A reader of Myfin.by, Aliaksandr, reported that during a trip to Nesvizh Castle, he visited a local souvenir shop and noticed a price tag with an impressive figure.
"I thought I misread the numbers — I decided it might say 85 rubles, or maybe 858 rubles. But not eight and a half thousand. This is the first time I've seen such an expensive item in a souvenir shop in Belarus," Aliaksandr marvels.
The price tag indicates that the belt, priced at 8,580 BYN, is made in Belarus (manufacturer – "Slutsk Belts"), and its dimensions are 325 by 32 centimeters.
By the way, this is not even the most expensive Slutsk belt — on the website of the "Slavutasts" craft gallery, there are belt options for 10 thousand BYN and 11 thousand BYN.
The fact is that the production of such a belt is inherently expensive. In an STB report, Tatsiana Novik, a guide at the Museum of the History of Slutsk Belts at the "Slutsk Belts" enterprise, explained that making a classic belt measuring 3.5 meters by 35 centimeters takes 60 hours (which means 1.5 weeks of work with an 8-hour workday on a "five-day week"). The enterprise uses natural silk with added gold or silver, although it also produces variants made from artificial material. A loom is used, which reportedly has no analogues in the world.
Newly made Slutsk belts are used, for example, as diplomatic gifts — this spring, Aliaksandr Lukashenka presented a belt to Kim Jong Un during a visit to the DPRK.
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