The castle, churches and museums shape Navahrudak’s cultural offerings. There are also marked cycling routes and a guided excursion that takes visitors beyond the city. Its history spans medieval building phases and museums devoted to the city and its region.

Landscape and Castle

Navahrudak and most of the district of the same name lie on the Novogrudok glacial marginal moraine upland, the highest part of the Grodno Region. Navahrudak is considered the highest-altitude city in Belarus. Over a distance of 22 kilometres, there is an elevation difference of 250 metres between the highest point of Castle Hill and the level of the Neman.

Navahrudak Castle was built in three phases between the 13th and 16th centuries. Its structures included seven towers, a palace and a castle church. The ruins are regarded as the city’s oldest centre and as a former residence of Russian princes and the princes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The site thus brings together the castle’s architectural remains and its changing historical functions.

Churches and Historic Sites

The active Church of Saints Boris and Gleb was built in 1519 on the site of a 12th-century church. It is an architectural monument featuring Gothic and Renaissance elements. The active Church of St Nicholas was built in 1780 as a Franciscan church and converted into an Orthodox church in 1846. The Church of St Michael the Archangel was founded in 1624 as a Dominican church and took on its present form in the early 18th century.

Navahrudak’s active parish church was built between 1712 and 1723. It is also associated with two earlier biographical events: in 1422, Polish King Jagiello married Sophia of Halshany there, and Adam Mickiewicz was baptised there. Adam Mickiewicz Mound was raised on the initiative of the Mickiewicz Committee between 1924 and 1931. It contains soil from the countries where the poet lived.

Museums and Cultural History

The Navahrudak Historical and Local Lore Museum presents the history and culture of the city and region, from the 10th century to the mid-20th century, in nine exhibition halls. Its collection comprises around 22,000 museum objects across 14 collections. The visitor programme includes museum events, themed tours and lectures.

The Adam Mickiewicz House Museum is also an open-air museum, set in a restored manor house from the early 19th century. The complex includes a residential building, an outbuilding, a barn, a well and a pavilion. The house museum is included on the list of the historical and cultural heritage of the Republic of Belarus.

The Museum of Jewish Resistance was established in 2007 at the site of the former ghetto. Its exhibition is devoted to the resistance of Jews from Navahrudak and the surrounding area. It documents the escape through a tunnel built by prisoners, as well as the history of the Bielski Jewish partisan unit.

An art gallery with two large exhibition halls and an artists’ workshop was built in central Navahrudak in 2012. The city’s cultural offerings thus range from historical exhibitions and a memorial site to spaces for displaying art.

Cycling Routes and Guided Excursion

The marked “King Mindaug” circular cycling route is two kilometres long. It starts at the Tourist Information Centre, passes through the city park and by the parish church, then returns to Lenin Square. The also-marked “Heart of Grazhina” circular cycling route is 15 kilometres long and starts at the Tourist Information Centre. The stated lengths allow for a direct comparison, but do not indicate the routes’ level of difficulty. Check the route conditions locally before setting off.

The guided experience tour “In the Footsteps of Adam Mickiewicz” covers a different scale: its 120-kilometre route starts in Navahrudak and travels through Navahrudak, to Lake Svityaz, Shchorsy and Lyubcha, and to Lake Litovka. The programme includes a visit to the Adam Mickiewicz House Museum, as well as poems and music from Mickiewicz’s era. A workshop on making a traditional souvenir is optional; a picnic at Lake Svityaz is also planned.

Distances for Reference

Navahrudak is 22 kilometres from Novojelnja railway station. The distances to Minsk and Grodno are 150 and 162 kilometres, respectively.

Discover more destinations: Lida, Grodno, Iŭje, Aziory, Slonim, Zelva, Astravets, Shchuchyn.

For the broader travel overview: Grodno Region.