Ašmiany
Ašmiany (
Ashmiany, , , , ) is a town in
Hrodna voblast,
Belarus (previously in
Wilno guberniya,
Imperial Russia), capital of the Ašmiany
raion. It lies in the basin of the
Oshmianka River, on hilly, fertile lands. The name is derived from the
Lithuanian "Azymertas", meaning "the edge". It is also known as "Aschemynne" in the
Chronicles of the Teutonic Knights.
A fortified settlement in what is now Ašmiany was first mentioned by chroniclers in
1040, during one of raids by the forces of Prince
Yaroslav I the Wise. Initially a part of the state of
Polotsk, by the end of
13th century the town became part of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as mentioned by the
Lithuanian and Samogitian Chronicle of
1341. In
1384, the
Teutonic Knights attempted to attack Ašmiany as a beginning attempt to destroy the hereditary state of
Jagiello. The Teutons managed to destroy the town, but it quickly recovered. In
1402 another Teutonic attack on the city occurred, but was bloodily repelled and the Teutons were forced to withdraw to
Miedniki.
In
1413 the town became one of the most notable centres of trade and commerce within the
Wilno Voivodship. Because of that, it became a battlefield of an important battle between the royal forces of Jagiełło under
Zygmunt Kiejstutowicz and the forces of
Świdrygiełło allied with the
Teutonic Order. After the town was taken by the royalists, it became a private property of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and started to develop rapidly. However, less than a century later the town was yet again destroyed and burnt to the ground, this time by the forces of
Muscovy in
1519. The recovery did not occur as quickly as the previous time and in
1537 the town was granted with several royal privileges to facilitate the reconstruction. In
1566 the town finally received a
city charter based on the
Magdeburg Law, which was later confirmed (along with the privileges for the local merchants and burghers) by king
Jan III Sobieski in
1683. In
16th century the town also became one of the most notable centres of
Calvinism in the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, after
Mikołaj Rudy Radziwiłł founded a collegiate and a church there.
In
1792 king
Stanisław August Poniatowski confirmed all the previous privileges and the fact, that the town of Oszmiany, as it was called back then, was a free city, subordinate only to the king and the local city council. It was also then that the town received the first
Coat of Arms in its history. Composed of three fields parted per pale, it featured a shield, a hand holding a weigh and the
Ciołek Coat of Arms, a personal coat of arms of the monarch. In the effect of the
Partitions of Poland of
1795, the town was annexed by
Imperial Russia. During the
November Uprising it was liberated by its inhabitants led by a local priest Jasiński and Colonel Count
Karol Przeździecki. However, in April of
1831 the freedom fighters were forced to withdraw to the
Naliboki forest. After a minor skirmish, a Russian expeditionary force of some 1500 men at arms arrived to the town, burnt it and decimated its inhabitants. After that the town received a new coat of arms in
1845. Gradually rebuilt, it never recovered from the losses and by the end of
19th century it was rather a provincial town, inhabitated primarily by Jewish immigrants from other parts of Russia. In
1912 the local Jewish community was allowed to build a large synagogue.
After the World War I and the
Polish-Bolshevik War, the town returned to Poland. Between the
Polish Defensive War of
1939 and
1941 the town was occupied by the
USSR and then until
1944 by
Nazi Germany. In
1945 annexed by the USSR to the
Byelorussian SSR, since
1991 it is a part of
Belarus.
*
Catholic church of
St. Michael the Archangel * Catholic church of
Franciscan, built in
1822*
Synagogue, built in
1912*
Orthodox church of
Resurrection, built in
1875*
Watermill*
Alternate Names: Oshmyany, Oszmiana, Aschemynne, Oshmyany, Asmena, Oshmana, Oshmene, Oshmina, Osmiany, Oszmiana, Ozmiana, Osmiana
*
Mentioned in: Memoirs of
Baron Lejeune, Volume II, Chapter VII.
*
Lejeune book*
Coat of Arms*
Photos on Radzima.org*
PolishRoots Description
