Halshany ( be, Гальшáны, lt, Alšėnai or Galšia, russian: Гольшáны, pl, Holszany, yi, אלשאן ''Olshan'') is a village and former town in the

Grodno Region Grodno Region ( pl, Grodzieńszczyzna) or Grodno Oblast or Hrodna Voblasts ( be, Гродзенская вобласць, ''Hrodzienskaja vobłasć'', , ''Haradzienščyna''; russian: Гродненская область, ''Grodnenskaya oblast' ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. It is known as the former seat of the Olshanski princely family and the location of the ruined

Halshany Castle Halshany or Holszany Castle ( be, Гальшанскі замак, lt, Alšėnų pilis, pl, Zamek holszański) is the ruined residence of the Sapieha magnate family in Halshany, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus. It used to be the seat of one of the larg ...

History

According to a legend the town was founded by the founder of the

Alšėniškiai The House of Alšėniškiai ( be, Гальшанскі, pl, Holszański) was a Lithuanian princely family of Hipocentaur coat of arms. Their patrimony was the Principality of Alšėnai, which included the castles of Rokantiškės and Alšėna ...

family of

Lithuanian nobility The Lithuanian nobility or szlachta ( Lithuanian: ''bajorija, šlėkta'') was historically a legally privileged hereditary elite class in the Kingdom of Lithuania and Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including during period of foreign rule 1795–191 ...

. It was the place of birth of the Lithuanian princess and later the

Grand Duchess of Lithuania The consort (or spouse) of the royal rulers of Lithuania and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was in all cases a woman and nearly all took the title of Grand Duchess. Queen consort of Lithuania Morta and her sister were the only Quee ...

and

queen of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16th ...

Sophia of Halshany, extending Lithuanian Jagellon dynasty over two states. During the times of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

the town was in the hands of the

Sapieha The House of Sapieha (; be, Сапега, ''Sapieha''; lt, Sapiega) is a Polish-Lithuanian noble and magnate family of Lithuanian and Ruthenian origin,Энцыклапедыя ВКЛ. Т.2, арт. "Сапегі" descending from the med ...

family, which constructed a castle there in early 17th century. The town grew smaller with the devastations of the mid-17th century wars wrought in the Commonwealth. The town became part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

with the partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the town became a part of the Second Polish Republic; it was taken by the Soviet Union after the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

and became part of the

Belorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union it became part of modern Belarus.

Notable residents

Jazep Hermanovich Fr. Jazep Hermanovich MIC (also Yazep Germanovich, Belarusian Latin alphabet: Jazep Hermanovič; be, Язэп Гэрмановіч (sometimes also spelled Германовіч), pl, Józef Hermanowicz, 4 March 1890 - 26 December 1978) was a Bel ...

(1890 - 1978), Belarusian

Eastern Catholic The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

priest, writer, poet and

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

survivor * Janka Viarsocki (in Belarusian Янка Вярсоцкі)(1888-1937), Belarusian religious and political activist of the early 20th century, victim of the Soviet repressionsВЯРСОЦКІ Янка (Viarsocki Janka)
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References

Populated places in Grodno Region Villages in Belarus Oshmyansky Uyezd] Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939) {{Belarus-geo-stub

History

Notable residents

See also

References