Ashmyany

Ashmyany lies on the Ashmyanka southeast of Vilnius, in lands once held by the Lithuanian grand dukes. The Teutonic Order destroyed the town in 1384, but it recovered and became a trading centre. In 1432 it was caught in the struggle between Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis for the grand ducal throne. A grand-ducal manor stood here, and a church founded after Lithuania's conversion was among its early Catholic foundations.

Muscovite troops burned Ashmyany in 1519. Privileges granted in 1537 encouraged its reconstruction, and in 1566 it received Magdeburg rights and became a county centre. The town suffered again during the November Uprising: in 1831 Russian troops burned it and killed civilians after insurgents withdrew. Its churches and houses bore the marks of repeated wars on the roads approaching Vilnius.