MONUMENT TSMOKU

On the shores of Lake Lepel in the city park in September 2013, a real dragon settled. True, bronze, single-headed and very kind. According to local residents, it does not fly, fire does not exhale and does not offend anyone.

The sculpture of a mythical snake-like creature appeared here thanks to the initiative of a local historian, Vladimir Shushkevich, who decided in this way to perpetuate the brand of the region - Tsmok Lepelsky, a character from the mythology of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

It was Lepel that was considered the birthplace of Tsmok thanks to Vladimir Korotkevich’s historical novel “Christ Jumping in Gardens (Evangelelle ad Judas)”, which describes in detail the appearance of the monster and tells how in the Middle Ages about 40 Tsmok died in Lake Lepel in one night. It is the casting of this book that is located today at the feet of Lepelsky Tsmok.