Mstislaw or Mstislavl is a town in
Mogilev 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
Mstsislaw District. In 2009, its population was 10,804. As of 2024, it has a population of 10,019.
History
Mstislavl was first mentioned in the
Ipatiev Chronicle in 1156. It was initially a part of the
Principality of Smolensk, but had become the capital of the
Principality of Mstislavl by 1180. In the Middle Ages, it was the seat of the
Mstislavsky princely family.
Pyotr Mstislavets is believed to have been born in Mstislavl.
In 1377, the town joined the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the free will of its residents. The first Lithuanian duke of Mstislavl was
Karigaila, brother of
Jogaila. The town remained part of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under the
Mścisław Voivodship until the
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...
in 1772.
Buildings of historic interest in the town include the
Carmelite church (1637, renovated 1746–50) and the
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
cathedral (1640, renovated 1730–38, turned into an Orthodox cathedral in 1842).
Jews had a historic presence in the town. In 1939, there were 2,067 Jews living in Mstislavl, representing almost 20% of the local population. The German army occupied the town in July 1941. In early October, they killed 30 elderly Jews. On October 15, 1941, together with the local police, they murdered between 850 and 1,300 Jews.
The town is the birthplace of
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
historian and writer
Simon Dubnow, Jewish statesman and Communist politician
Yakov Chubin, and expressionist artist
Abraham A. Manievich, among others.
Gallery
File:Mstislaw Jesuit Collegium building front.JPG, Jesuit Collegium building, from the 17th century
File:Mstislaw Gimnasium building.JPG, Mstislaw Male Gymnasium, from the beginning of the 19th century
File:Мсціслаў. Краявіды. 2015 07.jpg, Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral, built in the 19th century on the foundation of an earlier Catholic Cathedral
File:Мсціслаў. Краявіды. 2015 18.jpg, Orthodox Church
File:Мсціслаў. Краявіды (04).jpg, Ruins of the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel
File:Касьцёл і брама (Амсьціслаў).jpg, Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Notes
References
External links
Photos on Radzima.orgThe murder of the Jews of Mstsislawduring
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 website.
More information about Mscislaw in Belarusian
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