Navahrudak

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Navahrudak (Belarusian: Навагру́дак; Russian: Novogrudok; Polish: Nowogródek; Lithuanian: Naugardukas) is a city in the Hrodna voblast of Western Belarus.

Contents 1 Early history 2 Later history 3 Sights 4 Notes and references 5 External links

[edit] Early history

First mentioned in the Hypatian Codex under 1252 as Novogorodok (i.e. "new little town") it was a major settlement in the remote western lands of the Krivichs that came under the control of the Kievan Rus at the end of the 10th century.

In the 13th century, the fragile unity of the Rus disintegrated due to nomadic incursions from Asia, which reached a climax with the Mongol Horde's sacking of Kiev (1240), leaving a geopolitical vacuum in the region, which was known as Black Ruthenia at the time. The Early East Slavs splintered along preexisting tribal lines into a number of independent and competing principalities.

Mindaugas of Lithuania made use of the plight to annex Navahrudak, which also became part of Kingdom of Lithuania ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}, later Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During the 16th century, Maciej Stryjkowski was the first who, in his chronicle ^[8], propose theory, that annexed Navahrudak city was the capital of the 13th century state. This statement is supported by several other scholars, while others dispute this notion mainly, because contemporary chronicles of the 13th do not give any reference about Navahrudak as capital, even stating that city was transferred to the king of Halych-Volhynia ^[9]. Stryjkowski's approach is disputed also, because he could not locate and pinpoint single place were King Mindaugas was crowned. Firstly he stated that Kernavė was such place ^[10] , in second of his work the same suggestion is repeated again ^[11] and only in his third work Navahradak was pointed as such place ^[12]. Nevertheless, the place where a Christian ruler is crowned is not always his capital. For instance, the Russian tsars were crowned in Moscow when their capital was St. Petersburg, while the kings of France were crowned in Rheims and not in Paris, which was their capital. Furthermore, the meaning and importance of "coronation" ceremonies in pagan times is not very clear. Other scholars, which oppose idea of Navahrudak as capital, make suggestions that first capital could be in Voruta, Kernavė, Trakai and Vilnius, although it's more likely that there was no single capital at all ^{[citation needed]} prior to the documented proclamation of Vilnius as capital in 1323.

[edit] Later history

Navahrudak was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth following the Union of Lublin in 1569 but later was incorporated into Imperial Russia due to the Partitions of Poland in 1795. In the First World War, it was occupied by Germany from 1915 to 1918. After the end of the war it belonged to the Belarus National Republic but the Second Polish Republic occupied it in 1919. Later on the Red Army took it during the Polish-Bolshevik war, but Poland took it back and due to the treaty of Riga, Navahrudak became part of Poland and the capital of Nowogródek voivodship.

Soviet troops entered the city in September 1939 and it was annexed into the Byelorussian SSR. In the administrative division of the new territories, the city briefly (2nd of November to 4th of December) was the centre of the Navahrudak Voblast. Afterwards the administrative centre moved to Baranavichy Voblast, the city became the centre of the Navahrudak Raion (15th of January 1940). On the 22nd of June 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the USSR and Navahrudak was occupied on the 4th of July following one of the more tragic events when the Red Army was surrounded in what's known as the Novogrudok Caldron. During German occupation it became part of the Ostland. Partisan resistance immediately began. The Red Army liberated the city almost exactly three years after its occupation on 8th July 1944. During the war more than 45 thousand people were killed in the city and in the surrounding area, and over 60% of housing was destroyed. After the war, the BSSR retained the city, and rapid rebuilding process quickly restored most of the destroyed infrastructure. On 8th of July 1954, following the disestablishment of the Baranavichy Voblast, the rajon, along with Navahrudak became part of the Hrodna Voblast, in which it remains to this day, in modern Belarus.

[edit] Sights

The stone castle, so called Mindaugas castle, built in 14th century now is in ruins; as it was burnt down by the Swedes in 1710. The Orthodox Cathedral of Sts. Boris and Gleb, started in 1519 in the Gothic style, was not completed until the 1630s; it was extensively repaired in the 19th century. Other architectural attractions include the Transfiguration Church (1712-23), where Mickiewicz was baptised, and the Church of St. Michael, renovated in 1751 and 1831.

Navahradak was an important shtetl and home to the Harkavy Jewish family, including Alexander Harkavy. Some of the Harkavy are buried at the old Jewish cemetery of Navahrudak. A house is shown where the poet Adam Mickiewicz was born; there are also his statue and the "Mound of Immortality", created in his honour by the Polish administration in 1924-31.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Navahrudak

• City administration
• Photos on Radzima.org

Coordinates: 53°35′″N, 25°49′″E