The first Mjensk: hill-fort settlement in Haradzishcha (I/VI). Haradzishcha (Mjensk District) 2019.
The name haradzishcha — гарадзішча — means hill-fort settlement. There are many such hill-fort sites in Belarus. Here we focus on the hill fort in Haradzishcha. The fort in question dates to the 9th century AD. In the 10th century the fort became the site of the first Mjensk, 20 kilometers to the west of what became the 11th-century principality of Mjensk (Mjenesk) and the historic center — obliterated by Soviet architecture — of today’s capital city.
Conservation, restoration work and news about the site owe much more to the efforts of local historians, enthusiasts and active citizen volunteers than to efforts by the authorities.
The fort was built by the Mjenka river, now merely a small stream but then navigable.
Першы Менск: Гарадзішча (I/VI). Гарадзішча (Менскі раён) 2019 г.
Valley of the river Mjenka. The hill fort lies behind the trees on the upper left of the photo.
Даліна р. Менка.
