Ivyanets

Ivyanets has made pottery from local clay for generations, black-fired and glazed ware turned on the wheel and fired in the town, and a museum of traditional crafts keeps the tradition with workshops where the wheel and the kiln can be watched and pieces bought. The town's other feature is its two churches, standing close together and immediately contrasting: the white baroque Franciscan church of St Michael from the 1740s, and the red brick neo-Gothic church of St Alexis of 1907, so that photographs of the pair are the town's calling card. Ivyanets sits on the edge of the Naliboki forest, and craft festivals are held here in summer.

What you actually see

• The white and red churches - the baroque and neo-Gothic pair.
• Pottery workshops - the wheel and kiln work at the crafts museum.
• Black-fired ware - the local pottery tradition and its products.
• The forest edge - Naliboki beginning outside the town.

When to go

May to September for the town and the festivals; the museum keeps daytime hours and closes on Mondays. Weekday visits are when the workshops are working. Craft festivals fall in summer.

Honest expectations

Workshop demonstrations depend on who is present and may need arranging. Church interiors follow service hours. The town is small and takes half a day. Labelling is in Belarusian and Russian.

Nearby

Naliboki forest lies west; Minsk is east.