Gomel

Gomel was founded at the end of the first millennium on the lands of the Radimichs, on a high bank of the Sozh cut by bluffs that made a natural fortress. It is first mentioned in 1142 as a possession of the princes of Chernigov, and it was badly damaged in the Mongol invasion of the 13th century. Algirdas annexed it to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1335; it changed hands with Muscovy more than once, and from 1569 it lay in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, fought over by Cossacks, Russians and the Commonwealth and held for years by the Cossack leader Ivan Zolotarenko after 1654. It received Magdeburg rights in 1670 and later belonged to the Czartoryski family.

After the First Partition of 1772, Catherine II gave Gomel to Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev, who built the palace; his son Nikolay added the cathedral, factories, a gymnasium, a synagogue and a bridge over the Sozh. In 1834 the palace passed to Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich, who laid out the English park. Railways in 1873 and 1888 made Gomel a major junction and industrial city of 104,500 people by 1913. In 1897 Jews made up 55 per cent of the population, and a violent pogrom struck the city in 1903.

German forces occupied Gomel from August 1941 to November 1943; most Jews had fled, but between 3,000 and 4,000 were murdered, and 80 per cent of the city was destroyed, its population falling from 144,000 to under 15,000. Rebuilt in Stalinist style, it was contaminated by fallout from Chernobyl in 1986. In 2022 the palace hosted rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia that came to nothing.

Gomel's identity centres on its palace and park, the city's main historic site. Only a few buildings survive from the 18th and 19th centuries; most of the architectural landmarks date from the 1950s and stand in the centre, giving the city a strongly post-war character. The park's marble statues of classical figures were lost and replaced in 2006, and a modern statue of Count Nikolay Rumyantsev honours the man who did most to shape the town.

Orthodoxy is the largest faith, and Victory Day and war memorials carry great weight in a city rebuilt from ruins. Chernobyl shaped local identity too: most residents remember the disaster as a turning point, and a research centre for radiation medicine was built in the city to study its effects. The Jewish community, which emigrated in large numbers around 1990, has restored some of its institutions. Gomel also holds Sožski Karahod, a dance festival staged every other year, and has the Gomel State Circus and the Regional Drama Theatre.

Sport has a strong following. HK Gomel plays ice hockey in the Belarusian Extraleague, the Ice Palace has two rinks, FC Gomel plays football at the Central Stadium, and the city's Olympic reserve schools have trained dozens of world and European champions. It also hosts the annual "Bells of Chernobyl" competition.

Gomel had 501,193 inhabitants in 2025, making it the second-largest city in Belarus and the administrative centre of the Gomel Region. The centre, rebuilt after 1943, spreads from the palace in a triangle along Sovetskaya and Lenina streets, while the Novobelitsky district lies across the river on the lower left bank and post-war housing districts surround the rest.

The economy is heavily industrial. Gomel makes combine harvesters and other farm machinery, the large Tsentrolit iron foundry is here, and the gypsum stacks of the Gomel Chemical Plant rise above the flat city. The Spartak confectionery plant is also here. Three universities — Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, the Pavel Sukhoi State Technical University and the Gomel State Medical University — bring students to the city, and the medical university teaches in English as well as Russian.

Daily routines follow the national rhythm, with over 1,000 buses and trolleybuses carrying commuters, but the war in Ukraine is felt closely here: all crossings on the nearby Ukrainian border are closed. In summer the riverside park and the beaches across the Sozh are busy on warm evenings.

Gomel eats the national potato cooking of Belarus. Draniki, pancakes of grated potato often considered the signature national dish, potato babka and kalduny, boiled dumplings, are long-standing national dishes, and machanka, a thick gravy with pieces of meat and sausage, is used as a dip or sauce for thick pancakes. Borscht, a thick and rich beet and cabbage soup, is a favourite, and khaladnik, a cold borscht of beets, beet leaves or sorrel served with sour cream, hard-boiled eggs and boiled potatoes, brings relief in summer.

Lake fish, notably zander, and carp are cooked in a wide variety of ways. Cabbage is often made into sauerkraut, and pickled cucumbers turn up in salads. Since Chernobyl, living in the contaminated parts of the region depends on observing appropriate dietary rules. Buckwheat kasha, salo (salt-cured slabs of pork fat), sausages and somewhat sour rye bread fill out the table, and bliny, pancakes of many thicknesses, plain or filled, are made mostly of wheat or buckwheat flour.

The city's sweet tooth is served by the Spartak confectionery plant, and tvarog, a fresh white cheese, and smetana, sour cream, run through the whole cuisine. Kvass remains the main everyday soft drink.