Description of the attraction
Zero kilometer of Brest is the place where the countdown of the mileage of roads in the Brest region begins.
After the third partition of the Rzeczpospolita, Russia inherited the former Polish cities and villages, connected by broken, unkempt roads. Poland only on paper belonged to the Russian Empire, in fact it remained a restless, unconquered and unsettled country, where the infrastructure was in a state of disrepair. To rule and pacify, good roads and regular passenger traffic with all the newly acquired provinces were needed.
It was necessary not only to put the roads in order, but also to streamline the transport network. For this, miles of roads began to be numbered from the center of the province. In many cities, zero milestones were installed. A pole of zero versts was also installed in Brest.
In the early 1990s, the young Republic of Belarus, following the example of Empress Catherine II, streamlined its road network, carried out repairs and reconstruction of its transport system, in connection with which the columns of zero kilometers were re-installed in the largest cities of Belarus.
In Brest, the zero kilometer is located opposite the Holy Cross Church on Lenin Square. It is a milestone, typical for tsarist Russia, on which the city's coat of arms is depicted, and on its basis the distances to the cities of Belarus are written.
There are always a lot of tourists near the milestone who like to be photographed against the background of this landmark of Brest and look for the distance to their city, written on the base of the pillar.
