The Highest Visit to Belarus

The Highest Visit of H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna to Belarus began on 16 July and was ended on 21 July 2009.
Grand Duchess was officially invited to visit Gomel Region by the governor of the region Mr Jacobson. In Gomel Region Grand Duchess had vast cultural progra and visited places connected to the period of history when Belarus was a part of the Russian Empire. In Gomel Region Grand Duchess also visited such administrative centres as Vetka and Mozyr and old Russian town Turov which was a centre of a duchy in XI century.
Then Grand Duchess visited Brest and a capital of Belarus Minsk.
In Minsk Her Imperial Highness gave interview to the most popular non-governmental newspaper of Belarus The Narodnaya Volya. She denied that entrence of Byelorussian lands into the Russian Empire in XVIII century was a form of colonialism, it was realisation of desires of the people who struggled against Poland, emphasized Grand Duchess. Also Grand Duchess proclaimed that She thinks that every part of former Russian Empire is Her Motherland, including Belarus, and She feels it very well.
In Minsk Grand Duchess gave audience to delegation of Byelorussian members of the Russian Imperial Union-Order.
On 22 July Grand Duchess returned from Minsk to Moscow and on 23 July She came back to Madrid.