Druya. Boris stone.

For several centuries, historians and local historians have been studying the Boris stones in Belarus. These are huge boulders up to several meters high with inscriptions, images and crosses that were made in the 12th century.

The most famous of them is located in Polotsk near the Church of St. Sophia.

There are now many versions of what exactly Prince Boris was guided by when he created these stones. The most popular of them is that he wanted to immortalize his name and spread Christianity. They say that the prince thus asked God for victories for his army, or protection from hunger. There was also a legend that the stones marked the borders of Boris's lands. It was even assumed that they did not allow pilgrims heading to holy places to stray from the path, and it was this version that explained why Boris ordered crosses to be carved on the stones. The exact number of Boris stones is unknown, but by the 20th century there were nine of them.

The Boris Stone, which is located in Druya, was found and studied at the end of the 19th century by historian Alexey Sapunov. The stone was found in the Western Dvina River and is almost invisible for most of the year. Studying the monument did not go well. Over time, it was broken into pieces by a strong ice drift and dragged down the river, while being covered with sand.

After the Boris Stone was installed in Polotsk in the early 1980s, archaeologists and historians began searching for the stone in Druya. But the stone could not be found. Chance helped. During the drought in the summer of 2002, the Western Dvina River became very shallow, and the stone became visible from the water. The stone was extracted from the water using equipment, and in 2011 it was installed on the central square of Druya. Now the ancient monument is located in the very center of the city and everyone can see it.

If you are going to Druya, then all participants of the trip should take their passports with them, because the town borders with Latvia. The state border runs along the Western Dvina River.