Brest, Belarus
Brest (also known as Brest-Litovsk and in Polish as Brześć Litewski, Brześć nad Bugiem or Brześć Białoruski) is a city (population 300,000) in Belarus close to the Polish border where the Western Bug and Mukhavets Rivers meet. It is the capital city of the Brest voblast.
It was a main railroad transfer point during Soviet times and it remains a rail transfer point and customs/immigration checkpoint on the Berlin/Moscow rail line. Some of the land in the rail yards is contaminated due to transhipping of radioactive materials during the Soviet regime. In Brest the train cars had to be transferred between the Russian broad gauge and the European standard gauge.
On the Western outskirts of Brest at the confluence of the Western Bug and Mukhavets River are ruins of a fortress dating back to the 19th century. There the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in 1918. During the interbellum it was turned into a Polish prison. The fortress was also the site of a fierce battle between the Nazis and Soviets that started on June 22, 1941. The fortress held out for a month. It did not surrender. That battle established its status as the only Hero-Fortress among Hero cities of the Soviet Union. A majestic memorial site was constructed on the site of that battle in 1971 to commemorate the known and unknown defenders of the fortress. The war memorial is the largest main tourist attraction of the city. In addition, an archeological museum of the old city is available on the site of the fortress. It offers objects and huts dated back to the 13th century that were found during excavations of the 1970s.
Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park, 70 km north of Brest, is a biosphere reserve of world distinction. This wonderful forest is home to rare European bison (wisent). There is a nice museum for tourists in the forest. Animals can be seen also in inclosures all the year round.
As to new attractions, the first Belarusian outdoor railway museum can be found in the city. The local airport (code BQT), which has been closed since the breakup of the Soviet Union has recently began operating flights to the capital city Minsk and to Moscow and Novgorod in Russia on a weekly basis.
Menachem Begin, the former prime minister of Israel, was born in Brest. A holocaust memorial commemorates the dead Jews of Brest ghetto.