Brest

Brest sits at the confluence of the Mukhavets and the Bug in the far southwest, and its centre is a nineteenth and early twentieth century grid, rebuilt after wartime destruction, with Sovetskaya Street pedestrianised through the middle. That street is the town's set piece: it is lit by kerosene lanterns, and a lamplighter in uniform walks it at dusk each evening with a ladder, lighting each of the several dozen lamps in turn, a practice revived in 2009 and now the thing visitors come to watch. The Museum of Rescued Artistic Values holds icons and objects recovered at the customs post. Belovezhskaya Pushcha and Kamyanyets are within an hour.

History

Brest, Berestiy in the Primary Chronicle, is first mentioned in 1019, when Kievan Rus' took the stronghold from the Poles, and it changed hands many times between Polish rulers and Rus' princes; Casimir II the Just built a castle here in 1182. It became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1319, when Grand Duke Gediminas wintered in the city, and in 1390 it was the second city in the Grand Duchy, after Vilnius, and the first in present-day Belarus to receive Magdeburg rights, thriving on trade with Poland; in 1409 Władysław II Jagiełło, Vytautas and the Tatar khan Jalal al-Din met here before the Battle of Grunwald (Wikipedia, Brest, Belarus).

What you'll find

• The lamplighter - the evening lighting of the Sovetskaya Street lanterns.
• Sovetskaya Street - the pedestrianised centre and its restored buildings.
• The Museum of Rescued Artistic Values - the recovered icons and objects.
• The rivers - the Mukhavets and Bug meeting at the city.

When to go

May to September for the streets and the long evenings; the lamplighter works year round at dusk, which is early in winter and late in summer. Museums close on Mondays.

Before you go

The lamplighter walk is short and gathers a crowd; arrive a few minutes early for a view. Much of the historic fabric was destroyed and rebuilt. Museums are labelled in Belarusian and Russian. The city is a long way from Minsk.

Nearby

Kamyanyets lies north; Belovezhskaya Pushcha is northeast.

Key facts