Chashniki is a town in Vitebsk Region,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It serves as the administrative center of Chashniki District. It is famous for the

Battle of Ula The Battle of the Ula or Battle of Chashniki was fought during the Livonian War on 26 January 1564 between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Tsardom of Russia on the (tributary of the Daugava River) north of Chashniki in the Vitebsk Regio ...

during the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

and the Battle of Chashniki that took place during the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

in 1812. In 2021, its population was 8,092. As of 2025, it has a population of 7,573.

Etymology

It is believed that the term Chashniki comes from the Belarusian word, (Чашнік) which referred to an official who would pour drinks for the Lithuanian prince. Another possible etymology comes from the , which connects the name of the settlements to n thebowl.

History

Chashniki is a historical settlement, formerly part of the Polish-Lithuanian Polotsk Voivodeship. The town was formerly home to the Chashniki castle, which was erected during the

under order of

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

. It burned down during the Great Northern War during the advancement of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

's troops through the area. Chashniki has historically had 2 churches. The first was the , a baroque cathedral erected in the 17th century and was demolished by Soviet authorities in 1964. The second was the , an example of

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

established in 1843. It was restored in 2000.

Geography

Chashniki is located on the , a tributary of the

Daugava The Daugava ( ), also known as the Western Dvina or the Väina River, is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. The Daugava rises close to the source of ...

Jewish Population

In 1897, out of a total population of 4,590, about 4,000 (87%) were Jews. Besides those engaged in dairying, which was entirely in the hands of the Jewish population, there were 310 Jewish artisans and 99 Jewish journeymen. In 1906, according to the statistical data of the state archive of the Vitebsk province, the total number of residents of Chashniki was 5,530 people. Of these, 4,276 (77%) were Jews, 1,254 were Christians.

People

* Ryhor Reles *

Solomon Zeitlin Solomon Zeitlin (28 May 1886 or 31 May 1892 – 28 December 1976) was an American Jewish historian, Talmudic scholar and in his time the world's leading authority on the Second Commonwealth, also known as the Second Temple period. His work ''Th ...

S. Ansky Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport (1863 – November 8, 1920), also known by his pen name S. An-sky, was a Jewish author, playwright, researcher of Jewish folklore, polemicist, and cultural and political activist. He is best known for his play '' The ...

Gallery

File:Čašniki, Smalanieckaja, Daminikanski. Чашнікі, Смалянецкая, Дамініканскі (1913).jpg, The Church of St. Luke and the Dominican Monastery, 1913

Notes

References

External links

Photos on Radzima.org

Jewish Cemeteries in Chashniki

The murder of the Jews of Chashniki
during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website. {{belarus-geo-stub Holocaust locations in Belarus Historic Jewish communities in Belarus