"My Brest" a Brest Travel Page by Yogi555

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Brest Coat of Arms, 1742-1775

Historic Background

Brest was mentioned in Old Russian chronicles for the first time in 1019 as a stronghold Berestye on the western frontier of the Old Kievan Rus. Later it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, hence its name Brest Litovsky (Lithuanian) till the 20th century. It was a thriving trade center and a fortified city at the crossroads, at the confluence of two rivers: the Bug and the Mukhavets River, that belonged to the important trading routes, connecting Belarusian and Ukrainian lands with Poland and many cities along the Baltic coastline. It attracted not only numerous tradespeople, yet hordes of invaders that attacked the city many times. A big castle that was constructed in the 13th century protected the city till the 17th century. In 1657 the city and the castle was ravaged to ashes by Swedish invasion, called deluge. In 1795 the city was ceded to the Russian Empire after the Third partition of Poland. Brest became a border city once again. To fortify the western border a giant Russian fortress was constructed on the site of Old Brest. The original structures of the Old city were replaced by lines of massive barracks and fortifications. The city population was relocated 2 kilometers eastwards to a new site, that was designed by Russian urban planners. The fortress was involved in military actions in WW1. In August 1915 after surrender of the fortress the German troops entered the fortress. Brest belonged to Poland under Riga Treaty from 1921 till 1939 and developed as a center of a Polish province. From 1939 it belonged to the USSR, as a capital of a Belarusian region, suffered badly during WW2 from 1941 till 1944, as it was close to the fortress, in which fierce fighting raged on within a month in 1941. Later the Brest fortress was the only one in the USSR that was awarded the honorary title “Hero Fortress”, to commemorate valor and fortitude of its defenders in 1941. In 1971 a majestic war memorial complex was built in the fortress, that used to attract a lot of tourists from all over the world, turning Brest into a tourist Mecca. The memorial consists of several large monumental structures in the center of the Fortress.
Due to the roaring industrial boom in the 1970s – 80s Brest grew up spectacularly in both population and area, bringing the population number to 300 thousand. Brest, lying on the border, has been expanding along the Mukhavets River, highways and railroads into 3 directions: to the east – to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and further on to Moscow, to the south – to Kovel and further on to Kiev, the capital of neighboring Ukraine, to the north – to Kamenets and Belovezhskaya Pushcha NP. The western direction was confined by the river Bug, that makes up a frontier with Poland. Being at the border crossing of the important trans-European highway Paris – Moscow and transcontinental railway Paris – Moscow - Vladivostok, Brest is often called the western gateway to Belarus and the CIS.

I can tell you a lot about the city that I love. The best thing is to come and see it.