If you are suddenly asked to describe the relief of Belarus, what will you recall first of all? If you are not a Belarusian citizen, you are unlikely to think about any significant differences in elevation on the map. And not without reason: most of the country’s territory is flat, and only in the center is a low Belorussian ridge (Belarussian grad) - a chain of hills with a maximum height of about 300 meters. However, in the geography of any country in the world, special attention is paid to the highest and lowest point on the surface. These locations are marked on the map at least for statistics. Consider where these points are on the map of Belarus.
Mount Dzerzhinskaya: the highest point in Belarus
It is to the aforementioned Belorussian ridge that the maximum height in this country refers - 345-meter mountain Dzerzhinsky. Technically, it is rather a hill, not a mountain. In addition, this object has a very wide base and no less wide and flat top, which further confuses tourists who nevertheless reached the highest point in Belarus.
At the word "mountain", and even the highest, the imagination draws a long and energy-intensive climb to the top, from where a stunning view opens up, for the sake of which it was worth so much effort. Imagine the disappointment of travelers who reach the highest point in Belarus above sea level and find a walled meadow surrounded by a forest instead of 360 degrees. The only reminder of the significance of this place is an artificial embankment on which a memorial sign is mounted.
Once this mountain was called Holy, but in the days of the USSR, or rather, in 1958, the name was changed to a more pleasing to the regime. The legacy of the past reminds of past days - the structure of the collective farm near the highest point in Belarus.
How to get to Dzerzhinskaya mountain?
The highest point in Belarus is located very close to Minsk, in the village of Skirmantovo. If you are driving your own car, then you need to get to the P65 highway, and from it turn onto Skirmantovo. If you get from Minsk by public transport, you will need to take a suburban bus and go to the Skirmantovo-1 stop.
Unofficial versions
Even if you already remember what the highest point in Belarus is, you still cannot be sure that you know everything about it. So far, controversy has not calmed down points around the location. The mark itself is unequivocally located on the area near Dzerzhinsky Mountain, but, for example, military and topographic maps from the time of the USSR claim that the highest point is not where there is an embankment and a memorial sign, but in the courtyard of the aforementioned collective farm.
Another version says that the highest mountain in Belarus is located a little further north, near the village of Glushintsy. There is a military unit on whose territory there is a radar on a loose hill. This very hill, knowledgeable people say, is higher than Mount Dzerzhinskaya by 4-5 meters.
The lowest point in Belarus
If Mount Dzerzhinskaya is at least somehow marked and highlighted with a memorial sign in the surrounding landscape, then it will be very difficult to find a specific point with the opposite value. The lowest point on the surface of the country is the border of Belarus and Lithuania along the Neman River. The absolute height here is no more than 80 meters above the sea surface. Of course, compared to the seashore, this is quite high, but Belarus cannot boast of access to the sea.
In the north of Grodno, on the very border with Lithuania and, accordingly, on the banks of the Neman is the village of Privalka. On the other side is the Lithuanian village of Shvendoubre, and a little further on is the city of Druskininkai. It is on the stretch of river between Privalka and Shvendure that the lowest place in Belarus is located.
