Ashmyany

Since time immemorial, Ašmena and its surroundings were ethnic Lithuanian territory.^[1] However, many of the indigenous inhabitants died out during the wars, famine and plague in the late 17th and the early 18th centuries, and the number of Slavic colonists grew.^[1] Lithuanians were slavicized along the Minsk-Ašmena-Vilnius axis, and by the mid-19th century, the numbers of Lithuanian-speakers had severely decreased.^[1]

Presently, its Lithuanian past is sealed in the towns's name, which is of Lithuanian origin.^[2] The town's name is derived from the name of the Ašmena (modern Ashmyanka River), itself derived from the Lithuanian word akmuo (stone).^[2] The link between consonants š and k is old and present in the Lithuanian words, respectively ašmuo (sharp blade) and akmuo (stone).^[2] The present name Ashmyany uses the plural form of the name and is a modern invention. Through the ancient town's history, its name was recorded in the Lithuanian singular form.^[2]

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

14th century

Ašmena is mentioned first as a town in the Duchy of Vilnius in the 1350s.^[1] The first reliable mention of Ašmena is in the Lithuanian Chronicles, which tells that after Gediminas' death in 1341, Jaunutis inherited the town. In 1384, the Teutonic Order attacked and destroyed the town with the goal of destroying Jogaila's hereditary state. The Teutons recorded the town as "Aschemynne". The Teutons managed to destroy the town, but it quickly recovered. By 1384, there is a manor of the Grand Duke of Lithuania in Ašmena.^[1] The Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven [be-tarask; be; ru] was built after 1387.^[1] This church was one of the first in the whole of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.^[1] The church was administrated by the Franciscans.^[1]

15th century

In 1402, the Teutons attacked once more, but were bloodily repelled, so the Teutons withdrew to Medininkai. In 1413, the town became one of the most notable trade and commerce centres within the Vilnius Voivodship. Hence, in 1432 Ashmyany became the site of an important battle between the royal forces of Jogaila under Žygimantas Kęstutaitis and the forces of Švitrigaila, who was allied with the Teutonic Order. After the town was taken by the royalists, it became the private property of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and started to develop rapidly.

Hanseatic trade routes passed through the town in the 15th century.^[1] On 1 September 1432, Švitrigaila was deposed from the throne in Ašmena.^[1] On 8 December 1432, Ašmena was the site of the Battle of Ašmena between Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis.^[1] There was a residential palace in Ašmena from the early 15th century to the end of the 18th century.^[1]

16th century

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven burnt down in 1505, but was rebuilt.^[1] The Muscovite army destroyed and burnt Ašmena to the ground in 1519, during the Fourth Lithuanian–Muscovite War.^[1] The town was granted the Magdeburg rights in the 16th century.^[1] From 1566, Ašmena was the centre of the Ašmena County [lt].^[1]

Ashmyany did not recover as quickly as previously after 1519, and in 1537 the town was granted several royal privileges to facilitate its reconstruction. In 1566, the town finally received Magdeburg rights, which were confirmed in 1683 (along with the privileges for the local merchants and burghers) by King John III Sobieski. In the 16th century the town was one of the most notable centers of Calvinism in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, after Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł founded a college and a church there.

17th century

The Muscovite army occupied Ašmena in 1655.^[1] Due to the widespread destruction and impoverishment during the Deluge, the town was exempt from taxes in 1655, 1661 and 1667.^[1] In 1667, the Dominican Order Church of Saint Michael the Archangel [be-tarask; be; ru] was built.^[1]

18th century

Coat of arms, 1792

In 1792, King Stanisław August Poniatowski confirmed all previous privileges and the fact, that Oszmiany, as it was then called, was a free city, subordinate only to the king and the local city council. With this, the town received its first ever Coat of arms. Composed of three fields, it featured a shield, a hand holding scales and the bull from Ciołek coat of arms, the monarch's personal coat of arms.

During the Uprising of 1794, Ašmena was the site of the insurgent staff under Jokūbas Jasinskis.^[1] At the same time, an insurgent group led by Mykolas Kleopas Oginskis was organised in the town.^[1] In 1795, the town was annexed by the Russian Empire in the last Partition of Poland–Lithuania. The Church of Saint Michael the Archangel burnt down in 1797 but was rebuilt.^[1]

Ruins of the Franciscan Church

19th century

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven was also rebuilt in bricks in 1812; however, the church decayed over the 19th century.^[1] During the French invasion of Russia, the Grande Armée took over Ašmena in 1812, and during several battles, the town partially burnt down.^[1]

Russian coat of arms of the town of Oszmiana, created after the November Uprising

November Uprising (1830-1831)

During the November Uprising, it was liberated by the town's citizens, led by a local priest, Jasiński, and Colonel Count Karol Dominik Przeździecki. However, in April 1831, in the face of a Russian offensive, the fighters were forced to withdraw to the Naliboki forest. After a minor skirmish with Stelnicki's rearguard, the Russian punitive expeditionary force of some 1,500 officers and soldiers proceeded to burn the town and massacre the civilian population, including some 500 women, children and elderly, who sought refuge in the Dominican Catholic Church. Even the local priest was murdered. Nothing is known of the fate of Ashmyany's Jews. In the Uprising of 1831, the Imperial Russian Army razed the town and massacred 150 locals in one of the town's churches.^[1]

Rebuilding

In 1845, as the town was rebuilding, it received a new coat of arms, in recognition of its population increase. It never recovered from its earlier losses, and by the end of the 19th century it became rather a provincial town, inhabited primarily by Jewish immigrants from other parts of Russia 'beyond the Pale'.

Dominican Church of Saint Michael the Archangel

The Church of Saint Michael the Archangel was closed down in 1850, but rebuilt in 1900–10.^[1] In the late 19th century, a tavern was built and the Russian authorities built a Russian Orthodox church.^[1]

20th century

In 1912 the local Jewish community built a large synagogue.

World War I

After the end of World War I and the withdrawal of the German army in 1919, Ashmyany was under Polish jurisdiction. Bolshevik activity threatened the town. The Polish armed forces defended the town against the invading Bolsheviks, and there still exist graves of Polish soldiers who died in that struggle. According to the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty, signed on 12 July 1920, Ašmena was part of Lithuania.^[1] However, the Lithuanian territory was seized by the Polish Army that same year.^[1] After the Polish–Soviet War, Ashmyany was given to Poland by the Peace of Riga.

In interwar Poland

It was a county center, first of Wilno Land, then of Wilno Voivodeship during Polish rule. The town was capital of Oszmiana County. According to the census from 1931, Poles constituted 81% of the inhabitants of the Oszmiana County. On the other hand, Poles and Jews dominated the town of Oszmiana.

World War II

Soviet occupation

Following the Soviet-German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Soviet Union occupied the area until 1941.^[1] Ashmyany was given to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.^[1] Ashmyany was a raion center in Vileyka Voblast between 1939 and 1941. At the very end of the Soviet occupation, on the night of June 22 and morning of June 23, 1941, the NKVD murdered and buried in one mass grave 57 Polish prisoners from Ashmyany.

German occupation

During the Nazi occupation, which began June 25, 1941, the Jews of Ashmyany and their spiritual leader Rabbi Zew Wawa Morejno were ghettoized. After the Wehrmacht drove out the Soviet occupiers, Ašmena was part of the Generalbezirk Litauen in Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941-1944.^[1]

Soviet reoccupation

On July 7, 1944, it was reoccupied by the Red Army during the Vilnius offensive. In 1945, the town was annexed by the USSR to the Byelorussian SSR. After 1944, the town was once more part of Vileyka Voblast, and between 1944 and 1960 it was incorporated into Molodechno Voblast until that Voblast was disestablished. At that point Ashmyany became part of the Hrodna Voblast, where it remains today.

Recent history

Since 1991, it has been a part of Belarus.

Map of Ashmyany

Discover more about History related topics

Lithuanian Chronicles

Lithuanian Chronicles

The Lithuanian Chronicles are three redactions of chronicles compiled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All redactions were written in the Ruthenian language and served the needs of Lithuanian patriotism. The first edition, compiled in the 1420s, glorified Vytautas the Great and supported his side in power struggles. The second redaction, prepared in the first half of the 16th century, started the myth of Lithuanian Roman origin: it gave a fanciful genealogy of Palemon, a noble from the Roman Empire who founded the Grand Duchy. This noble origin of Lithuanians was important in cultural rivalry with the Kingdom of Poland. The third redaction, known as the Bychowiec Chronicle, elaborated even further on the legend, but also provided some useful information about the second half of the 15th century. The three redactions, the first known historical accounts produced within the Grand Duchy, gave rise to the historiography of Lithuania. All medieval historians used these accounts, that survived in over 30 known manuscripts, as basis for their publications and some of the myths created in the chronicles persisted even to the beginning of the 20th century.

Gediminas

Gediminas

Gediminas was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until death.

Jaunutis

Jaunutis

Jaunutis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from his father Gediminas' death in 1341 until he was deposed by his elder brothers Algirdas and Kęstutis in 1345.

Teutonic Order

Teutonic Order

The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society c. 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having a small voluntary and mercenary military membership, serving as a crusading military order for the protection of Christians in the Holy Land and the Baltics during the Middle Ages.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation born from several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija.

Franciscans

Franciscans

The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant Christian religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include three independent orders for men, orders for women religious such as the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis open to male and female members. They adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary. Several smaller Protestant Franciscan orders exist as well, notably in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions.

Medininkai

Medininkai

Medininkai is a village in Lithuania, located 24 km (15 mi) east of Vilnius city municipality and 2 km (1.2 mi) from the Lithuanian–Belarusian border.

Trade

Trade

Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.

Commerce

Commerce

Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions which directly and indirectly contributes to the transfer of goods and services on a large scale and at the right time, place, quantity and price from the original producers to the final consumers within local, regional, national or international economies More specifically, commerce is not business, but rather the part of business which is related to the movement and distribution of finished or intermediate goods and services from the primary manufacturers to the end customers on a large scale, as opposed to the sourcing of raw materials and manufacturing of those goods.

Švitrigaila

Švitrigaila

Švitrigaila was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1430 to 1432. He spent most of his life in largely unsuccessful dynastic struggles against his cousins Vytautas and Sigismund Kęstutaitis.

Hanseatic League

Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 12th century, the League between the 13th and 15th centuries ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements, across seven modern-day countries ranging from Estonia in the north and east to the Netherlands in the west and Kraków, Poland, in the south.

• 1848 – 4,115 inhabitants^[1]
• 1859 – 3,066 inhabitants [1]
• 1871 – 4,546 inhabitants [2]
• 1880 – 5,050 inhabitants (2501 Jews, 2175 Roman Catholics, 352 Orthodoxs) [3]
• 1897 – 6,400 [4] Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine or 7124^[1] inhabitants
• 1907/08 – 8,300 inhabitants
• 1914 – 8,200 inhabitants^[1]
• 1921 – 6,000 inhabitants
• 1939 – 8,500 inhabitants
• 1970 – 9,621 inhabitants^[1]
• 1974 – 10,000 inhabitants (Great Soviet Encyclopedia)
• 1991 – 15,200 inhabitants [5]
• 2004 – 14,900 inhabitants
• 2006 – 14,600 inhabitants [6]
• 2007 – 14,269 inhabitants [7]

Panorama view

• 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

Discover more about Landmarks related topics

Synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue, sometimes referred to by the Yiddish term shul and often used interchangeably with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worship. Synagogues have a place for prayer, where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies, have rooms for study, social hall(s), administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious school and Hebrew school, sometimes Jewish preschools, and often have many places to sit and congregate; display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork throughout; and sometimes have items of some Jewish historical significance or history about the Synagogue itself, on display.

Eastern Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the head of the Catholic Church—the pope—but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognized by them as primus inter pares. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The Eastern Orthodox Church officially calls itself the Orthodox Catholic Church.

Resurrection

Resurrection

Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which involves the same person or deity coming back to a body, rather than the same one. Disappearance of a body is another similar, but distinct, belief in some religions.

Watermill

Watermill

A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills.

• 

  Orthodox church of the Resurrection

• 

  Synagogue

• 

  Lejba Strugacz Manor

• Alternate names: Oshmianka (Polish), Oszmiana, Aschemynne, Oshmyany, Ašmena, Oshmana, Oshmene, Oshmina, Osmiany, Oszmiana, Ozmiana, Osmiana, Oßmiana, Possibly Oschmjansky (Middle Ages maps)
• Mentioned in: Memoirs of Baron Lejeune, Volume II, Chapter VII.

This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Ashmyany has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.^[3]