15 April, Vitebsk /BELTA/. In the agro-town of Klyastitsy, Rossony District, Vitebsk Region, local historians and enthusiasts have completely cleared the foundation of a chapel built in honour of the victory over the French in the 1812 war. This was reported to BELTA correspondent by Polotsk historian and local lore expert Aleksey Bukhovetskiy.
In September last year, he, together with his brother Andrey, identified the location and excavated a fragment of the foundation of the monument-chapel, destroyed in the 1930s. The find was sensational on a national scale, and the Rossony District Executive Committee opened a special account to raise funds for the restoration of the monument. However, only Br2.1 million in donations has been received into this account so far.
In the spring of this year, the Klyastitsy Village Executive Committee granted permission to clear the ballast layer of the monument's foundation, measuring 8x8 m. High school students from the local school, along with their teachers, assisted the Bukhovetskiy brothers in this work. During the clearing, several 19th-century bolts for fastening cast-iron plates, a key for screwing them in, part of a cast-iron plate, and a fragment of a capital were found. According to local historians, the foundation itself can already serve as part of a tourist route.
The monument was one of six erected to commemorate the centenary of the victory in the most significant battle locations: Borodino, Polotsk, Klyastitsy, Smolensk, Maloyaroslavets, and Krasnoye. Copies specially made by the Polotsk enterprise "Tekhnolit" have been installed in three of these cities.
The site in Klyastitsy has generated significant interest among local historians and enthusiasts of the 1812 war. Relevant publications have appeared in Russian scientific journals. Patriotic clubs from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Smolensk, and Maloyaroslavets plan to visit Klyastitsy this summer, including to visit the museum in the local school dedicated to the 1812 war.-0-
News of Belarus (BELTA)