This book tells in a lively and fascinating way about the natural, spiritual and man-made riches of the Smolensk region, its history, culture, people and main religious centers. The reader will be able to get acquainted with the main attractions of Smolensk, small towns in the region and a number of villages. The book provides detailed information about former noble estates and their inhabitants, architectural, artistic and cultural values, natural monuments and Orthodox shrines and relics. The author talks about more than 90 personalities whose lives were in one way or another connected with the Smolensk region. Among them are Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko, Vladimir Monomakh, Prince G.A. Potemkin, the great Russian composer M.I. Glinka, Admiral P.S. Nakhimov, Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov, partisan and poet D.V. Davydov, Marshals Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov and M.N. Tukhachevsky, poet M.V. Isakovsky, travelers N.M. Przhevalsky and P.K. Kozlov and such famous natives of Smolensk land as the first cosmonaut Yu.A. Gagarin and beloved by all actors Yuri Nikulin and Anatoly Papanov.