Polatsk

Polatsk is the oldest town in the country and was a principality of its own before Minsk was anything, which the place has not forgotten. Its cathedral of Saint Sophia keeps an eleventh century foundation under a baroque rebuilding and holds organ concerts under the vaults. A convent nearby preserves wall paintings of the twelfth century that were found under later plaster. The first books printed in the language were made by a man from here and a museum tells that story. A large stone in the town marks the claimed geographical centre of Europe.