Vawkavysk or
Vaŭkavysk is a town in the
Hrodna ProvinceHrodna Voblast or Grodno Oblast is a voblast in northwestern Belarus....
of
BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
. It is the center of Vaŭkavysk district and has a population of around 48,000.
The first mention of Volkovysk in the Turovskoj annals is in 1005. At that time Volkovysk was city-fortress on the border of the Baltic and the Slavic ethnic groups. Since 12th century, Volkovysk was the center of a small princedom. The Ipatevskoj annals mention the city in 1252.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
During a campaign against the
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
n princes in 1277, the army of
RusRuś may refer to the following places:*Ruś, Podlaskie Voivodeship *Ruś, Olsztyn County in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship *Ruś, Ostróda County in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship *Polish name for Rus...
princes Mstislav Daniilovich, Vladimir Vasilkovich, and Jury Lvovich stopped for a night's lodging at Volkovysk. The last time Volkovysk is mentioned in the annals is in 1289, when Lithuanian prince Budikis and his brother Budividas transferred Volkovysk to prince Mstislav in order to maintain the peace.
In 1410 city was seized and burnt by the
Teutonic knightsThe Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem , or for short the Teutonic Order , is a German Roman Catholic religious order. It was formed to aid Catholics on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals to care for the sick and injured...
. Horugva of Volkovysk participated in the 1410
Battle of GrunwaldThe Battle of Grunwald took place on July 15, 1410 with the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led by the king Jogaila , ranged against the knights of the Teutonic Order, led by the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen...
. In 1503 the city acquired
Magdeburg rightsMagdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted with it by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of Magdeburg developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was possibly the most...
.
The archeological excavations conducted at the site of the ancient city attest that a Slavic settlement had already existed here by the late tenth century. This is based on the dwellings and defensive works which were discovered during the excavation.
Sites of interest
The Volkovysk archeological complex includes three heights: "the Swedish mountain" (
picture), Zamchishche, and Muravelnik. "The Swedish mountain" is located in a southeast suburb of modern Volkovysk. There is a legend that during The Deluge, "the Swedish mountain" was created by Swedish soldiers above the tomb of their commander. It is the highest point among associates Volkovysk of hills a moraine of a ridge.
The height of "the Swedish mountain" from the base to the top of the defensive wall varies from 28 to 32.5 meters. The mountain's base is round with a diameter of about 350 meters. A flat top of "the Swedish mountain" nearly round and is 55 meters wide east to west. The perimeter of the flat top is surrounded by a powerful defensive wall broken in the south by the entrance.
The archeological study of Volkovysk was begun in 1925 by the director of the Grodno Museum of History-Archeology, Jozef Jodkowski, who was author of several books about history of the area, as well as tourist guides of Grodno and vicinity, popular in the
Second Polish RepublicThe Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; from the creation of an independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic,...
Other local sights include the Roman Catholic church of St. Wenceslas (1846-48,
picture) and the Peter Bagration Museum (
picture). The more prominent noble families of Vaŭkavysk included the Gołgowski and the Piotrowicz.
People
- Raphael Lemkin
Raphael Lemkin was a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent. Before World War II, Lemkin studied the Armenian Genocide in depth and campaigned in the League of Nations to ban what he called "barbarity" and "vandalism"...
known for defining the term genocide and drafting the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of GenocideThe Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260. The Convention came into effect in January 1951...
- Eliyahu Golomb
Eliyahu Golomb was the leader of the Jewish defense effort in Mandate Palestine and chief architect of the Haganah, the underground military organization for defense of the Yishuv between 1920 and 1948.-Early life:...
,leader of the JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish defense effort in Mandate Palestine and architect of the HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, between 1920 and 1948.
- Samuel Rothbort
- Zerach Warhaftig
Rabbi Dr. Zerach Warhaftig was an Israeli lawyer and politician and a signatory of Israel's Declaration of Independence.-Background:Warhaftig was born in Volkovysk in the Russian Empire in 1906...
was an IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i lawyer and politicianA politician or political leader is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest,...
and a signatory of Israel's Declaration of Independence.
- Victor Naumik, pioneer of Belorussian Rock Music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
, leader of the band AccentAccent was a Belarusian heavy metal band from the city of Minsk. The band played an important role in the development of contemporary music in Belarus.-Early years :...
- Aleksandr Dedyushko
Aleksandr Viktorovich Dedyushko was a Russian television actor, best known for war dramas and the Russian version of "Dancing with the Stars"....
was a RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n television actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, best known for war dramas and the Russian version of "Dancing with the StarsDancing with the Stars is the name of a group of international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide - the commercial arm of the BBC...
".
- Yanina Zhejmo
Yanina Boleslavovna Zhejmo was a Soviet actress. She appeared in more than 30 films between 1925 and 1955.-Filmography:* Mishki versus Yudenich * The Devil's Wheel * The Overcoat...
(1909–1987), a Soviet actress.
External links