shops, two lakes for locals and guests of the agro-town. And tourists here have much to visit. The ruins of the castle are of great interest. One would think: ruins are just ruins… But it's like a kind of portal into the past. Use your imagination and and look at the castle defense structure, unique for that time, i.e. the creation of ditches and mounds around the walls, as when the castle was under construction, the artillery was not yet powerful enough to destroy such fortifications.

Today there are many songs dedicated to Geraneny. Some of them, e.g. "Come to Geraneny", "Our corner" by composer Evgeny Karput, with lyrics by our good friend Elena Smolyanichenko. A striking annual event in the cultural life of Geraneny is the theatrical performance "At the Ball of Barbara Radziwill". And this year in October, the ball again gathered fans of such events. Valentina and Ivan Zhdanovich

Piece of performance of Belarusian girls in group event

Brilliant performances

The national rhythmic gymnastics team of Belarus showed the best result in history at the World Championships in Japan

Say what you like, but it's great to realize that in Belarus girls are not only the most beautiful, slender and graceful, but also talented, hardworking and diligent. The World Championship, which took place in Japan, fully confirmed all these maxims and made a couple of promising advances: our cheery rhythmic gymnastics team were returning home with a suitcase that was literally going to pieces with the medals of all values, they were satisfied with the brilliant season and full of hope that the coming year would be even better.

One gold, two silvers and two bronzes in individual exercises, third place in the group all-around and in the team championship: a total of seven medals – a catch yield that cannot be called small. In all types of personal programs, Belarusians made it to the podium, and the result would have been even better if uniformity of movement of the group members hadn’t failed them – the girls didn't managed to win medals in exercises with balls, as well as with hoops and clubs. It's a pity, but now it is clear what they need to work on first of all.

Rhythmic gymnastics is a specific sport. For connoisseurs. This is a kind of sports opera with ballet, theatrical performance of the ultra category with such top-class aerobatics that it takes your breath away. One can fail to understand this kind of sport but it is impossible not to accept it – it pleases the eye, like any high art. The athletes achieve high results at an unusually young age, champions, as a rule, manage to compress their rich careers into two rapid Olympic cycles, after which they leave top-class sports at an age when everything is just beginning in other sports. The Averin sisters are now 23 years old, Evgeniya Kanaeva won her two Olympic golds at 18 and 22, Margarita Mamun at 21, Alina Kabaeva achieved the highest score from 16 to 23...

Our primas, who showed great results in Kitakyushu, are at golden age now: Alina Harnasko turned 20 in August, Anastasiia Salos is 19.

Harnasko burst like a whirlwind into the pool of elite gymnasts this season, having won bronze in Tokyo 2020 and four awards of the world championship: silver in the all-around, as well as gold, silver and bronze in individual disciplines – an amazing result! If injuries and failures are avoided, then by Paris 2024 Alina may easily take it upon herself to achieve the unbeaten in Belarus record of her personal trainer Marina Lobach, who won the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. But at the same time, Salos should in no way be discounted – she is a girl no less talented and hardworking than her teammate, although she temporarily moved to reserve positions. Do not forget that it was Salos who won the national championship in 2020 and was considered number one in the team.

The top echelon is represented by the professorial coaching school with the leading roles played by Irina Leparskaya, Marina Lobach, Lyubov Cherkashina... And all of them are surprisingly competently integrated into the policy of state support for sports, without which it would hardly be possible to stay afloat and show such stable and high results. An example that confirms better than any words that the scheme goes like clockwork is the Rhythmic Gymnastics Palace, which opened its doors three years ago, it is located in a picturesque district of Minsk. "We have been waiting for this for a very long time, – Irina Leparskaya said then. – I myself drew it and have already seen it a hundred times in a dream. We entered it with positive thoughts and a good mood. I am very grateful to the President for his support, everything here is at the highest level. And everything is

Belarusian-made, except for carpets. We take good care of our home, we teach children to do this. They understand and appreciate everything. It is not an exaggeration that we can live here. This is our real home. At the same time, all children's sport schools will remain, we select only the best, most promising ones and we will wait for replenishment from schools every year.

We will live for this, look for talents and make them unbeatable, we will do our best and a little more." As we can see, the head coach’s words meet the actions. "Each of our girls has a dream of her own, – added

Irina Leparskaya. – And we will live for the sake of every dream of the pupils." Alina Harnasko and Anastasiia Salos have already begun to fulfill their dreams. However, the halls and other premises of the Gymnastics Palace are not empty– work is in full swing here every day and young competitors are rapidly growing behind the backs of the top athletes.

Daria Tkacheva, Anna Kamenshchikova, Arina Krasnorutskaya... These and other girls, too, will soon be ready to surprise. The main thing is to work. To believe. And, of course, to dream.

Sergey Kondratovich. Photo credit: FIG.

Alina Harnasko Anastasiia Salos