Arboretum in Luzhesno

Luzhesno is a small village 12 km from Vitebsk. Luzhesno was first mentioned in documentary sources in 1579 - the place is marked on the map of Polotsk and Vitebsk provinces.

Between the railway station and the village is the tract "Teply Les", where you can wander for another hour. But here we are interested in the Luzhesnyansky Arboretum - a botanical monument of nature in Belarus, located on the territory of the Luzhesnyansky Agrarian College.

The arboretum was founded in 1974 on the initiative of the teacher Nikolai Rozhkov, who gathered here a rich collection of various plants. The Luzhesnyansky Arboretum covers an area of 8.8 hectares in the interfluve of the Western Dvina and the mouth of the right bank of the Luzhesnyanka River.

At the beginning of 1997, there were more than 250 species of trees and shrubs and 32 species of flowering perennial plants, including those that are in the Red Book: for example, fir and Amur velvet. In the arboretum you will see mainly local plants and trees: birch, small-leaved linden, maple, gray alder, common elm, various types of jasmine. Beech also grows here, which is not found in Belarus now, although it was common in the Middle Ages. It is also the northernmost planting of white mulberry in the country.

In addition to the Arboretum, there is also the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in Luzhesno. The Orthodox church is an architectural monument of the retrospective Russian style. It was built in 1908 of brick on the outskirts of the village on the right bank of the Western Dvina. In the architecture of the temple you will see many elements of ancient Russian architecture.

Perhaps the main symbol of Luzhesno is the building of the former agricultural school. The Art Nouveau building was built in the second half of the 19th century. Now the building of the agricultural college is located within its walls.