Novogrudok. Mindovg Mountain.

It is believed that Mindovg Mountain dates back to the XIII century. At least, the first Latin monograph on Novogrudok, published in 1795 in Lviv, tells us that King Mindovg, the founder of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was buried here in 1263.

Shortly before his death, which followed as a result of an attack by Prince Dovmont, insulted by him, Mindovg renounced the Catholic faith and was buried under a mountain (kurgan), as the pagan rite dictates. Another version, proceeding from the chronicle evidence, deduces the name that has been preserved for centuries from the fact that not in the princely castle, but near it, on this mountain and in its vicinity, in 1253, the coronation of Mindovg probably took place. Here he accepted the crown and title of King of Lithuania from Pope Innocent IV.

The great Polish poet Adam Bernard Mickiewicz, who was born in Novogrudok, more precisely, in the village of Zaosye in the Novogrudok district of the Lithuanian province, grew up in the vicinity of Mindovg Mountain. It was a favorite place of Adam, his schoolmates and brothers. Here they fought with wooden swords, presenting themselves as knights of the Middle Ages. Later, in Adam Mickiewicz's poetic poems "Grazhina", "Konrad Valenrod", "Meshka, Prince of Novogrudok", the battles of the past came to life, the great ancestors entered Novogrudok Castle and the canopy of Mindovg Mountain stretched over everything, past and past.

Since the last decades of the XVII century, Novogrudok Christians have been buried on Mindovg Mountain. The photographs of the early twentieth century depict monuments made of stone and metal, wooden crosses of the cemetery "On the Mountain". No burials have been carried out here since the early 1920s. A few tombstones have survived to this day. The inscriptions on the oldest of them are dated 1820.

Now Mindovg Mountain looks like a vast, very high hill with gentle slopes, sometimes overgrown with deciduous trees. In July 1993, when the 740th anniversary of Mindovg's coronation was celebrated in Novogrudok, a memorial sign designed by sculptor V.M. Letun was unveiled at the foot of the mountain. In September 2014, a cast sculpture of an armed Mindovg in armor was installed there, near the southwestern slope of the mountain. The height of the monument is about 2.5 meters.

Now excavations of the castle of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania are continuing in Novogrudok, the former Shchitovka tower is being restored there. Mindovg Mountain is waiting for its researchers who will discover its ancient secrets.