The two blondes are slightly nervous.. For the very first time we will step into our time machine Grisha! And our smart Time machine decides the exact time and place in the past he will drop us. But we are excited and extremely curious about the historical moment we are about to visit. So here we go… Stepping in and pressing the ‘GO’ button...
AAAGGHH, YYYYY, WYYYUU, we shake, fly around and feel almost breathless, and then suddenly we feel a bump. We must have arrived!! And yes, we step out of Grisha and find ourselves in the middle of a swampy freezing no man's land without proper fur coats to warm us.
Not exactly a place we imaged to land.. A slight panic moment strikes us, in which we start doubting our brilliant scientists and us ever getting back to 2016. But our optimism quickly returns as we see that in the near distance something is going on! Soon the two blondes will discover that they found themselves in the 11th century in their birth city Minsk.
Once we started walking towards what seemed a village from a distance soon appeared to be a village in the middle of a big battle. Oh no! This village is about to get destroyed! Suddenly an old man approaches us wearing a funny red dress with a fur coat and green shoes. He looks at us with a big surprise on his face, as if we are the ones wearing a dress that looks like a pyjama with green shoes.
After an interesting introduction we get to know that this is an important battle of Prince of Polacak, Usiaslaū, who is believed to have the power to change into a wolf or falcon - and is nicknamed the ‘Sorcerer’! “Because of this super power he is able to be as fast as light and appear unexpectedly in different places”, the old man tells us with a proud smile on his face. Right now on this battle ground our Prince is defending his great Principality of Polacak near Minsk on the river Naimiha. He is fighting his enemy, the princes of Kyiv.
So we are in Minsk!!! We both scream enthusiastically. And which year we ask our new friend excited? He looks bewildered but says ‘my ladies welcome to the year 1067!
AAAGGHH, YYYYY, WYYYUU, we shake, fly around and feel almost breathless, and then suddenly we feel a bump. We must have arrived!! And yes, we step out of Grisha and find ourselves in the middle of a swampy freezing no man's land without proper fur coats to warm us.
Not exactly a place we imaged to land.. A slight panic moment strikes us, in which we start doubting our brilliant scientists and us ever getting back to 2016. But our optimism quickly returns as we see that in the near distance something is going on! Soon the two blondes will discover that they found themselves in the 11th century in their birth city Minsk.
Once we started walking towards what seemed a village from a distance soon appeared to be a village in the middle of a big battle. Oh no! This village is about to get destroyed! Suddenly an old man approaches us wearing a funny red dress with a fur coat and green shoes. He looks at us with a big surprise on his face, as if we are the ones wearing a dress that looks like a pyjama with green shoes.
After an interesting introduction we get to know that this is an important battle of Prince of Polacak, Usiaslaū, who is believed to have the power to change into a wolf or falcon - and is nicknamed the ‘Sorcerer’! “Because of this super power he is able to be as fast as light and appear unexpectedly in different places”, the old man tells us with a proud smile on his face. Right now on this battle ground our Prince is defending his great Principality of Polacak near Minsk on the river Naimiha. He is fighting his enemy, the princes of Kyiv.
So we are in Minsk!!! We both scream enthusiastically. And which year we ask our new friend excited? He looks bewildered but says ‘my ladies welcome to the year 1067!
The two blondes soon understood that they found themselves in a very important moment in Minsk history, as they remembered reading about this battle in their history books. Because of this battle, Minsk or Miensk at that time, appeared for the first time in 1067 in an important book called Medieval Chronicles (a book filled with information about important events that happened in you can guess: Medieval times). The year 1067 is now widely accepted as the year Minsk city was founded. Something to be proud of, as Minsk is older than Moscow and Stockholm!
Maybe this will be the perfect moment to find out where the name Minsk comes from, Marta says enthusiastically. Maybe this wise and funny dressed old man could explain this to us. So we tell him that in our time Mensk is called Minsk and that we are wondering where the word Minsk actually originates from? The old man looks again at us as if we are a from a different planet (that is also exactly how we feel) but answers our question nevertheless. There are many theories about that. Most city names in this area derive from rivers nearby or from governing princes. And so the first theory is a simple one: the name Minsk or Mensk originates from a small river Menka on which the city was founded. Today you can find the banks of this river southwest of Minsk. Another theory he continues, is a bit more interesting: Minsk comes from the word ‘Mena’ which means exchange, as the city was a perfect location at the intersection of different trade routes. “But my favourite theory, or better call it a legend,” - he explains with an enthusiastic voice - “comes from a giant named ‘Menesk’. Menesk lived in Minsk area and was a very strong mill builder whose identity is still a big mystery. However some people believe that Minsk was named after him.”
Discovering that their birth city was a freezing swampy land, hosting a big battle that almost destroyed the city in the Middle Ages, made the two girls realize they will never look at Minsk with the same eyes again. Our city is ancient and has been through so much already in 1067!
They go back through the mud and find Grisha waiting for them. They close the door and feel pride and joy after having experienced first hand the important battle that made Minsk exist for almost 950 years now. Let’s celebrate this large number big next year, maybe even with oversized red dresses and green shoes as the dress code, they promise one another and press the button to a new adventure.
Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!
Maybe this will be the perfect moment to find out where the name Minsk comes from, Marta says enthusiastically. Maybe this wise and funny dressed old man could explain this to us. So we tell him that in our time Mensk is called Minsk and that we are wondering where the word Minsk actually originates from? The old man looks again at us as if we are a from a different planet (that is also exactly how we feel) but answers our question nevertheless. There are many theories about that. Most city names in this area derive from rivers nearby or from governing princes. And so the first theory is a simple one: the name Minsk or Mensk originates from a small river Menka on which the city was founded. Today you can find the banks of this river southwest of Minsk. Another theory he continues, is a bit more interesting: Minsk comes from the word ‘Mena’ which means exchange, as the city was a perfect location at the intersection of different trade routes. “But my favourite theory, or better call it a legend,” - he explains with an enthusiastic voice - “comes from a giant named ‘Menesk’. Menesk lived in Minsk area and was a very strong mill builder whose identity is still a big mystery. However some people believe that Minsk was named after him.”
Discovering that their birth city was a freezing swampy land, hosting a big battle that almost destroyed the city in the Middle Ages, made the two girls realize they will never look at Minsk with the same eyes again. Our city is ancient and has been through so much already in 1067!
They go back through the mud and find Grisha waiting for them. They close the door and feel pride and joy after having experienced first hand the important battle that made Minsk exist for almost 950 years now. Let’s celebrate this large number big next year, maybe even with oversized red dresses and green shoes as the dress code, they promise one another and press the button to a new adventure.
Read more about Belarus on our newest platform HiFive Belarus!
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