Brest Oblast

Brest Oblast is the western gate of Belarus, an important tourist, transit, industrial and agricultural region. The city of Brest is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. It was first mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Days as a large, well-fortified settlement of 1019.

Over the course of centuries, Brest repeatedly became part of different states, was destroyed and rebuilt several times. The city still preserves the architecture of different eras: from the ancient settlement of Berestye to the buildings of the Imperial Brest-Litovsk, the Polish Brest-on-the-Bug and the Soviet Brest.

Since the very beginning of its history, Brest was an apple of discord for the Polish Principality and Kievan Rus, later - the Principality of Galicia–Volhynia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The convenient geographical location of settlements on the banks of navigable rivers has turned these places into the international crossroads. Important trade routes which connected Western Europe with the Middle East and the Black Sea region passed through Brest land. In the 14^th century, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita).

The construction of Brest Fortress, which started in the 1830s, was a milestone event in the history of Brest Oblast. It was supposed to become one of the largest and most modern fortifications in the world.

On 22 June 1941, on the first day of the Great Patriotic War, Brest Oblast and the city of Brest with its fortress were first attacked by German troops. Brest Fortress with its small garrison did not surrender until 30 July 1941.

In 1991, it was in Brest Oblast, in the Viskuli residence located in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, where the historical document on the dissolution of the Soviet Union was signed. A new international organization - the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - was also established there.

The region is located in the southwestern part of the country, it borders Ukraine in the south and Poland in the west.

There is the extreme western point of the country in the territory of Brest Oblast - on the Bug River, southwest to the town of Vysokoye. Its coordinates are 52°17'N and 23°11'E.

The area of the region is 32.8 km².

The terrain is flat.

• 16 districts (Baranovichi, Bereza, Brest, Gantsevichi, Drogichin, Zhabinka, Ivanovo, Ivatsevichi, Kamenets, Kobrin, Luninets, Lyakhovichi, Malorita, Pinsk, Pruzhany, Stolin) and 2 districts in Brest;
• 3 cities of oblast subordination (Brest, Baranovichi, Pinsk);
• 18 towns of district subordination;
• 8 urban-type settlements;
• 2,148 rural settlements, including 214 agrotowns.

There are 188 rural councils in Brest Oblast.

The city of Brest is the regional center.

Brest Oblast has a population of 1.308,569 million (as of 1 January 2024), including 945,604 residents in cities and 362,965 residents in rural areas.

Major cities of the region are Brest (344,470 residents), Baranovichi (171,361 residents) and Pinsk (124,295 residents).

The largest agrotowns in terms of population are Olshany (7,815), Zhemchuzhny (4,028), Motol (3,742), Cherni (3,365), Motol (3,421), Cherny (3,359), Mukhavets (3,016).

Brest Oblast has a great capacity in agriculture and industry. Food production enterprises, machine-building, textile and garment manufacturing, furniture and construction materials production are well-developed there.

The industry of Brest Oblast provides a third of the gross regional product. Its share in the country's industrial production is 11.4%.

There are over 1,800 industrial enterprises in the region. The leading companies are Savushkin Product,  558 Aircraft Repair Plant, Santa Bremor, Brest Meat-Packing Plant, Brestenergo, Baranovichi Cotton Production Association, Polesie, Brestgazoapparat, Granit, Belsolod, Pinskdrev Holding Company, Gefest, , Agroprodukt, Kobrin Butter and Cheese Making Factory.

Even in the Soviet times, Brest Oblast was a "food donor" of the republic and more than once became the winner of the All-USSR socialist competition. In July 1967, the region was awarded the Order of Lenin. The first Dazhynki harvest festival in the history of independent Belarus was held in Brest Oblast in 1996.

There are 288 agricultural organizations in the region. The largest of them are Poultry Plant Druzhba, Baranovichi Poultry Farm, Kroshin, Ostromechevo, Selection and Hybrid Center Zapadny, Komarovka, Belovezhsky, Zherebkovichi, Ruzhany-Agro, Zhuravlinoye, Agro-Kolyadichi, Parokhonskoye, Fedorsky.

In general, the products manufactured in Brest Oblast are exported to 93 countries, including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Poland, Germany, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan. The region is an attractive investment destination.

The free economic zone Brest - the first free economic zone in Belarus - was established in 1996.

Brest Oblast is the heart of Belarusian Polesye. Europe's largest open lowland swamps and heavily watered floodplains of lowland rivers have been preserved in their natural condition. They are important for the conservation of biodiversity and are involved in shaping the climate of Europe.

There are 279 rivers in Brest Oblast, the largest of them are the Western Bug, the Pripyat, the Goryn, the Shchara, and the Yaselda.

There are 663 lakes in Brest Oblast, the largest of them are Vygonoshchanskoye, Bobrovichskoye, Sporovskoye, Chernoye, and Beloye.

In the north-west of Brest Oblast there is a unique natural monument, the oldest protected natural area in Europe – the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park. In 1992, Belovezhskaya Pushcha was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Apart from that, there are 18 reserves of national significance and 33 reserves of local significance, 29 national and 111 local natural monuments in the region.

Brest Oblast has abundant deposits of the following minerals: building stone, clay, building sand, gravel, oil shale, and brown coal.

Forty sports are practiced in the region.

Brest Oblast is the birthplace of the first Belarusian Olympic champion in canoe and kayak rowing Sergei Makarenko, who won a gold medal in Rome in 1960. Leonid Taranenko (weightlifting, 1980; silver medalist in 1992), and Yuliya Nesterenko (athletics, 2004) became Olympic champions as well.

A great variety of natural and historical landmarks makes Brest Oblast a very popular destination for tourists. The region is promoting environmental, rural, border, transit, cultural and ethnographic, health, active (cycling, water), excursion and educational, hunting and scientific types of tourism.

111 hotels and 3856 farm stays and ecotourism facilities are available in Brest Oblast. Farm stays are open in all districts of the region. The largest number of them is in Brest District (140), Baranovichi District (48), Kobrin District (43), Pinsk District (39). 

There are 11 health resorts in Brest Oblast. The following resorts are popular with Belarusians and foreigners : Ruzhansky, Bug, Nadzeya, Berestye, Alesya, Chaborok, Solnechny, Magistralny, Belaya Vezha, Yaselda,  Svitanok.

A total of 773 monuments are included in the State Register of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus. Two objects – Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the Struve Geodetic Arc - are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are two castles, three theaters, 21 museums (two national museums), three exhibition halls, and a philharmonic hall in the region.

The landmark of Kamenets District is a recognizable architectural symbol of Belarus. This 700-year-old 30-meter donjon tower is known as the White Tower.

Another popular tourist attraction – the residence of Belarusian Father Frost – is located in the oldest pristine forest in Brest Oblast.

The Republic of Belarus respects  the freedom of faith and religion as an inalienable right of its citizens, which translates into the country's great variety of religious denominations. Christianity is the most widely-spread religion in Belarus. The biggest Christian communities in Brest Oblast are Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. In total, there are 17 religious denominations in Brest Oblast with 772 religious communities.