A German zoologist was among the first to describe Belarus' "onionization." Fleeing Muscovite servility, he discovered another civilization here

In the autumn of 1841, thirty-year-old German zoologist Johann Heinrich Blasius, professor at Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig, together with his friend, geologist Count Alexander Keyserling, completed a major scientific expedition. Their route led through the most remote corners of the European part of the Russian Empire. In his fundamental two-volume work «Journey through European Russia in 1840 and 1841», Blasius meticulously recorded everything: from glacial boulders and bat species to the disposition of local police chiefs.

But before reaching Belarusian lands, the German scientist encountered natives of this region far to the north, amidst snows and frosts.

While researching the geology in the vicinity of Vologda, Totma, and Veliky Ustyug, Blasius noticed that among the phlegmatic Muscovite peasants and corrupt provincial officials, people of a completely different kind, education, and manners periodically appeared. These were participants of the liberation uprising of 1830–1831, exiled here after its defeat.

The professor notes that in these remote towns, a place for forced residence was assigned to «patriots from the last uprising». The scientist describes with evident sympathy and compassion the elite of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who found themselves trapped in the ice.

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According to his observations, the exiles lived very quietly and as isolated as possible, fearing that even an unnecessary word or gesture might bring down even greater wrath from the authorities or attract the attention of local police, ready to seize upon any trifle.

This encounter caused a profound dissonance in the European's mind. He saw people of high European culture who were at the mercy of a system where everything was decided by the size of a bribe and brute force.

Blasius left the Russian North with a heavy heart. In his diaries, he repeatedly complained about the total monotony of Muscovite lands and the constant extortion by minor officials and police, who, according to him, had turned public service into an instrument of overt robbery of travelers.

Moving south, towards Kyiv, the German researcher was mentally preparing for the continuation of this endless boredom. Soon, however, he was compelled to take up a pencil to record a completely different world he saw where the Grand Duchy of Lithuania once stretched. 

However, before he could begin to examine the faces of the local inhabitants and study their customs, the German professor literally had to fight for survival on the imperial roads.

Belarusian Impassable Roads

Crossing the borders of modern Eastern Belarus, Blasius keenly observed changes in the landscape: glacial boulders, the valleys of the Western Dvina and Dnieper, the appearance of new tree species. And the foreigner also experienced firsthand what the famous Russian roads were like during autumn bad weather.

Imperial roads, laid out by top-down decree without considering the terrain, turned into solid swamps. Blasius mentions «bottomless roads» and «deep street mud» in which carriages sank up to their axles. When travelers had to cross rivers, a real survival challenge began.

The professor vividly describes the crossing of the Kasplya River in Surazh (modern Vitebsk region). Here, a «floating bridge» operated, built from vertically driven trunks and planks laid across them. According to Blasius, this structure «floated more under the water than above it».

«With every step we took, the crossbeams sank underwater, and we had to jump from plank to plank in the most awkward positions to avoid wading pointlessly above our ankles in the swirling current on a bridge that was entirely submerged,» writes the zoologist. «The peasants and Jews, however, reasoned simply: the logs are there,» — and went straight [through the water]».

Why are Belarusians — «White»?

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Crossing the borders of Belarusian lands, Blasius immediately noticed how not only the landscape but also the people themselves changed. As a professional zoologist, he had an eye trained to record the smallest anatomical details, which is why his ethnographic observations of the local inhabitants' appearance hold particular value.

He notes that the anthropological type differs fundamentally from its neighbors. In his notes, Blasius records that among the local population, completely different features prevail: while Muscovites are characterized by more rounded forms, here the researcher sees elongated faces, high noses with a hump («hohe und gebogene Nasen») and a leaner physique.

But more than anatomical features, the German professor was struck by the wardrobe. Still on the border with Muscovy, he noted a striking contrast: local men wore specific headwear that he had not encountered anywhere before.

«Men predominantly wear pointed or tapering white-grey felt hats with slightly turned-up or close-fitting brims, which you won't see inside Russia,» writes Blasius in his book.

The scientist even draws an unexpected conclusion, attempting to amateurishly explain the origin of the very name of the Belarusian people. He believed that it was this characteristic light headwear, which sharply distinguished the locals from their Great Russian neighbors with their «black and quadrilateral fur hats», that gave the name to an entire ethnic group:

«…and which [white hats], perhaps, gave the inhabitants the name Belarusians (Weißrussen), which is otherwise not particularly substantiated by anything else».

Undoubtedly, from the perspective of modern etymology and the history of the origin of the name «White Rus'», this assumption by the German professor appears naive. But the very fact that for the visiting European, Belarusians were visually distinct against the background of Great Russians is noteworthy.

«Onionization» of Baroque

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In Vitebsk, Orsha, and Mogilev, the German professor records that the local architecture and the organization of urban space itself had nothing in common with what he had seen earlier in Muscovy. These were typical European settlements where monumental stone temples dominated the residential buildings.

Blasius observed with interest the Uniate and Catholic churches built in the Baroque style (which he primarily referred to as the result of «Jesuit influence»), accurately noting their main visual distinction from Muscovite churches: the presence of two towers on either side of the main portal and the abundance of Baroque decorations on the pediments.

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Admiring the grandeur of this architecture, the researcher tried to explain its origin and the complex historical fate of the region itself to the German reader. As a Protestant, Blasius viewed the religious conflicts of the past without excessive sympathy for either side. Reflecting on the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the emergence of Catholic orders, he writes:

«But already from the mid-16th century, we see how Latin monks terrorized ancient Rus' Lithuania [altrussische Lithauen], considering it their rightful property, and threw icons out of houses and churches in Vitebsk…»

By  «ancient Rus' Lithuania», the author naturally refers to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which united a significant part of the ancient Rus' lands. For the German, even Eastern Belarus still remained that ancient Lithuania, and its border posts — those very Baroque monuments.

However, in 1840, Blasius witnessed how the new authority attempted to assimilate this region. The scientist observed how elements of Muscovite architecture began to be artificially grafted onto old Catholic and Uniate basilicas.

Blasius openly mocked how «onion-shaped domes» (Zwiebelkuppeln) were affixed to Western Baroque towers, thereby «Russifying» (russifizirt) the churches. This architectural eclecticism, where a Muscovite dome was forcibly placed on an elegant European foundation, seemed tasteless and absurd to him. 

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Shklov Babylon

While in the Muscovite governorates, the German professor was oppressed by the total apathy of local residents, who typically showed no initiative without an order from above or police intervention, in Belarusian lands he found himself in the epicenter of commercial fever.

The main drivers of this economy were Jews. The scientist was surprised at how they had monopolized literally all spheres of service and logistics. Unlike Russian peasants, who feared leaving their land, local Jews ran inns, managed postal stations, worked as coachmen, and undertook any work that could bring at least some profit.

Blasius was deeply impressed by this paradox: amidst extreme poverty, torn clothing, and the impassable mud of unpaved streets, an incredible, almost European, vital energy and entrepreneurship thrived.

The quintessence of this was Shklov, which the German traveler simply called a «Jewish town» (Judenstadt). When Blasius's carriage arrived late in the evening at the Shklov inn, the scientists, weary from the cold and bad roads, hoped for a quiet rest. However, their room instantly turned into what the professor compared to a dovecote.

The door did not close for a minute: one merchant brought hot, ash-baked potatoes, another offered juicy local pears, a third sold bagels. When the Germans, hoping to buy their way out of the annoying service, bought all these delicacies, new merchants appeared on the threshold — this time with lottery tickets. The researchers literally had to usher this crowd out the door to finally get some sleep.

Blasius was also pleased that the local merchants spoke Yiddish with him and among themselves, which the German perceived as a corrupted German language. The professor notes that the locals evidently felt «close to the German heart», and he gladly recorded familiar words in his diary: «Stub» (room) or «Mauer» (wall).

Away from the Police State

Crossing the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Blasius was approaching the borders of Europe. The final chord of the journey was an incident in the city of Šiauliai, then still in the Vilna Governorate (the Kovno Governorate would be created only in 1842; now it is Lithuania), where the German professor encountered the worst manifestations of the Russian police and bureaucratic system.

Upon arriving at the local postal station, Blasius discovered that a valuable hatbox had disappeared from his carriage. He turned to the local police chief, hoping for a swift investigation and recovery of the items.

The police chief, having neither evidence nor desire to investigate the matter, quickly found a «culprit» — the coachman who had driven the scientists. The officer ordered the peasant to be stripped and the whips prepared. When Blasius, shocked by such a barbaric approach, tried to intervene, the police chief asked in surprise: did the respected sir not wish the flogging to continue until the accused confessed?

Blasius realized that the police chief was not seeking the truth, and the beating was a demonstration of power before a foreigner, and perhaps revenge for the European not having thought to offer a bribe before the «case» began. Blasius categorically refused to participate in this violence and declared that he renounced further search for his belongings, as he did not wish for a person to be tortured without trial and evidence.

This caused even greater suspicion and irritation in the police chief. The official found a new pretext — the researcher's passport. It turned out that Blasius's document had been issued from Petersburg to Prussian Tilsit, and not further into Europe. On this absurd ground, the police chief declared that the traveler had no right to proceed further or obtain post horses. The professor had to hire private carriages to escape the realm of lawlessness and arbitrary rule.

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