A role model is perhaps the most accurate description of the small homeland of the President of Belarus. It seems that even the lawn in the agricultural town of Alexandria is greener. And the roads - and this is visible to the naked eye - are certainly smoother and the markings on them are brighter than in any regional center. TUT.BY looked at what might interest tourists in the place where Alexander Lukashenko spent his childhood. We found out why many people try to sit at the president’s school desk and what his favorite little plaything looks like.
TUT.BY is starting a series of materials about interesting, but not the most famous tourist routes in Belarus. The first takes us to where the country's president spent his childhood.
What we are watching: small homeland of Alexander Lukashenko.
Where is: Shklovsky district, Mogilev region, village of Alexandria.
If you come to Alexandria by car, do not forget to take a larger empty container with you to fill it with crystal water. And if you are traveling light, then take at least a small plastic bottle.
Sit at the president's desk to become a “big boss”
Road to the residential part of Alexandria-1 from the railway station
Alexandria-1 starts right next to the railway station from the Alexandria dairy complex. By the way, it included the “Udarnik” collective farm, whose deputy chairman in 1982 was Alexander Lukashenko.
This part of Alexandria looks no less attractive: smooth roads, well-kept houses, cleanliness. The first houses from the station are about 600 meters away. There is also a bank building with an ATM, a library, and a House of Culture.
The local store is notable only for its line of goods - from pregnancy tests to bicycles and animal feed - and rather high prices for vegetables and fruits compared to Mogilev. Otherwise, this is a typical shopping facility for an agricultural town. By the way, you can take advantage of the moment and buy meat products from OJSC Alexandriyskoye - they are highly praised by the locals.
Alexandria High School isn't hard to find—it's about a kilometer right down the street from the store. In the compact school museum you can learn not only about the history of the region. Two stands are dedicated to Alexander Lukashenko.
On the first one - it is called “The School of Life of the Future President” - photographs of Lukashenko as a schoolboy and Lukashenko as a student at the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute (now Moscow State University named after A. Kuleshov), where he graduated from the history department. There is also a portrait of the president’s late mother, Ekaterina Trofimovna, and an image of the certificate of honor that she was awarded as the best calf cow of the Dneprovsky collective farm.
A copy of the letter that Alexander Lukashenko addressed to his home school. The original is kept in the educational institution
On the second stand are photographs of Lukashenko the President from the official website. But the most interesting part of the exhibition is the classroom and the desk at which the future president sat. They are located in a separate building on the school grounds.
Since this is a school museum, it does not work according to a specific schedule and there is no tour guide. If you want to sit at the president’s desk and see the class in which he studied, call in advance at (8 02239) 79−109 to arrange a time to visit the museum.
The school office where the future president of Belarus studied looks the same as it did 50 years ago. On the desk where Lukashenko was sitting there is a memorial plaque
The class in which Alexander Lukashenko studied was visited by ambassadors, ministers and many other high-ranking guests. Large groups of tourists, including children, come on excursions. School employees say that visitors even came up with a legend that you must sit at the third desk in the second row (Alexander Lukashenko studied behind it) in order to become a “big boss.”
Photos of Alexander Lukashenko’s meeting with school teachers
This myth is not destroyed at school and everyone can sit at a desk. But taking photographs in the classroom is strictly prohibited. The furnishings in the office remained the same - the same closet, board, map on the wall. Only the desks and the floor were repainted. They also hung photographs of the president from his meeting with school teachers on the wall near the door.
Where to stay and what to do
In an agricultural town with a population of about 600 people, you are unlikely to get bored. For lovers hiking We recommend going to the bank of the Dnieper, and then to its other bank, to another region - Vitebsk. The neighboring agricultural town of Kopys also has something to see.
For athletes it won't be boring here. There is a two-story universal sports complex in Alexandria. For more than 5 thousand sq. m - two swimming pools (a large one with four water paths and a children's one - for beginners to learn swimming), a gym and games room, a sauna, a jacuzzi, billiards. On the territory of the complex there is a football field, running tracks, and two integrated sports grounds. The prices are good - a pool session, a gym session - 3 rubles. True, on weekdays it works from 17.45 to 22.30, on weekends - all day. For more information about prices and work schedule, please call: (8 02239) 75−023.
Universal sports complex "Alexandria"
Hotel "Alexandria" is located next to the sports center. There is a cafe next to it. The hotel has 35 rooms with 73 beds with free Wi-Fi. There are 4 deluxe rooms designed for 2-3 people with double beds and sofas. Two rooms are equipped for wheelchair users. A double room will cost 46 rubles; for breakfast you will have to pay an additional 5 rubles per person. All details - around the clock by phone: (8 02239) 75−010, (8 029) 298−22−38, (8 029) 598−94−27.
Excursion on the motor ship “To the Homeland of the President”
The route for organized groups of tourists was developed by Mogilevobltourist. It includes a boat excursion along the Dnieper along the route: Alexandria - tourist complex "Bald Mountain" - Shklov - Dobreika village - Polykovichi village - Mogilev - Buinichi village - Bykhov. The program includes a visit to the president’s homeland, as well as stops and walking tours at all points along the route.
Road to Trofimova Krinitsa
“Mogilevobltourist” emphasized that this tour operates only by request and it is advisable to conduct it for a group of tourists. The cost of the excursion will depend on the number of participants. All details can be found by phone: (8 222) 70−70−28, 40−40−77.
After the official events of the V Forum of Regions, the presidents of Belarus and Russia continued informal communication near Mogilev. Alexander Lukashenko invited Vladimir Putin to his small homeland in the agricultural town of Alexandria. This is where our President spent his childhood. A meeting in these places is a sign of the special friendly and allied nature of the relationship. After all, everyone knows with what trepidation the Head of the Belarusian State treats this land. The Belarusian leader invites only his closest and most respected guests and friends here. By the way, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has already been here before. Today the Head of the Belarusian State showed Vladimir Putin his native places. For convenience and walking, there is an appropriate dress code. The leaders swapped their business suits for sports suits. We walked slowly through the village, Alexander Lukashenko told his colleague about the history of these places.
The atmosphere is sincere and even touching. The heads of state toured the house where the future Belarusian President grew up. The reception of the distinguished guest was truly in the style of Belarusian cordiality and hospitality - with national treats. In the home of the Belarusian President, Vladimir Putin tried pancakes and potato pancakes straight from the oven. The main dinner of the heads of state was also served in the Belarusian style. To match the authentic flavor, the presidents moved around the village in a modernized GAZ-69 car from the 60s. Alexander Lukashenko was personally behind the wheel. The leaders also visited Trofimova Krinitsa. The source with water unique in its properties was restored on behalf of Alexander Lukashenko. The head of state gave his colleague a tour of the improved territory. The Russian President also liked the water from the spring.
One can understand the warmth with which the President tells his Russian colleague about his native side, about the place where he spent his childhood. The future Head of State left his own mark on this land as a boy. Here I learned to work on the land and learned my first lessons. Beauty is in simplicity: this is how these places can be characterized. Amazing nature. Endless fields. Forests. Many come to Alexandria precisely for this state: to relax their souls, gain strength and be inspired. Indeed, given the beauty of the surroundings, both presidents managed to recover after today's hours-long negotiations. After such warm communication and a cordial meeting, the Head of the Belarusian State personally saw off his colleague.
Of course, such an informal atmosphere did not prevent us from talking once again about the main thing: bilateral relations. Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin discussed all the most pressing topics.
No matter what corner of the country Alexander Lukashenko goes to, everywhere he will find a place that he can consider his home. Over the 23 years of the presidency (it was on July 10, 1994 that the second round of the first presidential elections in the history of Belarus took place), quite a few residences were equipped - they are in every region with the exception of Grodno.
Residence on Karl Marx
For many years, the president worked at 38 Karl Marx Street. This building of the former Central Committee of the Communist Party of the BSSR, built in 1939, survived the war and served faithfully for many generations of Belarusian officials.
In recent years, Minsk residents have noticed that the building is not guarded as jealously as before. This is because only the Presidential Administration remained there, and the work office of the head of state was moved to the Independence Palace, built in 2013.
Palace of Independence
Photo by Antono Vasiljev
The total area of the Palace of Independence is . The building has several hundred rooms.
At a meeting with students of Mogilev State University in 2013, Lukashenko said that no money had been invested in this construction.
But if we look at presidential decrees No. 75 of January 17, 2012 and No. 126 of March 14, 2013, it turns out that the republican budget allocated for the construction of the Palace of Independence. Additional funds for the construction of the century were also allocated by the Minsk City Executive Committee.
According to Lukashenko, in the Palace of Independence Vladimir Putin. “Putin had, consider it, his home here. He officially stayed here."- explained the head of state. We are talking about the meeting of the Normandy Four in Minsk in 2015.
"Blackbirds"
“Drozdy” was for a long time the main and most famous residence of the president. Those who did not know where Alexander Lukashenko lived found out in 1998, when a scandal broke out with foreign ambassadors, whom he forced to move from the diplomatic village, away from the place where he lives.
In a 2010 interview "Lithuanian courier" Alexander Lukashenko said about the residence in Drozdy that the house there was not built specially, but restored:
“If you compared my residence with the residences of the Ukrainian or Russian president, you would propose demolishing it and building a new one. This was discussed ten years ago, when the Drozdov residence actually collapsed, there was no money in the budget... We dressed it in Rabitsa mesh, plastered it again, and this is the house I live in.”
The result of the restoration is a sports complex (1000 sq. m.), a swimming pool (750 sq. m.).
It is known that a Russian journalist managed to visit Drozdy Mikhail Gusman in 2009, and his colleague Sergei Dorenko- in 2011.
Local residents began to talk about the fact that the president was a private guest of Ozerny even earlier. Traffic police posts began to appear here too often, perfect order was restored along the main road, and petunias were hung on the bridges. For Lukashenko and Kolya's first visit to school.
The places here are picturesque - a lake, a forest. She and Kolya live behind a high fence, along which there are surveillance cameras, in the former estate of Count Tyshkevich (17th century).
The only illustration that gives an idea of Tyshkevich’s residence, writes the website of the Logoisk virtual museum, is a watercolor by Napoleon Orda from the late 19th century.
After the revolution, Tyshkevich’s house was an orphanage, and later the dacha of Semyon Timoshenko, commander of the Belarusian Military District.
The area of Ozernoye is about 90 hectares. Lukashenko and his son Nikolai use electric cars to move around its territory.
Photo from the press service of the President of Belarus
It is in Ozerny that Alexander Lukashenko receives distinguished guests. Here the Belarusian president and Putin taught how to mow the grass Gerard Depardieu, fed carrots Steven Seagal and spring water the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif with my wife.
"Zaslavl"
On the shores of the Minsk Sea there is another state, read, presidential residence, where Ukraine-Russia-OSCE meetings were held several times.
It was in this residence that the Libyan dictator stayed Muammar Gaddafi during an official visit to Belarus in November 2008. On the territory of Zaslavl he pitched his Bedouin tent.
Viskuli
Photo tourister.ru
This hunting government dacha, built back in the Soviet era, in the Pruzhansky district in the center of Belovezhskaya Pushcha became famous thanks to the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements there in 1991 on the termination of the existence of the USSR and the formation of the CIS.
According to Lukashenko himself, he visits this residence several times a year only because there “his country was destroyed.”
Polesie residence
The Polesie residence of the head of Belarus is located in the Petrikovsky district near the agricultural town of Lyaskovichi, which the presidential neighborhood has noticeably ennobled, and Lukashenko himself spends there from time to time, for example, with the President of Ukraine.
In Lyaskovichi, by the way, “On the back of a black cat,” in which Lukashenko’s granddaughter Victoria played.
Estate in Alexandria-2
The house in Alexandria where the president was born (more precisely, a new house on the site of the old one) is rather a museum, which is periodically visited by one visitor - Lukashenko himself. True, in May 2016 the Belarusian president brought here Dmitry Medvedev.
It does not have the status of a residence, since anyone can come here to relax. There are many guest houses on the territory of the complex. They say that the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the BSSR sometimes came here to shoot ducks Petr Masherov.
Not a penny of budget money was invested in the construction of this complex, according to the head of state.
“You didn’t invest a penny there, the state,- Lukashenko said on February 3, 2017 at a meeting with representatives of the public and the media. - I can say: I have enough good people for whom 10 or 20 thousand dollars is not money. And it will remain for you, it is not my personal. This is state-owned."
At the same time, Lukashenko spoke about another residence - in the Vitebsk region. Apparently, they were talking about the Braslav complex on the territory of the Mezhozerny nature reserve.
This residence on the southern shore of Lake Voloso was built around 2011, when the country was experiencing a severe economic crisis. The territory of the residence is fenced, at the entrance there is a checkpoint. Has a helipad and a small pier.
After official negotiations in Mogilev, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to his small homeland - Alexandria, the press service of the head of state reports.
The head of state showed the guest the house where he grew up, where the presidents were treated to pancakes and potato pancakes straight from the oven.
“The treats prepared for Vladimir Putin, which were served in the native home of the President of Belarus, were prepared in the original Belarusian style. We tried pancakes and potato pancakes from the oven piping hot. Dishes of Belarusian cuisine were also on the menu of the main lunch of the heads of state,” the statement said.
The presidents tasted spring water from Trofimova Spring, which Alexander Lukashenko ordered to equip.
Especially for the guest, the President gave a tour of the landscaped territory of the spring. Together with Vladimir Putin, they drank from a spring of crystal clear water, which is considered healing, the press service noted.
We went on a tour of Lukashenko’s native place in a modernized GAZ-69 car from the 60s, driven by the President of Belarus.
Video: ATN news of Belarus and the world
In the spring of 2016, the President of Belarus received Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Alexandria. Then they treated themselves to natural birch sap, took souvenir photos near the home of the Belarusian leader, and also visited Trofimova Krinitsa.
Dmitry Medvedev, Alexander and Nikolai Lukashenko. Photo: press service of the President of Belarus
In Belarus, I like the village of Alexandria, in the Shklov district of the Mogilev region.
The future President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko, was born and grew up here.
He studied in this house, where the school was then located:
What the memorial plaque says:
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I have no doubt that you would like Alexandria too.
She can't help but like her.
This is the village of the future, but it is still better than in the city.
Residential buildings of ordinary workers:
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Gasified, there is running water, telephone and other amenities.
The houses are being built by OJSC "Alexandriiskoe" for its employees.
Over ten years, 260 different houses were built.
Another variant:
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The village has social facilities.
Panorama of the area.
On the left is the Sports Palace
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The Sports Palace has two swimming pools, a games room and a gym, a sauna, and a jacuzzi.
There are open sports grounds, a football field, and jogging tracks on the territory.
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Here we see an outpatient clinic, a service center and a hotel:
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You can come to Alexandria, stay in a hotel and see everything in person:
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There is also a cultural and leisure center, a kindergarten, a library, a post office, shops, a canteen, a school, and a bank branch.
Of course, in November, and even after a snowfall, the view is not very picturesque, but you can get a general idea.
The famous Belarusian cleanliness is everywhere.
And you can come here by rail, which runs right through the village:
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The tiles are cleanly swept:
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Alexandrian cat:
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You can also arrive by road.
The road is excellent, like everywhere else in Belarus:
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The president passes just before the school.
The old wooden building has not been used for educational purposes for a long time.
Preserved for memorial purposes.
It's interesting to see where the future president grew up.
The class was the most common for that time - 1960s:
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The board is not interactive at all:
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Somehow we studied before in such conditions!
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A new school building was built nearby, one of the classrooms is a museum.
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It houses an exhibition dedicated to President Lukashenko:
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The biography is exemplary from all sides.
Wife Galina, sons:
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The president's wife lives an ordinary life in Alexandria.
While the President performs the duties of the President, occasionally visiting his native places.
This happens not only with presidents.
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I was lucky enough to visit the Palace of Independence of the Republic and see the President:
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Let's return to Alexandria
Where does such wealth come from, you ask?
Why were all these facilities built and maintained? Surely the president threw in some money?
The riches of Alexandria from the land, the same one that in November was fast asleep after the labors of the summer season:
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The agricultural town "Alexandria" is the largest producer of agricultural products in the republic, which I will tell you about later.
Let's take a look at just one of the village stores, where everything local, produced on the land of the agricultural town of Alexandria, is sold.
This one:
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Prices are indicated in the new and old ways (monetary reform in Belarus is being carried out gradually).
To convert to Russian rubles, multiply the “new” price by 30.
Not much cheaper than in Russia?
Why should it be so much cheaper?
Belarusians live no worse, and if compared with the Russian hinterland, even better.
Alexandrian apples, rosy:
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To be continued!
