GRODNO, Belarus Most Belarusian cities get a bad press, at least for good looks, in foreign guidebooks. Polatsk is notable for "what was once there," Mogilev is decidedly "uninspiring," Homel's biggest drawing card is a bust of its most famous son, the late Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, and Minsk is the ultimate example of "pure Soviet planning on a grand scale."

World War II explains a lot. When the rubble was cleared, the operative word for rebuilding was "concrete." Yet the visitor need not fully despair. Although its population was reduced by half, one major city, Grodno, did not suffer the physical destruction of its counterparts. It is, for Belarus, beautiful. Unlike Mogilev, it does not need to rely on the dubious virtues of its most famous son. In any case, that would have been Meyer Lansky, the American gangster.

Grodno, which straddles the Nyoman River, was first mentioned in 1128 and has seen more than its fair share of rulers. The ancient Kievan Principality gave way to Lithuania, which was followed by Poland and Russia alternating control. Conquerors such as Napoleon and Adolf Hitler also passed through.