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Borisov

Description of the Coat of Arms: In the silver field of the baroque shield there are silver gates on the green tip. There are two towers with gabled red roofs. There is a figure of St. Peter between the towers with two keys: silver and golden. The presence of St. Peter can be explained by the fact that the town  received its coat of arms from the last Polish king and Lithuanian prince Stanislav August Ponyatowskiy in 1792 when Belarus was part of Rzech Pospolita. He was Catholic and  the head of the twelve apostles, the most favourite one. He has been the one who is often portrayed with two keys from the Kingdom of heaven. 

Borisov on old photograph

Borisov  is a city in the Republic of Belarus, the administrative center of the Borisov district of the Minsk region. The territory of the city is 46 km² , population - 143,051 people (as of January 1, 2018. It stands on the Berezina River, 77 km (Wikipedia).

Borisov was founded by the Polotsk prince Boris, son of the famous Vseslav, the Enchanter. It was first mentioned in a chronicle in 1102: “Boris Vseslavich marched to conquer the Yatvyags and having defeated them put the town and gave it his name”. A wooden fortress was built and served a defensive purpose in the southern border of the Grand Duchy of Polotsk. Thanks to its advantageous geographical position on the Berezina River (a tributary of the Dnieper River) trade and handicrafts developed rapidly. In the XIIIth century the town found itself within a new state - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the XIYth century Borisov was mentioned in the “List of Russian cities distant and close”.  In 1563 the town received the Magdeburg right, that is, the right of self-government. From 1569 the town found itself within the frames of the common Lithuanin-Polish state Rzecz Pospollita. For centuries then it was the venue of numerous internecine wars. From 1654 to 1667 the town witnessed  the war between the Kingdom of Muscovy and Rzecz Pospolita and was captured many times either by the Russian or by the Polish troops.  In 1793 the town together with Minsk and other Belarusian lands was joined to the Russian Empire. The most significant event in the history of Borisov of that period was the crossing of the Berezina River by the remains of the Napoleonic Army on November 26 – November 28 in 1812. Researchers still assess that event in two different ways: some believe that was a completer defeat of Napoleon while others think that was the evidence of his generalship genius that saved the emperor from imminent death and shameful surrender.

Tourist attraction No.1 in Borisov is a memorial commemorating the crossing of the Berezina River by the French Army in 1812

The memorial complex includes memorable signs in the place of the famous crossing of the French army across the Berezina River in 1812. There are two signs in fact: the one in commemoration of the extraordinary courage of the Russian soldiers and the other one to honor the valor of the French.

Interesting facts about Borisov:

• The very first car in the history of Belarus, a solid black crossover model Geely Atlas NL-3 was produced in Borisov at the " Belji" Belaruisan-Chinese joint venture on November 17, 2017. The official opening ceremony of the enterprise was attended by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
• Borisov football club "Bate" has been doing better than the National team. They have been the champions of the country 14 times.