Over the 20th c., the city of Grodno changed its political dependence more than once; at the end of World War II and in the postwar period, it experienced cardinal changes in the composition of its population. By interpreting the city as a palimpsest, the author examines the process of re-reading and rewriting of the meanings in the palimpsest that took place in Grodno in the 20th c. The author highlights the breaks and the continuity in the maintenance of the meanings and discusses the strategies applied to legitimate one’s presence in the city. The article discloses the meanings in the course of studies how the processes of cultural appropriation of Grodno changed the area of the city as a system of references consisting of the symbolism of a network of city streets, squares, individual buildings, religious sites, and other.