Berezhnyany

Berezhnyany lies in the countryside around the Smolenka, near Smolensk and the upper Dnieper. The small river gives its name to the city that grew near its confluence with the Dnieper. Villages and cultivated land surrounded the fortified urban centre, whose position on routes between eastern and western Europe made the district a frequent scene of conflict. The forests and river valleys around Smolensk formed the setting for the changing frontier between Lithuania and Moscow.