Discovering unknown attractions in the vicinity of Vitebsk awaits visitors to the "Zadvine" city center.

November 30, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. A peculiar excursion to the unknown attractions of the regional center's surroundings awaits visitors to the Vitebsk City Center of Folk Crafts and Arts "Zadvine" who will visit the exhibition "Unexpected Vicinities of Vitebsk," which opened at this cultural institution, reports a BELTA correspondent. The exhibition is based on materials from Candidate of Historical Sciences Nikolai Pivovar. Representatives of travel agencies interested in new unusual routes will also find it interesting to familiarize themselves with the materials presented at the exhibition. The scientist's photographs, texts, and maps indicate that the unusual is truly nearby. For example, together with his students from the "Dvina" club, the local historian discovered the largest pine tree in Belarus. The 200-250-year-old tree, growing near the village of Sushchevo in the Vitebsk region, has a diameter of 1.4 m and a height of 28 m. The largest stone is also located in the Dvina region. The boulder, lying near the village of Gorki in the Shumilino region, is 11 m long, 5 m wide, and 2.5 m high. According to specialists, its weight is about 29.2 tons. It got the nickname "Devil's Stone" because it misleads travelers. According to local residents, a person who passes by the stone never reaches their intended destination. In addition, there is also the "Lovers' Stone" in the Vitebsk region, which can be seen near Lake Sosna, located in the Vitebsk region. A beautiful legend about the tragic love of a blacksmith and a young girl, who was forced to marry an old nobleman, is associated with this stone. In the northernmost region of Belarus, the mystical Gartseslav may have existed. No one knew the real location of this ghost city, marked on dozens of maps of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today, one can only guess that this place is located in the Gorodok district. In total, the Vitebsk local historian has collected over a hundred curious stories about the most unusual attractions in the vicinity of the regional center. As Nikolai Pivovar noted to a BELTA correspondent, "you don't have to go to the Maldives for new experiences; it's enough to look around more closely." Nikolai Pivovar is a teacher at the Luzhesnyan Boarding School-Gymnasium for Gifted Children. He teaches at VSU named after P.M. Masherov and is the author of the books "Methods of Searching for Natural Monuments in Local History Work," "Tourist Hikes and Excursions in the Vicinities of Vitebsk," and "Researchers of Polotsk-Vitebsk Antiquity." The contribution of this scientist to the creation of a textbook on the history and nature of the Vitebsk region is invaluable. -0-