Exhibition “City gazing in the lakes” visited Polotsk
If we flipped through the history pages, we would find that Latgalian Ludza and Belarusian Polotsk have a lot in common. The old cultural and historical link between them allows for a friendly cohabitation between the nations. A new impulse was given to this friendship when in 2016, the two cities signed a coworking agreement in the areas of tourism, preservation of the cultural and historical heritage, medicine, education, nature preservation, entrepreneurship and sport.
In 2019 yet another event fortified this link – on August the 30th, 31st, and September the 1st, Polotsk was celebrating its City Day-2019, and Ludza delegation went to attend it.
The initiator was Ludza Children and Youth Center and its director E. Obrumane. During the celebrations the honour to represent Ludza was entrusted to the folk dance ensemble “Žiks”, as well as to the winners of the artistic reading competition Liga Igovena, Alise Puzane and Yulianna Terehova. Apart from that, the delegation had also a team of young erudits “Lucin” from Ludza Middle School #2.

During the City Day’s celebration Polotsk organises intellectual competitions for the youth, and the most popular of them in the whole Belarus is “Skorina Games” named after 16th century philosopher Francis Scorina. This year, the Games were attented by 230 people from 60 cities in Belarus, as well as participants from Poland and Germany. For the first time the Games were attended by a team from Latvia.
Ludza Regional studies museum has also participated in the City Day events with a travelling exhibition “City gazing in the lakes” so the Polotsk citizens and guests could learn about Ludza and its history. Museum curator V. Dzevaltovsky shares with his experience: “The exhibition evoked great interest. 11 exhibition banners were placed on the main street where it was especially crowded. People with interest studied pictures of Ludza historical sites and asked countless questions about Latgalia. It was palpable that people were predisposed towards us and genuinely interested in Ludza and how it lives. “
The entire delegation felt welcome in Polotsk. For the young participants, there was a party and games organised in the nearby forest. The adults could take part in craft shops, fun-filled competitions and even met Ded Moroz.
Ludza became an active participant in all those events. We sincerely hope that it will become a good tradition and fortify our amiable neighbourly relationship