Valkovicha 1

We begin our journey through the Novy Svet district at the intersection of several streets — the former Botanicheskaya Street and Volkov Street. Our starting point is the building at number one.

This structure was built at the beginning of the 20th century in the style of Russian Art Nouveau. It once had beautiful balconies, which unfortunately have not survived to the present day. The building is constructed from distinctive yellow Grodno brick, a material widely used in the city’s historic architecture.

Originally, the building served as barracks for the Imperial Russian Army. Later, during the First World War, it became a military hospital. After the war, it housed the Queen Jadwiga Educational Institution.

The building is also known for another reason. For many years it hosted the Natural History Museum of Stanislav Zhivno. At the beginning of the 20th century he travelled to America to earn money. When he returned, he brought back not only savings but also a remarkable collection of stuffed animals and butterflies. Today these exhibits can be seen in the Grodno Historical and Archaeological Museum.

The building now also houses a honey museum, continuing the tradition of exhibitions connected with nature.

Another interesting detail dates back to the time when soldiers lived here. They left inscriptions written with chemical pencils that do not fade over time. If you walk around the building, you can still find messages more than a hundred years old in Russian, German and Polish.

In a way, this is an open-air graffiti museum created by people who lived here long ago.

The tradition continues today. The building now belongs to the Grodno State Agrarian University, and graduates sometimes leave their names here as well.

Now I suggest a small quest: walk around the building and see what people wrote here more than a century ago.