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1941-16.07.1944 was occupated by german-fascist invaders. 1944-1991 – Grodno was a part of the USSR. Since 1991 - in composition of the Republic Belarus. The main sights: Boris & Gleb church (XII century), Old Castle(XVI), New Castle (XVIII), Jesuit Roman Catholic church (XVII-XVIII).
Grodno, the center of Grodno region and district, is situated in the North-West of Belarus. The river Neman divides it into the right bank and the left bank parts. Grodno borders on Poland in the West and on Lithuania in the North. The total area is 5,7 thousand hectares. It is a junction of railways to Vilnius, Moscow, Bialystok, and of automobile roads to Minsk, Kaunas, Warsaw, etc. There is a port on the river Neman and an airport in Grodno. The city is divided into two administrative districts.
The population comprises 320 thousand people (with Suburbs), embracing 56 per cent of the Belarusians, 22,1 per cent of the Poles, 17,8 per cent of the Russians, 2,7 per of the Ukrainians, 0,2 per cent of the Jews and 0,1 per cent of the Tartars. The density of population is 3,270 people per square kilometer.
Nature: Grodno is situated in the valley of the river Neman on the Grodno highland. The general declination of the surface is from the South to the North. The radius of the suburbs comprises from 15-20 kilometers in the West to 40 kilometers in the South East (including the Middle Neman and the lower part of the High Neman Lowlands). Territory of Grodno belongs to the Baltic water basin. Fresh water (mineralization 0,1 –0,5 gram per liter) with the increased quantity of iron and calcium salts is used for the city water supply. There are considerable reserves of chalk, sand and clay within the boundaries of the city. Peat reserves are small. Relief: hills alternate with lowlands and plains. The height above the sea level is from 91 to 180 kilometers. The climate is moderately continental with the primary influence of the sea air masses that the cyclone – anticyclone system brings from the Atlantic Ocean. In winter the cyclones usually bring warm and damp weather, and in summer - cool weather and rains. The weather is changeable in Grodno. Mainly mild winter begins at the end of November and lasts for about 4 months with average temperature of 5.1° C. (The coldest month is January.) Summer is warm and humid with average temperature of 18 °C. (The hottest month is July.) The average annual precipitation is 545 mm.
The fauna is characterized by the numerous rodents (mice, gray and black rats, musk rat, water – vole, bearer, hare, European mole, common squirrel, etc), beasts of prey (fox, black polecat, hedgehog, wild-boar, roe deer, elk, etc), various birds (thrush and black bird, finch, starling, tomtit, skylark, partridge, black martlet, etc), reptiles (grass snake, ordinary and pectinate triton, toad, breaking spindle-snake, etc).
The flora. Such trees as lime, ash-tree and maple prevail in Grodno. The forests of the green zone of the city – Pyshki and Rumlevo parks – are mainly mixed, coniferous, narrow–leaved and broad–leaved. Gozha, Sapotskino and Porechye botanical reserves were created to preserve the medicinal herbs.
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