Day 6. Usiaslau the Sorcerer
Dear friends, we are near the monument to Usiaslau of Polatsk. He reigned in Polatsk during 57 years in XI cent. 10 centuries later, in 2007, he returned to his city in form of this monument. The local authority decided to place the monument near the crossing of large streets with meaningful directions — to Riga, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Oriol. The means for this monument were gathered by citizens, concerned about history of their city.
The rearing horse is the symbol of power. In the guise of Usiaslau we can notice a warrior's courage and an inexhaustable wisdom. With his left hand he holds the horse, the right is raised. The monument's authors took the "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" as the source for the figure of Usiaslau. It was said that he could overcome big distances for only one night to appear unexpectably. That's why we can see the eagle's wings and the wolf's fur on his back.
In the X-XIIIth cent. Polatsk was the capital city of a large princedom, that had all attributes of the state: its own territory, its own army and money.
In the XIIIth cent. the Crusaders established control over the estuary of the Western Dzvina and set up the fortress of Riga that blocked the trade route important for Polatsk. To counter the Crusaders threat Polatsk Princes took efforts to join forces with Lithuanians and neighbouring Russian princedoms.
A new state emerged the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Polatsk joined the Grand Duchy in 1307 and had retained its authonomy by the XVIth cent. and managed to be one of the largest and richest cities of the GDL.
By the XVIth cent. Polatsk was taken to the Moscow state. Today Ivan the Terrible's Rampart still memorises us about that. Let's visit it on the next day of our excursion.