Mir after the Festival 

A celebration of 1000 years of literacy in Belarus took place in Mir at the beginning of September 2002. Buildings in the center of Mir were repaired and painted. The market square was paved and decorated.

Eliot Braun was in Mir two days after the festival. He reports that the center of town was remade for the event. "They paved it and replastered all the facades of the buildings and painted them. There are colored sidewalks of cement blocks, a modern cafe, kiosk and bank of stores. A fence was put up all around the square blocking all access from local houses;"

The town center of Mir was intended as a showcase and was very different from the condition in the rest of the town and other towns in the area. (Eliot had just visited his grandmother's shtetl of Shverzhna.) Workers were putting the finishing touches on the new cement block sidewalks and gutters during the time these photos were taken. The only store open was a newly fixed up grocery, general store type.

This is part of the town square, the Orthodox Church in front looks newly rebuilt. The fellow in the photo is one of the workers completing the new sidewalk.

The Catholic Church, still being reconstructed at the opposite end of the square.	Close up of buildings on the left in the previous photo.

This building used to be known as the "Kalteschule" the cold shul. It can be seen in older pictures when it was a synagogue and in 1998 when it was used as a trade school.

A typical house, newly painted with the fence visible.
This is one of the few sections of fence that had a gate.

Another typical house, with new fence blocking access.

See photos of Mir during the festival.