Belarus's gateway to Western Europe, the city of Brest is home to one of the great Slavic heritage sites: the Brest Fortress. Widely regarded as the grandest and most visually striking memorial complex anywhere in the former Soviet Union, it stands as a powerful symbol of the region's history. The fortress was built in the 19th century at the confluence of the Bug and Mukhavets rivers as a bastion of the Russian Empire's western frontier, its citadel ringed by earthworks and water. Its place in memory was fixed in June 1941, when the garrison held out against the German invasion far longer than expected. The site was given the title of Hero Fortress and laid out as a memorial around colossal concrete sculptures and the shell-scarred ruins.
