Discover Staryya Darohi: Museums, Churches and Weaving Traditions

Staryya Darohi brings together museums, weaving traditions, sacred architecture and distinctive buildings. If you are looking for cultural highlights during your stay, you will find a range of themes here: from ethnographic collections and an exhibition on roads and postal services to a water tower and a wooden church. This guide can help you choose the interests you want to shape your trip.

Museums: Culture, Collections and Reconstructed Spaces

At the Starodorozhsky Historical-Ethnographic Museum, the ethnographic exhibition on the material and spiritual culture of the Belarusian Sakuns features original exhibits more than 100 years old. The collections include paintings by I. N. Stasevich, works by Belarusian graphic artists and medallists A. Kashkurevich, E. Tikhonovich, S. Gerus and S. Gorbunova, as well as wooden sculptures by the carver I. Lisuro. Alongside ethnographic objects, the exhibition therefore offers a look at painting, graphic art, medal art and wood sculpture.

The permanent exhibition “History of Roads and Postal Services” takes a different approach. Spread across three halls, it recreates a postmaster’s office, a forge and an inn. These settings give the exhibition a tangible form: you can explore the themes of postal services and roads through several reconstructed interiors rather than following a collection of objects alone. The exhibition hall also hosts exhibitions, presentations, workshops, lectures and guided tours.

An institutional description marking the tenth anniversary of the Anatoly Bely Art Museum in Staryye Dorogi describes it as four two-storey buildings under one roof. It lists around 500 square metres of exhibition space, eight themed halls and approximately 4,000 exhibits. The collection figures may have changed. A comparison with the ethnographic museum highlights two distinct approaches: a broad art collection arranged in themed halls in one, and a combination of ethnographic displays and reconstructed spaces in the other.

Weaving Traditions and Sacred Architecture

Weaving is a distinctive feature of the Starodorozhsky District, not just the town. The district is considered the home of Rukhava carpets, which have been included on the list of intangible cultural heritage, and is known for its weaving traditions. The Starodorozhsky Craft Center preserves and develops these traditions. For your trip, this offers a regional craft focus that differs from the town’s collections and exhibitions.

Staryye Dorogi is home to the wooden Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It is active and was built between 1991 and 1993. This combines a specific construction period with a religious site that remains in use. If you are interested in sacred architecture, the church makes a distinct stop alongside the museums and craft traditions.

Buildings and Getting Your Bearings

The Staryye Dorogi water tower was built around the turn of the 20th century and is part of a tourist sightseeing route. Near the railway station, a red-brick water tower and a goods shed stand out as notable examples of the industrial architecture of their time. Together with the reconstructed forge in the museum, these buildings offer another perspective on technical and industrial themes; the museum spaces and the buildings by the railway station remain separate locations.

The sculpture of a waterman stands on the slope of the Solyanka River embankment. A note from May 2026 reported that reaching it safely was practically impossible. If you plan to visit this spot, check the current conditions beforehand, as the situation may change.

Discover more destinations: Papiernia, Zhodino, Zhdanovichi, Dzyarzhynsk, Novaye Pole, Kruglitsa, Lyuban, Novy Svieržań

For the broader travel overview: Minsk Region.