Agro-estate 'Malinovka', 'Levki' Nature Reserve and flax factory: what is Orsha district known for?
The region is famous for its numerous memorable and historical sites. The legendary "Katyusha", whose first salvo thundered near Orsha 80 years ago, the Yanka Kupala House-Museum in Levki, the Petrovsky Val in Kopys – the first Village of the Future, the first BelGRES, the Bolshoye Orekhovskoye Lake with an artificial spit. Among the architectural monuments are the monasteries of the Jesuits, Bernardines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Basilians, Trinitarians, the Kuteyno Male Monastery of the Epiphany and the Kuteyno Holy Assumption Female Monastery. Six museums in Orsha and the V. A. Gromyko City Art Gallery offer their expositions, and colorful agro-estates are always happy to treat travelers with gastronomic delights.
"Malinovka" offers raspberry cheesecakes and krupnik
The "Malinovka" agro-estate is located in one of the picturesque places of the Orsha region – the village of Rumino, 3 km from Orsha. The log house looks like an honored guest at a wedding – solid and presentable. By the way, weddings are actually held here – with a national flavor. All sorts of gazebos match the house. People come here from all corners of Belarus and Russia not only for secluded relaxation, shashlik and a banya, but also for gastronomic delights.
The owner of the estate, Marina Pristromova, knows exactly what our ancestors liked to feast on, and she herself prepares dishes, pickles, and preserves according to her great-grandmother's recipes.
– For holidays, she always put krupnik on the table – a honey liqueur with spices, – says Marina. – And she treated guests to raspberry cheesecakes. Moreover, the raspberries here are dried.
Moreover, the hostess of "Malinovka" is a master at baking the thinnest, lacy pancakes. For the filling, she uses cottage cheese with berries. Marina notes that all dishes offered to guests are prepared exclusively from ecologically clean, natural products.
– We do not store products in the freezer and do not make bulk purchases, – she adds. – Everything is prepared in quantities that ensure guests leave full and satisfied.
Indeed, when an estate has its own unique charm, tourists are drawn to it. Moreover, the Pristromovs approach their work with soul and responsibility. By the way, all the buildings, including the house, are the work of the owner's skilled hands.
– Many guests have become our good friends and visit regularly, – says Marina. – The main clients of the estate are Belarusian families with children, groups of friends, and young people. Weddings, seminars, and business meetings are also not uncommon.
Along Kupala's Footsteps
While in the Orsha region, one must visit a place of amazing beauty – the Kupala Memorial Reserve "Levki," which is included in the tourist routes of the Orsha region. It covers an area of 19 hectares on the banks of the mighty Dnieper River.
Time seems to stand still within the reserve, transporting visitors to the 1930s and 1940s.
– In 1935, a group of Belarusian writers embarked on a creative trip through the Orsha region, – says Oksana Platonova, a research fellow at the branch. – They were led by the People's Poet Yanka Kupala. The bard was captivated by the picturesque spots on the steep Dnieper banks, where he decided to build his dacha.
It is noteworthy that initially, while his dacha was being built according to a government decree for the poet's 30th creative anniversary, the bard lived in the house of the forester Shimansky's family. At that time, the estate also served as the office of the Kopyssky Forestry and a kind of local club. The poet vacationed here every summer from June 1935 to June 1941.
Yanka Kupala was awarded an M-1 passenger car, which was replaced by a Chevrolet in 1939. It was this car that he drove out of burning Minsk in 1941, on it he moved to Moscow, and reached Tatarstan, where he was evacuated along with other cultural figures. Kupala never returned to Levki; he died in Moscow in 1942 under strange circumstances. The poet's dacha in Levki burned down at the beginning of the war and was only rebuilt in 1980.
Now the Chevrolet occupies a place of honor on the territory of the memorial reserve, which includes the writer's dacha, the former forestry office building, the driver's house, and the garage. There are also outbuildings, a hotel, and a площадка (area) where festive events and literary readings are held.
The decoration of this place is a monument to Kupala by sculptor Anatoly Anikeychik, "The Poet's Autumn."
The museum exhibition is divided into two thematic parts.
The literary and documentary part is located in the former office building of the Kopyssky forestry. In 1962, a memorial plaque was installed here for the 80th anniversary of Yanka Kupala's birth.
– In 1977 and 1982, the exposition was modernized and significantly expanded: the main object became the reconstructed dacha of Yanka Kupala (memorial zone), – says Oksana Platonova. – Kupala's dacha was restored in 1981 according to the project by E. Romanovsky and F. Anisovich.
It is noteworthy that the interiors of Yanka Kupala's dacha have been completely recreated. Personal belongings of the bard are also displayed here: a writing desk, a radio receiver, a barometer.
In 2015, a new literary and documentary exposition was created in Levki. It is a true journey through time. Modern multimedia equipment allows visitors to feel the atmosphere of the era and the presence of the poet more deeply. Each museum hall has its own voice: songs to Kupala's lyrics, audio recordings of his voice, birdsong. And an interactive window, located in a stylized room of a 1930s forestry office, allows you to glimpse into the Levki of the bard's time. Birds sing outside the window, emerald foliage sways. The poet walks in the garden, looks at the apple harvest, thinks…
The nature reserve also features screens with thematic computer games for children, and an interactive map that allows for a virtual tour of other Yankа Kupala museums.
Cornflower Motifs
The military-historical, industrial, literary, and gastronomic potential of the Orsha region will be reflected in the pilot project "Cornflower Land."
According to Marina Yakubova, chief specialist of the sports and tourism department of the district executive committee, work has already begun on installing QR codes on significant sites in the district (there will be 23 of them), and excursion routes are being developed, including for people with disabilities, as well as quests for tourists to independently explore the city. By the end of the current year, a tourist map with regional attractions will appear in the center of Orsha.
The information center will soon launch a new service – the tourist case. It will include quests, museum tickets, discount cards for lunches or dinners at cafes, and accommodation in hotels. In other words, by purchasing such a package, one can get acquainted with the Orsha region inexpensively and engagingly.
– As part of the project, it is planned to install signs in Russian and English in the district and create audio guides, – notes Marina Yakubova. – We are working on the issue of free Wi-Fi in canteens, cafes, and restaurants.
Of course, there will also be special souvenir products. Masters from the Center of Folk Art and Crafts in the town settlement of Kopys will actively participate in their creation. Their products made of clay, willow, and straw will feature a cornflower motif. This flower will adorn branded souvenirs.
Flaxen Luxury
Orsha can boldly be called the cradle of Belarusian flax. And the Orsha Flax Combine is the calling card of the district.
Bed linen, table linen, tablecloths, bath textiles, napkins, bedspreads, blankets, towels, clothing, and fabrics from Orsha are known and valued in 44 countries around the world.
The history of the only flax fabric production enterprise in the Republic of Belarus and the largest in the CIS and European countries began in December 1930 with a small flax combing mill.
Today, modern machines tirelessly operate at the combine's five factories, turning flax fiber into high-quality fabrics and finished products. Have you ever had the chance to observe how different production processes – combing, spinning, weaving, finishing – work together in harmony? At the Orsha Flax Combine, everything happens simultaneously and in a coordinated sequence within common production areas. And this order is inviolable. There is much to observe and be impressed by. During a tour of the production, guides will tell you about the culture of flax cultivation and the journey the fiber takes before it turns into soft fabric, and will familiarize you with the operation of the factories.
By the way, flax fabric can be unbleached or snow-white. The enterprise also produces colored fabrics – the color palette includes over a thousand shades! The technology for producing fabrics from flax fiber is quite complex, which is why they are significantly more expensive than cotton. Flax fiber arrives at the combine, goes through combing, spinning, weaving, and finishing production. The presence of its own sewing factory allows for a closed-loop production cycle – from flax fiber processing to finished products. These are presented in a wide assortment in the combine's branded stores. In Orsha, this is the House of Linen. Here you will find true linen luxury.
Today, it can be confidently stated that fabrics and products made from "blue gold" arouse great consumer interest. After all, it is eco-friendly and healthy.
Legendary Weapon of Victory
The "Katyusha" on the high bank of the Dnieper River is like an illustration for the famous song by Matvey Blanter and Mikhail Isakovsky. Soviet soldiers named the destructive combat vehicle of rocket artillery with a simple Russian name. In memory of the first "Katyusha" battery, the memorial complex "For Our Soviet Motherland" was erected in Orsha, which is now the city's calling card.
- This was a new generation combat vehicle, which practically no one knew about before the Great Patriotic War, – said Svetlana Izimova, senior researcher at the Museum of History and Culture of the city of Orsha. – The first tests of projectile prototypes for future "Katyushas" were carried out back in 1929. But the first experimental batch of vehicles based on the ZIS-6 was manufactured at a military plant in Voronezh, when the war had already begun. Seven BM-13 vehicles formed the backbone of the first rocket artillery battery, the decision to form which was made on June 28, 1941. And just four days later, on the night of July 2, it moved under its own power to the Western Front.
The first battery consisted of a command platoon, a spotting platoon, three firing platoons, a combat supply platoon, a supply department, a fuel and lubricants department, and a medical unit. The battery's command staff was mainly composed of students from the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy, who had just completed their first year at the command faculty. Captain Ivan Andreevich Flyorov was appointed battery commander. Two days after departing from Moscow, the battery became part of the 20th Army of the Western Front. On the night of July 12-13, the battery was alerted and sent towards Orsha. Flyorov ordered it to deploy five kilometers from the station. The engines of the vehicles were not turned off so that they could immediately leave the position after the salvo. At 15:15 on July 14, 1941, Captain Flyorov gave the order to open fire.
From the front-line diary of the BM-13 firing platoon commander, Lieutenant A. V. Kuzmin:
“...An incomparable roar and screech, chilling to the bone, came from the ravine. Huge black clouds of smoke erupted upwards, and about a hundred red-tailed rockets shot up into the sky. A fiery whirlwind descended upon the railway junction. Among hundreds of wagons, rockets exploded with heavy rumbling and dazzling flashes. The Hitlerites could not understand what had happened, where such a avalanche of shells of such destructive power had come from. Everything trembled from an earthquake. Exploding in the cluster of wagons, the rockets turned them into heaps of twisted metal. What survived the explosions was instantly engulfed in flames. It seemed that even the metal was burning. The maddened Germans rushed about in the smoke and scorching air. They sought salvation between the wagons, but fell there, struck down by fragments of their own shells exploding in the wagons...”
The first salvo of the "Katyusha" in Orsha plunged the Hitlerites into shock. 112 shells (sixteen 132-millimeter rockets in each of the seven rocket launchers) were fired at the enemy in a matter of seconds and inflicted enormous damage. In terms of impact power, one battery salvo was equal to the salvo of almost three artillery regiments.
One of the streets in Orsha is named after Ivan Flerov. And fresh flowers always lie at the memorial complex on the bank of the Dnieper.